On “Proficiency” by Shannon Nicholls
This is your first Conversation post. Please review instructions for Conversation, and start writing.
Answer 4-6 of the questions below:
- How does the author feel about her writing abilities?
- How does the author feel about standardized tests?
- Retell the author’s journey as a writer.
- 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?”
- Has there been a time in your life when you doubted your abilities as a writer or in general? Explain.
- How do you feel about your writing abilities?
Support your answers with evidence from the text and reply to at least 1 classmate.
6 thoughts on “Conversation 1: Literacy Narrative”
How does the author feel about her writing abilities? the author feels like her writing abilities are amazing as the story begins because she brags about how she definitely is gonna pass and exclusively the writing part of the test, but after some time after she takes the test she realizes that she didn’t pass and how now she’s sad and confused because she was so sure but now she’s completely doubting herself, and how she has some type of hatred towards writing.
How does the author feel about standardized tests? she talks about how she completely hates standardized tests and exclusively the writing part of it because how badly she was let down from a subject she was so sure to pass and do good in, she was so sure because she was always passing but what shes not learning is to be humble and not be so braggy about it.
Has there been a time in your life when you doubted your abilities as a writer or in general? i have definitely had an experience where it hard for me because a long time ago my goal and dream job was to be a psychologist yet i couldn’t pass this one test that frustrated me so so much, but i kept trying which is definitely is key because if you stop trying in something that your so passionate about then you had no point of even trying in the first place.
How do you feel about your writing abilities? i feel like my writing abilities are definitely good but i definitely humble myself because i’m still learning and i feel like i need to be even more proficient because writing is very important and complex thing and subject. thank you
Yvette Reyes
1. How does the author feel about her writing abilities?
How Shannon first felt about her Writing Abilities is that she felt like is was good because she has gotten good grades on it like A’s or 100%. She felt like writing was her best suit. But when she took that one exam, she didn’t do very good and since then she has been saying that writing wasn’t something she is good at anymore. According to the text Shannon has stated, “I began to hate writing, and I started to doubt myself. I doubted my ability and the ideas I wrote about.” Which means that Shannon basically wanted to give up over one bad grade she had received.
2. How does the author feel about standardised tests?
How Shannon feels about the standardised tests is that Shannon does not like or enjoy it at all. Because she felt like it was something very difficult for her and it was something she couldn’t accomplish. She realized at one point she wasn’t doing very good on that 12th grade proficiency exam. According to the text Shannon stated, “I decided to quit trying so hard. Apparently I told myself, the people grading the tests didn’t have the slightest clue about what constituted good writing.” Which means that she felt like the people who always graded the tests had no clue what they were reading or doing at all.
5. Has there been a time in your life when you doubted your abilities as a writer or in general? Explain.
There was a time in my life where I felt like I was doubting my abilities as a writer or in general because one time in high school, all the seniors and I had to write about a PSA of anything that’s happening in the world. And were were supposed to start an argumentative essay on it. I wrote about why people should not smoke Cigarettes, and as I was doing that. I felt like my writing wasn’t as good and I felt like I would get a failing grade. It caused me to stress because it was the most important grade of the year. But it turns out I ended up getting a passing grade and it was the most favourite which caused my teacher to put it up on the board and show the whole class. And that made me feel better about myself and shows that I AM smart.
6.How do you feel about your writing abilities?
I feel like my writing abilities are okay and I feel like I have improved on how to express how I really feel depending on what an argumentative essay is about. That is the kind of essays I do better on.
How does the author feel about her writing abilities?
At the beginning of the story, author Shannon Nichols feels her writing is great because she was preparing for months before taking the “Proficiency test”. In addition, she is a good student and is always one of the honor students. But after taking the test and failing the writing part she was disappointed and surprised because writing is her favorite subject and she was sure she would pass it.
Has there been a time in your life when you doubted your abilities as a writer or in general? Explain.
I definitely had an experience when I was in school because I had never done an essay before and at first everything I wrote was wrong, but I kept practicing because if I wanted to graduate school I had to pass writing, so the day of my final exam I was nervous because I thought I didn’t pass writing but I passed and I was surprised because I passed writing which is not my favorite subject but I didn’t pass math which is my favorite subject and that made me cry and feel confused at the moment.
How do you feel about your writing abilities?
I don’t like to write because I find it difficult for me, but if I have to I try to do my best.
At first the author was very confident, and she even loved it. But she lost confidence after she failed. The author feels that standardized tests are nerve racking, which is why she spends her time preparing beforehand. The author was always confident in her test taking. but once she failed her writing section, she lost faith in herself. If I were Mrs. Brown I would ask her if she took her time, and carefully the read the questions she answered. Yes, there has been a time where I doubted my writing, and that was my English regents. I felt unprepared and didn’t think I was going to pass but I did. I think my writings abilities are decent, and I feel like I’m able to get my ideas out well so that others can understand.
How does the author feel about her writing abilities?
At first she was very confident of her writing skills, she was always on top of her class when it came to writing and was always an A student. Ever Since she failed her test twice and passed it the third time she felt that her writing abilities weren’t enough so she started to slowly give up on it and is confused on why she failed the text even though she was very good at writing.
6. How do you feel about your writing abilities?
I feel like my writing isn’t really the best. I’ve always struggled with writing and just hope I get to improve later in the future.
2. How does the author feel about standardized tests?
The author talks about how she hated the standardized test a lot, especially the writing part since she failed it twice back to back. It went from her enjoying writing to disliking it, never wanting to do it again.
5. Has there been a time in your life when you doubted your abilities as a writer or in general? Explain.
During most of my high school life I’ve always doubted my ability as a writer because I struggled with certain things such as how to start an essay. I would spend a while trying to think on how to start an essay. Sometimes I felt like my writing didn’t make sense at all and I was talking about multiple things at once.
How does the author feel about her writing abilities?
The author feels like she wasn’t good enough in her writing ability and tried her hardest to pass again but when she failed again despite passing the class but failing the test she felt as though it wasn’t her but that different people aren’t accustomed to the writing she does like her teachers. “This experience showed me just how differently my writing could be judged by various readers. Obviously, all my English teachers and many others enjoyed or at least appreciated my writing.”
How does the author feel about standardized tests?
The author feels confident about standardized test because of her GPA and grades inside class and she felt confident she could pass. “After months of preparation and anxiety, the pressure was on. 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.
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 while it is true she gets A’s inside of class it doesn’t mean she would pass the test the same way because not everyone can clearly see what you are trying to explain or show, Some people might miss your intentions and not understand how you would explain in your way and that would cause them to mistakenly give you a wrong grade or have them deduct points .
How do you feel about your writing abilities?
I feel pretty confident about my writing abilities as last year summer I ended up taking a writing course and learning how to write better paragraphs and I did pretty well and for the finals I managed to get a passing grade and even though it wasn’t what I had in mind I still passed and I left it as a,” in the end the result is what matters”.