P1 Reflective Essay: REVISED

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. For me good writing can be described as inspired writing, if a student writes with interest then I think that the content is richer and more insightful; which in the end contributes to the idea that content is the primary and most important contribution to an A+ writing.
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 the appearance simple, which in this case is the poster and get my point across by simply looking at main points of my idea. I made a poster illustrating the difference between an A and F paper. For me it had to be illustrated as an A paper consisting of inspiring prompts that the writer could relate to. I decided to point out important ideas that the audience needs to understand why I believe inspiration is important for a writer. I also wrote down points in which i thought what an F paper prompt lacked. This poster is focused for prompt writers, it targets them to think of a students perspective in standardized test writing.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. The prompts usually dealt with situations which i couldn't not relate to or they didn’t interest me. Which makes me realize that for me, good writing comes from interest. So if writing prompts where to be focused for each students writing interest, maybe writing results could possibly be higher at a certain percentage. 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. For these reasons I personally believe that students should be given the right to write about a topic they chose, It would make their writing much more interesting. It would be necessary to implement proper grammar and writing structure, which can be taught, on the other hand inspiration can’t. 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.