Summary
Lucian Benjamin
1/29/2024
How does the author feel about her writing abilities?
I would say that Sharon Nichols has confidence in her writing abilities; this is shown when she says “I told myself the people grading the tests didn’t have the slightest clue about what constituted good writing”. This clearly represents that she has a lack of confidence in her standardized test taking abilities more than her actual writing abilities. I feel the same way I remember studying for SAT’s and it was one of the most demoralizing experiences I have had with education, I fortunately never had to take them because I graduated during covid.
How does the author feel about standardized tests?
I would say Sharon Nichols appears to be pretty neutral about standardized testing because she seems to have passed all the other sections well and only struggled on this specific subject. This is reinforced when she says “Although the test was challenging, covering reading, writing, math, and citizenship, I was sure I had passed every part. To my surprise, I did pass every part --except writing”
Retell the author’s journey as a writer.
Sharon Nichols was always a skilled writer even dating back to middle school, she would always do well in class and constantly found herself even on honors. She eventually had to take her 8th grade proficiency test and utterly failed at the writing section. This instilled a strong disbelief in herself that she was not a capable writer. She eventually recognized that this is more a matter of the standardized testing structure and not her actual writing abilities. She was even able to get straight A’s in her writing courses and got one of her poems shown on TV. She was able to regain her confidence in her writing after she ultimately passed the test but she never looked at writing the same. “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 I enjoyed it.” This summarizes the point of what I am writing pretty well.
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?” I would tell her that maybe she has to adjust what she is studying for. She is not studying to write an essay but rather to take a standardized test and the method to approach that is entirely different. And to also not let it get to her and continue to keep studying. “Failing the second time made things worse, so perhaps to protect myself from my doubts, I stopped taking English seriously”
How do you feel about your writing abilities?
I would say I feel pretty confident in my writing abilities, but I have always struggled with procrastination so I think that has always hampered the quality of my work. I believe if I just sit down and really do the work and go over it, I can write a strong essay. I connect with Sharon Nichols with this essay because I always let bad grades kill my will to keep trying in school and even though she did do well she clearly lost her motivation after her poor performance on her proficiency test.
2 thoughts on “Lucian Benjamin- Conversation 1”
Hi Lucian! Your points were all very clear and I found interesting how differently we answered the second question (how does she feel about the standardized test?). While I was under the impression she was a bit angry about the test you came to the conclusion she was neutral, which is funny because when I read the quotes we used to justify our answers I somehow agree with both points! I also agree with you about how procrastination affects work quality because it happens to me too. One thing that has helped me is to use a paper planer. I know it sounds very cliché, but I started using it this year and it’s been helping me lot! It’s very satisfying to write down a task and then cross it once you are done.
Hey Lucian, as I was reading your answers, when I got to the questions about Mrs. Brown and what she could have said to Shannon, I think you brought up a very good point about the differences of writing for a school essay to practicing to take a standardized test. I am a person who often struggles with tests because I have a very hard time to manage my time to read/understand/answer questions of a test and specially when I get to the writing parts of it, I always need to rush things last minute and end up not delivering a work as good as what I intended to due to time management issues. And things like this such as managing time, answering all the questions of the prompt, understanding what the standardized test expects you to say is just as important as being able to build a good essay.