Who is the SAT Essay Really Helping?

The SAT is a standardized test that is almost a rite of passage for any student in high school. Even though it is aimed to a small percentage of students who will actually do well, colleges demand that the tests be taken. We spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars prepping, hiring tutors, studying and cramming, but in the end most students will not do well at all, and colleges will not accept them regardless of their grades and extracurricular. However the one section that people deem completely unnecessary is the writing portion, or the essay.

            In the article, “We Are Teaching High School Students to Write Terribly” author Matthew Malady argues that the essay is the most unnecessary part of the test because of the many flaws it encompasses. Because essay graders have a maximum of 2-3 minutes to read the essays, they will never actually read and make sure it is coherent and cohesive. Also, graders tell students to “make stuff up” if it will make you sound more interesting. It has been reported that students have even made up fake deaths to sound more interesting and garner more sympathy. And because graders do not have more than a few minutes to grade, they have no time to check historical accuracy of facts or even look up unfamiliar words, which could very well be made up.

             With all of this information, it makes it hard to see the purpose of the SAT essay. Students are rushed to write about an event they might not know happened, and are graded based on whether or not they use big words. Because of this, other tests like the ACT have made the writing portion optional to students who think it will benefit them. Writing this way is not helping students grow as writers and really is not helping. This unfair grading process, which only helps a small percentage of students, should not be mandatory.

Article URL: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/education/2013/10/sat_essay_section_problems_with_grading_instruction_and_prompts.html

Technology and Pedagogy

I chose this lesson because I think teachers have such a hard time teaching Shakespeare because the students simply do not want to read it. I think that this lesson plan is really interesting and fun for students, and because it uses so many forms of technology it will capture their attention. There were some gaps in the standards and how the lesson actually fulfilled them. For example, there was a standard that said the students would learn how to write a research paper, but there was no assignment in the lesson plan that would fulfill that. Therefore, I had to create the research assignment so the standard would actually be fulfilled. Also, there was some research to be done before the assignment, but not about the things people used in this time period, it was more of researching that time in general. Being more specific would definitely help. I think creating a commercial is a very important thing to be taught. Not only do you have to film it, you then have to show it to all of your peers, which is a very bold thing that I think students need to learn. Also, I think the research is essential before starting Shakespeare because some teachers try to jump right in, and it never works out in their favor. Students need to have some background before starting these texts. I do not think there is a better technology that would help fulfill these goals because researching and making a commercial can only be done with a computer and video camera.

Are Scantrons More Effective Than Other Grading Methods?

For last week’s blog I decided to use Scantrons as the technology I thought was interesting and wanted to learn more about. After much consideration, I believe Scantron machines are both useful, but are also sometimes more trouble than they are worth.

            From a teacher’s standpoint, Scantrons are great. They can grade tests for you, and it takes only a few minutes. That means that because they do not have to take the time to grade tests, they can dedicate more time to coming up with intriguing lessons. Also, it is great for the students, because they take a test and can have the grade by the end of the day (depending on the teacher.) For this, these machines are great.

            However, they can also be a huge hassle. Students have to use pencil to take the test, so if they forget they automatically cannot take the test (unless the teacher is nice enough to provide a pencil.) Also, it is hard to keep track of what bubble you are actually on, so if you miss one question you can throw off all your answers for the entire test. In terms of teaching English, Scantrons are not always practical. Even though you can give multiple-choice tests once in a while, the majority of the work should be assignments like essays and readings; obviously Scantrons cannot grade those.             And even though Scantrons are machines, they can also be wrong. If a student fills in a bubble wrong or not darkly enough, it could take points off as an unanswered question.

            Scantron machines are a great help to many teachers; they make grading and testing easier. However, it is not always practical to only have Scantron-based tests, considering the many negatives that could occur. There are many positives and negatives to these machines, and for now teachers will continue to use them. 

History of Technology in English

Making the grading process a breeze since the 70's.

Social Media as a Teaching Tool

Social media can be used in all classrooms, and can definitely be used to enhance English lessons. The best teachers are the relatable ones who understand what students are interested in, and incorporate that into their lessons. Different Social Medias such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (and many others) can make a lesson more interesting and heighten the experience for the student.

            There is website, Fakebook.com, that has the same Facebook template, but is temporary and used for teaching purposes. One way to make this apply to a classroom would be to have the students make fake profiles for characters. For example, if you are reading The Great Gatsby, you could have the students make a fake profile for Jay Gatsby and create what they think he would be like. The students could put quotes he says in the book, pictures, a friend list and posts in his voice. To further the assignment, they could write a paper to back up why they thought he would say these things.

            Another Social Media students could use would be twitter. Like Fakebook, they could come up with fake accounts for different characters and tweet things they would say. Since some students do not know how to use Twitter, you could print out a template and have them write out the assignment.            

            Activities like these are simple ways to make a lesson more exciting for you and the students. Social Media is a great way to parallel many books and create activities. Because so many students use Social Media, it is imperative that teachers can figure out ways to incorporate it into their lessons. Of course there are countless others we as teachers could use. Most of the books students read in school are outdated and sometimes do not make sense to students, but with these activities the students will be more engaged and willing to read and learn.