Summary
1) How does the author feel about her writing abilities?
Shannon Nichols, the author, felt good about her writing skills before taking the test. The third paragraph had
Shannon's statement, "Until that time, I loved writing just as much as I loved math. It was one of my strengths. I was good at it, and enjoyed
it. If anything, I thought I might fail citizenship". This demonstrated that Shannon was arrogant enough to think she could pass every
exam—including math, science, and English—yet flunk the citizenship exam only before taking the test. Now Shannon does not believe her
writing is good anymore because she had failed the exams twice. In the last paragraph, Shannon states, " After I failed the test the first time, I began
to hate writing, and I started to doubt myself. I doubted my ability and the ideas I wrote about. Failing the second time made things worse, so perhaps
to protect myself from my doubts, I stopped taking English seriously." This proves that failing that standardized test traumatized her to the point of
doubting herself a lot when it came to writing.
2) How does the author feel about standardized tests?
Shannon wouldn't or doesn't mind the standardized test, she is very neutral about it. I say this because since Shannon
was always top of the class the exams didn't faze her as much as the other students in the class. In the first paragraph,
Shannon states " Throughout my elementary and middle school years, I was a strong student, always on the honor roll.
I never had a GPA below 3.0. I was smart, and I knew it". This example shows that she was prepared and ready for the
exam since she knew she was prepared and ready for the exam since she knew she was going to pass due to her being smart.
3)Retell the author’s journey as a writer.
Shannon Nichols had strengths in her writing before taking the exam. All of her teachers were so impressed by her work that it was even
shown on television. Shannon was top of her class even being on the honors roll, she was so confident that she believed the standardized
test was going to be a piece of cake. When taking the exam the first time around Shannon was surprised that she had failed the writing exam,
even her classmates were shocked since the majority of them weren't passing a regular English class but had passed the exam. Shannon had
taken the English exam the second time around and she had failed that too. Since failing her second time around her doubts started kicking in
about if her writing was even good, if she was even going to be able to pass the exam. After the third try, Shannon finally passed the exam but
had realized that her weakness was writing and if only she was given an understanding of what she needed to work on then it would've helped with her maintaining her enthusiasm for writing.
4) If you were Mrs. Brown, the author’s English teacher, what would you say when the author asked: “How can I get A’s in all my English classes but fail the writing part of the proficiency test twice?”
If I was Mrs. Brown I would just remind Shannon that many of the things we think will be easy in life will turn out to be
quite difficult, but to view these things as opportunities for growth rather than as obstacles to be overcome. This means that as
long as you persevere and never give up, you can overcome any obstacle. Shannon would also learn from me that many
mathematicians and scientists never achieved success without at least one setback before ultimately conquering their obstacles.
5) How do you feel about your writing abilities?
Although I believe I can write well, there is always space for development. One of my biggest problems
is procrastination; I get sidetracked frequently, which makes it difficult for me to finish tasks on time. In addition,
I find it difficult to write concisely and directly to the point; instead, I occasionally stray from the subject at hand or
fail to do so. In a way, I can relate to Shannon since, up until I took an exam that showed otherwise, I thought I was an
extremely talented writer. However, I also discovered that giving up never makes anything better.
One thought on “Conversation 1”
Hi Leslie! I really like what you wrote about if you were Mrs. Brown what would you say to Shannon Nichols: there are things in life that we take for granted but that can be harder to achieve than we think. And the resilience one needs to jump over the obstacles and keep working hard and going on instead of taking it personally and giving up. When you also say, on your first answer, about noticing certain arrogance coming from Nichols, I definitely thought of that as I was reading the story too: specially when she compares other students, who did pass the test, to herself, questioning their ability and skills to hers.