Standardized Testing

 

Right now in the United States theres a thing called standardized testing. There's Benchmark, MAP, MSP, End of Course, and the all powerful SATs. When I say the all powerful I put much sarcasm in that. Everyone hates these tests. There hard on the mind and extremely boring. This week and last week I have had to take the MSP. The tests I have been taking was two writing, both essays one to persuade and another to explain. The reading, and the math. Writing the essays is the worst you have six hours to write one essay. You are doing the same thing over and over. Double checking, triple checking. Making sure you have all your spelling and grammar correct. (Which I have trouble with.) The worst is you have to sit in these uncomfortable school chairs, that by the way do not form to your natural body shape. The stress of the test makes it hard to remember what you have learned that was suppose to prepare you for the test. The MSP is my least favorite because they are done for third grade till high school. Also they are so strict and time consuming. I feel that there are better things to be learning then the standards you have to know for the MSP. In my math class I will be taking the End of Course, this year. I have never taken this test before. Already in April we started to prepare for it even though the test is in early June. I do not know much about this test except that it is stressful and not fun. Just like every other standardized test there is.
Students are not the only ones who suffer from these tests. Teachers do a fair bit of suffering from them to. This ecard on the right is very close to the truth. Except for the blood part it is true. If teachers have a class that did not pass the test they took the district could fire them. The thing is it is not the teachers faults. There are some teachers that are amazing at what they do but because of how the test is set up the students cannot pass. Some kids are not good test takers but they are good at the subject.

Tips:

So test taking is hard and mentally draining here are some tips to help.

• Do short answer first, they use more brain power and are harder so if you just get them over with you will have the easy multiple choice.
• On reading tests read questions first then try to answer them if you can, then if there are still some left unanswered read passage 
• For writing tests always do a brainstorm then organize your thoughts so you can write.
• After you have finished test put your pencil down and rest then check test one more time so you can catch any mistakes. Unless you are like the kid in the picture below this just try to finish the test.

Thanks so much for reading my blog and I hope you like this post. Comment on how you prepare for big tests or strategies you use when you are just are burnt out and don't want to continue. Also subscribe so you can get my posts on you email!!!

Character Develpment

I love this saying, I always have this in my head when I am writing. " Now you are your character."
What this is saying is when you are writing you have to become your character, to understand the your character. Know his/her life story, likes, dis-likes, everything.You have to know every little part of this person. Know every little (non- existent) gene that this character has. But that cant happen right away, making a character. I thought this picture would show you kind of what you do. With writing you start the very general sketch of our character. Then you get more and more detailed until you know the character as well as yourself. When you have your idea you want to get it on paper as fast as you can. No matter the flaws you just want to catch the idea. Then you focus on your character. Who is this person. I always like to start with a struggle. What is the main struggle of this character. What I am going to do here is make up a new character to show an example. So my character is, Blythe her main struggle is with autism. She is 18 years old, single child, very smart and wants to get a business degree but the problem is people. So here is my very first sketch like the one at the top of the picture very vague. I got her struggle and some facts about her you only really know her from a profile online. This is a very good start. Here is a better sketch. So my character is Blythe her main struggle is with autism. It had effected her, her whole life. She is 18 and in her senior year of high school. Blythe is looking at collages. She is a single child with two working parents all her life she has wanted a sibling but her parents were to busy to raise another child. She is very smart she was excepted into the running start program at her school and has been going to community collage since she was a junior. Blythe wants to go into business but she is not good with people and is thought of a "weird." This is also good now you have to incorporate this into your story. Like do a scene on her looking for collages. The next step is to do research learn more about autism, talk to people get information. Then you can go to the next step of development. The final one is making every little detail right. You get to the first thing I talked about, knowing your character like yourself.


Don't forget to comment and subscribe by email. Write and read never stop the creative juices.

Make Lemonade

"MAKE LEMONADE"

"This lady's blind and she's poor 

she washes peoples laundry on rocks,

you know, in the river, the way they do in those places.

And she has these kids that are in starvation

and the blind lady she goes out with her old cane

thumping on the hard dirt of the town,

she's goin' out shopping, she wants an orange

for her kids, to get vitamins.

She has enough money to buy one orange.

She'll divide it for her kids.

From washing the laundry, she has the money.

"So she goes to the street where they have the market,

all busy with donkeys and everything in the way.

And she nearly gets knocked over by some bad boys

but she gets to the fruit market

and she smells all the fruits

and she just wants one best orange

for her children

So she holds some oranges in her hand 

and she find the best one.

                                                                      Even being blind, she can smell how juicy it is

                                                                      and she pays her last money for the orange

                                                                      and she starts thumping home

                                                                      with her cane

    "What happens on the way home is

    the same bad boys from before,

they trip her and she falls and drops the orange.

Her nose is bleeding from her falling

and she's reaching across the ground

 for her cane and she's a mess.

So one of the boys

says how he's so sorry to see her in the dirt,

 he tells her he was jus passing by and saw her fall.
She knows this is a lie
but he hands her her cane.
So she thanks him and she gets up and thumps on home;
now she's bleeding from her nose but she's on her way home
to her starving children.
                                                                       
"But with her bleeding nose she couldn't smell
so she doesn't know till later what that boy done.
She gets home and guess what?"
She cuts it open and the bad boy cheated her,
he gave her a lemon, 
not no orange. She smells this sour lemon smell
coming up from the fruit she cut
 and she's mad."
                                                
"So?' I say.

" So. First you know what she does?
 First she tells herself how stupid she is, she should know
the very instant he gave it to her.
You know what she does next?
She finds a little teensy bit of old caked, lumpy sugar
she had packed away, and she mixes it up
with the juice of the lemon
and some clean water from the spring they have there,
and she makes lemonade.
And she feeds it to her starving little ones.
And that's the end of the story."

This is an excerpt from the book Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff. Where the main character is Jolly a 17 year old with two children and no outside help. LaVaughn a high schooler who lives in a run down place with her single mother. Jolly needs a babysitter and LaVaughn needs collage money so LaVaughn takes the job. They become friends. This is Jolly telling the story to LaVaughn. It is the story that makes " when life gives you lemons, make lemonade" literal. I have really have never liked this saying but this story is awesome, how this lady is taken advantage of but she turns here situation around. That is exactly what the character Jolly has to do with her life, she has no money and a bad education. Lemons are sour not good tasting by themselves. But you juice it and add sugar it is a great drink. What the saying is saying is, when life sucks try to make it less suckie.
I enjoyed this book I would give 3 out of 5 stars

I put this story here for your enjoyment, I hope you like it I really love this story. Please comment and subscribe, all views welcome.

Ransom Riggs I love you!!!!!

Ransom Riggs

Ransom Riggs is a accomplished author, he has written many books. The ones he is most known for is his series Miss        Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. I love these books!!!! So far he has only written two and a third one is coming out. The covers of these books are very eye catching. On the cover there is a picture of a girl in is a 1920s dress. she has a cute little tiara she looks pretty normal except one thing, she is floating above the ground. This picture is one of the character in the book. When I was in the book store and saw this book I was intrigued just the cover made me want to buy it. This series has made Ransom Riggs my new favorite author. Riggs has added pictures to his stories which most YA writers do not do such a thing. With these photos Riggs tells as a story. he has borrowed these pictures from collectors who have lent there personal archives. Riggs also collects some of the pictures himself he started collecting vintage snapshots at flea markets. he began to wonder who some of the strange looking children where. He started with the photos and made stories off of them. Riggs said "It was a fun, strange, organic writing process, unlike anything I had attempted." I find this very amazing.
So the first book Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, starts out with a boy named Jacob. When Jacobs Grandfather dies he is devastated. Jacob whats to find the truth to his grandfathers tales and pictures. Jacob goes back to the island where his grandfather spent his childhood. Jacob discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Jacob finds that the children may not have just been peculiar but also dangerous. And somehow impossible though it seems they may still be alive. Duh duh duhhhhh. The book is so thrilling. And it is a must read. I have bought Hollow City and will keep you all updated when I am finished. Ransom Riggs style and "peculiarness" has made these books wonderful. READ THEM!!!!!                

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children here is a link to buy it.

Here I want you to buy Hollow City Its Wonderful!!!

Love you all please comment and subscribe. And most of all read!!

"Quotes"

Quotes are important to literature. They help us remember what was written or said before. I think quotes are very important to us in our society. People rely on them in many ways. I use quotes in two ways. One way is for motivation, my favorite one right now is one by Gandhi.

" You must be the change you wish to see the world."-Gandhi

I love this quote it inspires me to "change the world." On some days it is my motivation. This is a very known quote by Gandhi. I think this is the most meaningful was to use quotes. There are different types of motivational quotes. There are ones that are just for motivation, also for joy like a funny quote. There are also motivational quotes for remembering.  I have one that I use from my story. I write it on a note card and stuck it on my desk.

" I just wanted to be a tree."-Ethel

This quote is taken from the story I am writing. In this chapter my character Ethel is young and has pretended to be a tree, and her Mother beats her for it. I use this quote to make me remember to write in my story. I love this quote from my story because it shows the imaginative nature of Ethel. I love using quotes they are beneficial to me. These quotes I have shown are more sentimental, but there are other ways to use quotes. One way is for evidence. You use this a lot in essays. When you read a passage and are asked to do an essay or short answer you have to use evidence for the passage. This is effective because you are giving your claim and it is not strong without evidence. Quotes are used in many ways and they strengthen who we are as people and as a community. 

Here are some great quotes about writing!!!

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” 
― Maya Angelou

“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.” 
― Robert Frost

“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” 
― Anaïs Nin

“History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.”
― Winston Churchill

“A word after a word after a word is power.” 
― Margaret Atwood

“Write what should not be forgotten.” 
― Isabel Allende

“You always get more respect when you don't have a happy ending.” 
― Julia Quinn

“I hate writing, I love having written.” 
― Dorothy Parker

“You can fix anything but a blank page.” 
― Nora Roberts

“Deliver me from writers who say the way they live doesn't matter. I'm not sure a bad person can write a good book. If art doesn't make us better, then what on earth is it for.” 
― Alice Walker

“A good writer possesses not only his own spirit but also the spirit of his friends.” 
― Friedrich Nietzsche

“some moments are nice, some are
nicer, some are even worth
writing
about.” 
― Charles Bukowski

“The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes. ” 
― Agatha Christie

“You are what you write.” 
― Helvy Tiana Rosa

“If I do not write to empty my mind, I go mad.” 
― George Gordon Byron

“There's no such thing as perfect writing, just like there's no such thing as perfect despair.” 
― Haruki Murakami

“It is the tale, not he who tells it.” 
― Stephen King

“I never exactly made a book. It's rather like taking dictation. I was given things to say. ” 
― C.S. Lewis

“My bursting heart must find vent at my pen.” 
― Abigail Adams

“That's all we have, finally, the words, and they had better be the right ones.” 
― Raymond Carver