Many of us students are faced with standardized timed test that measure and want to determine our intelligence specially in writing and reading categories. Here in Texas, from an early age we are introduced to the TAKS, standardized test. In the future, college applicants are measured with other forms such as the SAT or ACT to prove their skills in reading and writing along with other subjects. Always an essay attached, one never failed to have to sit there trying to come up with a story based on the vague and sometimes limited prompt. Are these good ways to judge someones writing and reading skills? Do timed standardized test measure someones intelligence to its best?-Are standardized test a valid form for measuring how good a writer is, or does thoughtful good writing come from inspiration?
Good writing for me does come from inspiration, when i am asked to write on a topic that does not interest me or does not matter to me; my writing usually reflects that. Without inspiration, a writer lacks the thoughtful and interesting connections that are made from experience into the writing and reading universe.
When I am given a prompt such as : Write about the person who you look up to the most. I am sometimes limited to the writing idea, maybe it’s the time or place; but inspiration may not be there. In the other hand, one could argue that a good writer is able to expand their mind and make the prompt relate to them.
In my project I decided to make it simple and get my point across by simply looking at main points of my idea. I decided to point out important ideas that the audience needs to understand why I believe inspiration is important for a writer.. This brings up a new idea for my project. If good writing comes from inspiration, then a prompt must interest the writer.
I made this project, because for me standardized testing has been a huge part of my writing and reading experiences. From an early age i was introduced to the TAKS through school. When i would receive my scores, sometimes my written part of the test would be low. I would wonder why, if all through out my english class i had made good grades and whenever we where put to write about what we wanted to, my writing was well thought out. It wasn’t until much later that I realized all these prompts where tedious to me, they didn’t inspire me. Most seemed to be so general and boring to me that i had no motivation to write a well paper. Everyone taking these test got the same prompts, nothing was personalized so it must of been tough for many other students as well. Maybe allowing each student to write about what they knew, would of been a much better idea.
This project is mainly targeted to the instructors that make up standardized test prompts. Maybe they can learn from students test scores, they can realize that if a student is given the opportunity to write about what they know and what inspires them, they may just have amazing results in the writing areas. Each students inspiration comes from a different source or experience. For someone who is into games and graphics, a prompt on “ the influence of games into the learning environment” might interest them more than for someone who has never picked up a video game in their life. Another example would be for someone who is a sports fanatic, a prompt such as “ how can a playing a sport be an experience for a good writer and reader”. For some people, good writing is created when someone is frustrated, for others one must be happy and cheerful. This just comes to show that inspiration is very hard to captivate, since we are all different types of learners and mainly influenced by different experiences, which build our own inspirations.
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