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

Book Groups; The Joys, and Pains.

Book groups can be a joy or a pain. It is really not fun when they waste time, but they can also be a good experience. I am in a book club right now, we are reading the book "Make Lemonade" by Virginia Euwer Wolff. So far I have found it a very enjoyable read and written very well. The problem with the book club I am in is that most of the other people don't share the same interest in reading as I. They don't like to participate and are not benefiting from the book. This is one of the pains to book clubs, people. Not all people share the same interest in books as you or I. Some think it's a waste of time. So when you are in a book club with those types of people it is hard. Another pain is the book. Not always do you get a book that you like. When other people choose the book usually they have different taste than you. It's a fact that when you don't like the book you don't get as much out of it.  And it is really not fun to read a book that you don't like. Always be willing to step out of your reading comfort zone, but don't think it's a fault of your own if you don't like a book. It is not fun to be forced into a book club and for me most of the time it is not fun. Have a book club that is fun for everyone. Some things that are very enjoyable about book clubs if that you get to read more books. This is the point of book clubs to read a good book and then talk about it. Have an intelligent conversation about reading. This reason is why I love book clubs. There are alway pains of book club, but join one it is worth it.

So sorry about the wait I had a super busy week. Don't worry I am still working on posting every week. Don't forget to comment and subscribe.

Let's talk about Goodreads.

I have had Goodreads for a while now and I thought it was time for me to share my thoughts about them. If you don't know Goodreads is a social media site for readers. You can search books, review them, rate them, post what you are reading, what you want to read, join book groups, make "friends," and much more. Right know Goodreads has about 20 million users, only about 2% of the number of Facebook users. Goodreads is big but not huge. I would never thought that social media and books would mix, but this is the 21 century. So when social media and books interbred it created this Goodreads. I used to be into Goodreads, but my attention span was short for this.  Once they took away the free ebooks I lost interest. I want to read while I am posting about I what I am reading!!!!!!! Don't you understand!!!!!! Darn you Goodreads, taking away my free ebooks! :) Well they did take away the ebooks but they still give you suggestions on books to read. I have read none of my suggestions. Sad huh. I would think that the point of Goodreads is to make you want to read more. If that is true it is not working. I want to read more, but not because of Goodreads. I think it is because of the social media aspect. there are alway annoying people in social media. Some people who review books don't know what they are saying. I just finished To Kill A Mocking Bird and I was about to rate it when I saw this person. I will leave the person unnamed.

"I could give this no stars, I would. This is possibly one of my least favorite books in the world, one that I would happily take off of the shelves and stow in dark corners where no one would ever have to read it again... The characters are one dimensional...(characters) have no identity outside these roles... there is none of the delightfully subversive slyness that real children have, the sneakiness that will ultimately allow them to grow up." 

This person goes on and on about the failure this book is. Books don't win the Pulitzer prize because of one-dimensional characters. I acknowledge this persons opinion, but I do not agree. I believe I will always keep Goodreads, but I also believe that it is nice to just read a book and un-plug ( then you can re-plug.)

The New York Times has a great article about Goodreads, click here to view it.

I am on Goodreads so friend me and follow me, I will try to make myself more visible

.

Essays every one hates them right?!?

Essay writing!!

Essays, everyone hates them right? Well so over my vacation not only was I writing my own story, I also had to write a persuasive essay on nature vs. nurture. Fun? That is what I thought. I really enjoy persuasive essays, because I have strong opinions I like to question and talk about views, problems, people, and society, and much, much more.  It's a gift and a curse, mostly a gift :). So when my language arts teacher said she was partnering up with my science teacher to write an essay I was like ok, I can do this I like persuasive essays. And I still do, but I learned some things over this writing essays. Don't just assume that something is easy, always try your hardest, and be willing to change. So to tell my story I need to explain the essay. The essay was about nature vs. nurture and what is a bigger impact on humans. I after a lot of research I came to the conclusion that nurture has the most impact.  So in in science we researched , and in language arts we wrote. I had done many persuasive essay in 5th grade, they would make us do them monthly on the spot to mark our progress.  Now or this essay we had about a week to write it. We were given all these articles about the subject. After we read them we ware given a paper that said this

Example paragraph using my evidence from this source:

The most important impact on a person's life is _____________________. In the source called, "________________________________" it states that ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This supports my claim because _______________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________

So I was fine with doing this for the articles. It did not help me though. But then I was told that these should be used as our body paragraphs. I really don't like the structure of this. Its so basic no originality. I like to be original. She also gave us a packet that told us to do everything. I kinda did not follow the packet I did not just do the basic. 

Once I was finished I was so happy with myself I thought I did so great. I was ready to turn it in but, I always like to have someone check over my work to get feedback. The problem was the feedback I wanted was it is "perfect." I was so wanting to be done so when I had someone read it I was mad that it needed so many changes. I got frustrated at the person even though it was my work I was mad at. I WANTED TO BE DONE!!!!! I did understand what the person was saying and after blowing off some steam I took a deep breath and listened to the feedback. This made my essay ten times better, I was able to improve. This post is more about listening  to your feedback, and be able to change. It also shows that essays can bring out the best/worst in you.

Now this has nothing to do with the meaning of this post, but you 200 people who are viewing my blog, I want you to comment and subscribe. So you can receive my weekly posts!!!!

Also I had a new idea, I love reading books and I want all of you to give me suggestions and maybe I will review it on my blog. The best would be if there young adult (because the blog is about young adult reading and writing.) I would love for you to give me any ideas to blog about and I will say that you gave my the suggestion.

Thanks so much,

Aidyn Stevens 

Vacationing with your story.

They could be writing!!!!!!

So, this last week I was vacationing, it was great I had so much fun. The thing is I had so much trouble continually writing on my book. I mentioned in my introduction that I had started a book. The book is going to be a historical fiction novel based in 1900s during women's suffrage. My book is still in it beginning stages right now I am just writing not editing. When you still having a starting of a book, like a baby book you have to keep up your writing in it, you have to change it, feed it, love it, it makes it really hard to keep up with it. The best thing to do is write in it everyday. I know that is really hard, But when your book is a baby you have to keep up with it or you will lose interest. It becomes a continual cycle of I have better things to do, I don't want to do it, and excuses like that. Sure there are way more fun things that you could be doing on vacation, in my case skiing and playing in the snow. Not sticking to your plan may help you fall into a spiral of not writing.This is bad, you writing is good!!! Make writing on your vacation, (and anytime) fun and enjoyable.  I strongly suggest that you keep writing. I am sad to say I did not get a much writing in as I wanted to on my vacation and now I am behind. DON'T DO IT!! Find time for your writing so you can love your writing and your writing can love you.

Please comment and subscribe so you can read all of my posts, I am trying to blog every week.

For people who want to read more I suggest the reading this book about writing,

 Chapter after Chapter, by Heather Sellers. This book has some very good advice about loving your writing, taking care of your writing (on vacations too), and you book in the future.
Click here to see offer of Chapter after Chapter, and a quick review. Hope you like it!!!!

I Juan de Pareja

I Juan de Pareja.

Do not be intimidated by the title of this amazing book. I came upon this book in the section of the library with the award winners. If it was not for my mom I would have not given it a second. Don't judge a book by its cover, (no pun intended). Well, even though I would have not chosen this book I found it a very enjoyable read. I have already read this book three times now and it gets better each time.The main character of this book is Juan. Juan is born into slavery, but is treated well. One day he wakes up and everyone in the house was gone. They all died. He is found and inherited to this great painter,Diego Velázquez. Juan makes paints and canvases. In not to long wants to paint but it is against the law for a slave to know the art. This historical fiction writing by Elizabeth Borton de Treviño is a master piece, I would suggest this book for tweens, teens, and adults. Read it post a comment about what you think of this book. 

My Rate;

                     

Click this to see a quick review and buying options on Barnes and Nobels

Introduction.

As a young adult I am very interested in YA writing. You could say I am obsessed with reading. What I will be doing with this blog is talking about my experiences with YA writing. Unlike the average person I am trying to write my own Historical-fiction novel, and I'm blogging. In this blog I will be talking about my writing experience, books I enjoy, authors I adore, and just YA reading and writing. I really hope you enjoy this blog and all that is on it.

I love your comments and thought. Don't be shy! :)