Good morning Portfolio Committee

I had taken this English class as one of my pre-requisite courses. I wasn’t completely sure how I was going to like writing my essays on a blog for everyone else in the class to be able to read at any point in time. Honestly at first, I wasn’t a big fan of writing essays one after the other, but the more we got into the semester I found I surprisingly like to write essays. Especially when I’m passionate about a certain topic I tend to get very into the process of writing. I wasn’t always this way because in high school English was a class that a dreaded going to everyday, because I thought that writing essays was useless, and it wasn’t going to help me in any sort of way. I struggled a bit at the beginning of the semester to get into the enjoyment of writing, but as the semester went on the essays almost seemed to flow out of me as if there was another version of me who loved writing and was just trapped inside of an ignorant body who believed writing had no use in my life. This class seemed to have made me a better writer and has given me a new source of appreciation for writing and the hours people spend trying to make each piece of writing perfect.

This first essay you will read of mine is my memoir about my first day of kindergarten where I met my best friend of 14 years. You will be able to see exactly all the emotions I went through that day and the events leading up to my friend and I becoming best friends. This story is very special to me because her and I have been though a lot together and we really are like sisters and we finally get to go to school together again. This moment in my life was a complete changing point because back then I never thought her and I would become best friends for over 14 years.

The second essay you will be reading is my argument essay, I decided to write about how standardized testing should not be a requirement in college applications. I feel very strong bout this topic because I tend to struggle with standardized test, but I did extremely well in high school but by just looking at my test scores many peoples first thought is wondering if I even went to class, that’s how bad the score was. I also tend to slightly have test anxiety where if I have a test too long in front of me, I will get frustrated with myself and then all the answers will just float out of my head. I am very thankful that BCC doesn’t require the SAT scores or else I probably wouldn’t be in college right now.

The third and final essay you will be reading is my photo essay, I found this one to be the most interesting because I’ve never had to put photos into an essay before, but I really enjoyed this experience. This was a unique and really improved my skills on taking a photo and trying to recreate it into words. This essay was also kind of hard to find photos that went with standardized testing, but I managed to find some interesting ones.

Over all this class was an eye-opening experience to me because I never enjoyed writing essays but after this class and being able to put it on a blog that I could create on my own made it even more interesting. I’ve become a lot more interested in writing and wouldn’t mind taking another English class like this one. It was opened my mind to a whole new world that I was too ignorant to go into. I am very glad I took this class and didn’t drop it because it has changed me not only as a writer but as a person. I feel as if I could just keep writing all day, I could spend hours and hours writing away. My writing process has completely changed, before I would just guess on whatever I was talking about and just go with whatever came out. Now I research a lot more things and I print out the articles and look for some key points I could talk about and see if they could go together to form an interesting essay.

Thank you, have a great day 🙂

Girl School

Feeling the warm sun shining through my window, my mom gently shaking my shoulder to wake me up.

“Breanna it’s time to get up, it’s your first day of kindergarten.”

Here it was the day I’ve been waiting for was finally here, kindergarten. I couldn’t believe it was already here. I jump off my bed running to my closet to grab my uniform. It was a light blue tee-shirt with a navy blue jumper dress, navy blue tights and navy blue Velcro flats with flowers on the Velcro. While my mom does my hair I watch my favorite TV shows Teletubbies and BoohBah. Once my mom had finished my hair she knelt in front of me to help with my tights and shoes.

She looked up at me and said “Breanna, are you ready to meet some new friends.”

I looked down and said “Yeah, but I’m nervous they won’t like me.”

She held my hand and said “They will love you, hunny.”

I run into my parents’ bedroom to kiss my dad goodbye, then run into my room and grab my backpack. It was a bright pink bag with sparkly puppies on the back. I head outside to the car to head off to school. I pose for a picture in front of my mom’s tan 2002 Nissan Sentra. My mom takes the picture on one of the cameras with the wheel that scrolls to reset the film. I get into the car and listen to the high school musical CD and sing along to all of the songs. I look out the window to see we are pulling up to my new school, and I start to get butterflies in my tummy.

“Mommy I’m nervous, what if I don’t make any friends?” I asked her as we pull into the school parking lot.

She turns to look at me and says, “Don’t you worry hunny you will make plenty of friends.”

As we walk into the school yard that is bordered around with cones. I squeeze my mom’s hand tight and she smiles down at me and I smile back. We walk into the coned area and I notice all of the children excited to see their friends, and some are nervously clinging to their mom’s legs, like I am. My teacher Mrs. Brickhill came over to me with this little girl who was noticeably nervous, squeezing onto her hand tightly.

“Who is this beautiful little lady?” she says to me shaking my hand.

I giggle saying, “I’m Breanna Arruda.”

“Hello Breanna, it’s nice to meet you, I’m Mrs. Brickhill I am going to be your kindergarten teacher. This is Jayliana and she’s also new to this school, maybe you two can become friends.”

Who would’ve guessed that after this introduction, Jayliana and I would become best friends for life? I said goodbye to my mom with a kiss and a huge hug. Jay and I walked hand in hand behind our teacher finding all of our other class mates. Once we had found them we all lined up and Jay and I stood right next to each other. The bell rang and we walked into the school building and into the classroom. We walked into the large, brightly colored room and saw that we all had our names taped to the tops of the desk. I find my name and see that Jay is sitting right next to me we both smile at each other.

“We are going to be best friends forever!!!!” We both said at the same time.

Once we all got settled in we went around saying our names and favorite candy. First it was my turn, since both my first and last name were at the beginning of the alphabet, which I always hated.  I stood up nervously and shakily said, “Hi, my names Breanna and I LOVE Swedish Fish.” I sat back down listening to everyone else’s answers.

A few people down was Jay and she was also nervous, but she began to saying “Hi I’m Jay and I LOVE Starburst.” When she sat back down we both giggled to each other about our answers. We talked a lot together, but of course when our teacher wasn’t talking.

The bell rang and that meant it was time for recess. We all headed outside and sat around eating our snacks. We shared with people the snacks we didn’t want for other snacks we did wanted. There was this one girl named Sydney who always had the best snacks, she would have things like Cosmic Brownies, Yogo Bites, Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies, DunkAroos, Gushers, and she also would have the chocolate Yoo-hoo drinks. Everyone would trade with her. The bell rang which meant recess was over and it was time to go back inside. We all lined up in a separate grades and the recess monitor called us inside one grade at a time.

Once we got back inside we finished putting away all of our school supplies into our desks, and our cleaning products into the closets above our backpacks. Our teacher introduced us to the class pet, Jo-Jo the monkey puppet, we all loved Jo-Jo. He had a squeaker in his mouth and would squeak whenever Mrs. Brickhill moved his mouth. We then began to play with the toys in the back corner of the room. Jay and I loved to play with the chain pieces, we would make huge chain links in all sorts of colors. We even made a rainbow one that was twice our height, combined. Once we had finished putting away the toys we were playing with, the bell had rung again which meant it was lunch time.

We all sat down at our table and had our lunch. Some people brought their lunch while others bought school lunch. Each grade had their own table from Pre-K to Eighth Grade, Jay and I sat right next to each other. After lunch it was time for another recess. I know right its crazy, two recesses in a day. We all ran outside and played on the playground. Jay and I played hopscotch all the way up to 20, we had so much fun playing around with each other. The bell had rung which meant it was time to head back inside for some learning. Once we got inside we started learning the alphabet BACKWARDS!!!!! Which I found so much fun. Jay and I would race each other to see who could say the alphabet backwards the fastest. She would always win of course because I would always mess up on L, M, N, O, P.

The bell had rung, yet again but this time it didn’t mean more recess, it meant it was time to go home. Jay and I had the greatest idea. We would switch backpacks so that when our moms saw us they would know we wanted to ask them something. We really wanted more time to spend hanging out together, and we just couldn’t wait until the next day. So once we headed out of the school we walked over to our moms holding hands and giggling like crazy.

My mom noticed something was up and said, “I see that’s not your backpack Breanna and hey, look at that, Jay is wearing yours.”

Jay’s mom laughed and said “I wonder what these girls could possibly want from us.”

Jay and I kept on giggling and we both said “CAN WE HANG OUT TODAY!!”

From that day on Jay and I have been inseparable, and school has always kept us closer together. We had always gone to the same school since that day until it was time for high school. She went to Connolly and I went to Dartmouth, because Connolly was just too expensive. Even though we went to different high schools we always made sure that it didn’t impact our friendship. Now that we are both in college we see each other every day because we both go to BCC. She has made me a better person in the way I act around people, and the way I treat people. She gotten me out of my shell when it comes to talking to people I don’t know. We’ve always stuck by each other, and have always been there for each other when times get rough.

The Uselessness of Standardized Testing

Remember in high school the constant cramming for the SATs or the ACTs, hoping the get the required grade in order to have a chance at your dream college. Remember those students who had the best grades in high school but wouldn’t get into their dream college because they wouldn’t do so well on the standardized testing. This makes students feel like no matter how hard they try in school the only thing that matters to colleges for acceptance is the standardized tests. Which in some opinions is unnecessary because it’s causing students to stress more about those tests and not on their grades in school, and they end up falling behind after the test are over and worrying about whether they got the required score to get into their dream college or not.

Many students and teachers believe that standardized test should be abolished from the college admission requirements, because it seems that college boards seem to believe that the test are better at predicting the outcome of a student’s college grades. The makers of the standardized tests require that a singular metric system should be used to evaluate everyone in the exact some way (Hernandez). The makers believe that this system is the most efficient for evaluating students, but efficiency cannot be an excuse for this very flawed system. It’s flawed because you cannot equally measure the potential of each student by the results of a test if each person has a different approach to testing. What should be important is the high school GPA and grades to really show the students potential.

The National Association for College Admission Counseling has discovered that schools that went “test-optional” have improved their diversity without sacrificing academic equality (Hernandez). Since schools went test-optional the admission offices noticed an increase enrollment of students of color. More schools should go test-optional because it gives every student and equal chance to be accepted into their dream college and not have to worry about a silly test score. As of January 2018, over 1000 colleges and universities stopped requiring the SAT and ACT scores for the application process. While other schools are determining what factors are the most important and necessary to the college application. The test really doesn’t represent the student’s full potential to learn and do well in school.

Some pros and cons of standardized testing would be that that even though each test is the same questions and curriculum for each student. To ensure that each person is graded equally or given the same choices as everyone else. Also, the test is not narrowing down with the intended curriculum of the grade level, but instead its only focusing on what knowledge students need in order to pass the standardized test with great grades. Most parents prove of the testing but other think it causes way too much stress in their young children’s life. Although the test provides a lot of useful information the way the makers created the set up with the multiple choice have shown that this certain format is an inadequate assessment tool. Having stricter standards can be better for preparing students for college, but the test only prepares them for these certain tests. Not so much in preparing students for adult hood (Procon).

Really these tests are supposed to provide an accurate, unfiltered measure of what a student knows (Churchill). They provide an objective of the student’s achievement. Some believe that the way a teacher grades is more important, but not all teacher grade equally and they all have their own grading system depending on the school board or system. Teachers grading can also show favoritism to a certain student or group of students. This can cause many problems with the way students are learning and taking their grades seriously. If a student noticed their teacher favoring another student, this may cause them to not care as much since the teacher is more focused on the one student, they are more interactive with or favored more. Standardized test can give parents the opportunity to see how their child is doing compared to the states “benchmark” (Churchill) and compared to their child’s friends.

Many people have different opinions on these standardized tests since it has become such a major thing because of being part of the college application process. Hopefully more schools become “test-optional” because I’m sure they will see a huge difference in enrollment numbers. Also, make large changes in their school’s diversity making the colleges and universities have more equal opportunities for students. The idea of having schools be “test-optional” lets students believe they can get into their dream school and not have to worry about the test and if they got the required score, but it can help them really focus on their high school grade in order to really secure themselves a spot at their dream college.

Work Cited

Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 22 May 2018, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/abolish-standardized-testing-for-college-admissions_us_5b045869e4b003dc7e470ee3

“Standardized Tests – ProCon.org.” ProConorg Headlines, standardizedtests.procon.org/

Aaron Churchill “Bless the Tests: Three Reasons for Standardized Testing.” The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, edexcellence.net/articles/bless-the-tests-three-reasons-for-standardized-testing.

No Child Left Behind

Standardized testing can be very stressful for everyone, not sure students but also on their teachers and parents. If the student fails that means that the teacher failed on teaching them and helping them understand what they needed too in order to pass the test. The parents are stressed because they just want their child to do well and get into a good school. The students have a lot of pressure because they must receive a certain score in order to reach above average and please their teachers and parents. Also, they must get the required or above the required score in order to get into their dream college or university.

https://jcpatriot.com/perspectives/2013/03/11/pro-v-con-standardized-test-provide-inaccurate-judgment-of-students-college-readiness/

• Every student has a fear or being rejected by their dream school just because of their standardized testing scores. They could be the best student in their whole grade but if they do not receive the required score their dream school won’t even bother looking at their high school grades or what they did for extracurricular activities.

https://whatwouldspideydo.wordpress.com/2017/03/02/a-bad-standardized-testing-experience/

• Parents are starting to notice that once their child reaches the grade level where teacher start preparing them for the SAT or ACT, their child is no longer learning important skills or the important curriculum to their age level. Most schools once they hit Sophomore or junior year change pace from the academic curriculum to the standardized testing curriculum and what they need to know in order to pass the tests. Students then become more focused on these tests and not so much or everyday skills and another academic curriculum.

https://annemetcalf.weebly.com/commentary.html

• The standardized test is the same and graded the same for everyone, but this causes a problem because some people could have amazing grades in high school. After taking the test and getting a low mark then defeats the purpose of doing well in school. This picture represents the grading process where there’s he same task for different animals but most of them cannot fully complete them. Just as how college acceptance is with the SAT scores, if you have the passing score you are most likely accepted but if you don’t have the passing score you won’t be accepted.

https://rampages.us/egglestonep/wp-content/uploads/sites/816/2014/10/learn.jpg

• Standardized testing can put so much pressure on students that they lose their interest in doing well in these tests, especially the ones who know they won’t get the right score. They will just give up on themselves, while others just want to be able to learn and not have to worry about the silly test scores to get into the perfect top college. Some students are under so much pressure to get the perfect score that they lose their drive to learn the material that the teacher is teaching them, they only want to understand it enough to pass the certain section of the standardized test.

https://thepoliticsofreading.wordpress.com/2017/02/02/the-future-of-standardized-testing/

• When students have spent all their high school career preparing to only take test its hard for them to have real world skills. Even though they understand the concept of the standardized testing they don’t understand the basic adult task. Yes, students who have done well have gone to their dream college, but they don’t comprehend the basic knowledge needed in adult hood.

http://www.pattileemuratori.com/standardized_test.jpg

• Now a day’s young student’s questions are being left unanswered because they are not part of the curriculum each teacher is assigned too and must follow day to day. This causes the young student to hold back from asking questions that may not be part of the curriculum. Many Students who will ask questions get immediately shut down because its not connected to the lesson or the teacher doesn’t believe it is really that important to learning about test taking.

Work Cited

Doherty, Bryan. “Pro v. Con: Standardized Test Provide Inaccurate Judgment of Students’ College Readiness.” The Patriot, jcpatriot.com/perspectives/2013/03/11/pro-v-con-standardized-test-provide-inaccurate-judgment-of-students-college-readiness/.

Andrew Paulsen. “Category: Standardized Testing.” Andrew Paulsen, andrewpaulsen.org/category/standardized-testing/.

“Commentary.” Home, quemarpress.weebly.com/commentary.html.

“The Future of Standardized Testing.” The Politics of Reading, 2 Feb. 2017, thepoliticsofreading.wordpress.com/2017/02/02/the-future-of-standardized-testing/

Lyon, Kimberly. Moriah Mayhew, Moriah Mayhew, blogs.longwood.edu/standardizedtesting/.