Standardized Testing And The Classroom Environment

My English class when I was a high school junior was characterized by exactly what people complain about when they belittle standardized testing and the classroom environment it creates. Namely in the area of teaching to and gaming the standardized tests. New York had used its state based and standardized Regents curriculum for the entire time I was in my pre-college education and the peak of the English Language Arts curriculum was in my junior year of high school. To pass high school and get your diploma, the state mandated that you take and pass your English 11 Regents exam. It focused on general multiple choice questions based off of randomly selected passages, short answer questions, and one longer critical lens essay. The only part of the exam that used information taught in the classroom was the critical lens essay in which you had to take two works of literature that you have read and use them to analyze a given quote. Because of how important this exam was, it was offered tw ice in the year for us (which was unheard of in other classes) once in January and once in June. About a month and a half before the January test, my teacher stopped everything we were doing and went into â€Å"test prep mode†. This meant that all class time and activities were purely devoted to running through different parts of the test repeatedly until we effectively had memorized how to do that part of the test. After learning the layout of the multiple-choice section for theShow MoreRelatedStudent Assessment - The Importance of Standardized Testing Essay1149 Words   |  5 PagesThe point here is that standardized testing is necessary to evaluate students and programs achievement or ability. In my opinion it is a good basic start to understanding the development of human- kind in many aspects. For example, in a school setting, standardizing tests are used to measure developmental stages or reading levels, just to name a few. School Psychologist and Counselors use standa rdizing testing to look at the development of students. They will agree severe disabilities to be initiallyRead MoreThe Limitations Of Standardized Testing Essay705 Words   |  3 PagesThe limitations of â€Å"standardized testing† as a rigid and narrow criterion for gauging the educational capabilities of students in public education. The criterion for standardized testing relies on narrow areas of knowledge that define a hierarchical imposition of â€Å"intelligence† testing that forces the student to perform ion a constrained academic environment. This type of testing has become a mechanized tool to reject the individual needs of the student in a linear testing methodology. The importanceRead MoreThe Negative Effects Of Standardized Testing1120 Words   |  5 Pagesadverse effects of standardized testing.† Testing has evolved over time from basic reading, writing, and arithmetic to curriculum based on standardized testing such as the ACT, SAT, and TCAP. Man y years ago, students did not have to take as many tests, and there were not as many opportunities for different types of classes. Schools have evolved as standardized test evolved, and this has forced teachers to evolve as well. As time progressed, the frequency of these standardized test increased and theRead MoreStandardized Testing Should Be Standardized Tests1329 Words   |  6 PagesPretty much everybody in this generation has taken a standardized test in some level of schooling. 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While originally created to help the schoolRead MoreFinland And American Education System854 Words   |  4 Pagesbetween the testing, the paths for the students to take, the time management during school hours, and the classroom environment. The differences between Finland and American education systems start with the youngest students. Finland students start school at a later age than American students. In Finland their students don’t start school until they reach the age of seven years old, where as in America the students start school when they reach the age of five. Finland also doesn’t focus on testing theirRead MoreMy Schooling Experiences Formed A Positive Outlook On American Education1666 Words   |  7 Pagescooking, disappear and curriculums change in order to focus on standardized tests, my view of the education system changed negatively. 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Comparing standardized testing to a swelling monster that is taking over the school systems is a bit of a reach but there is some weight to this statement. Standardized tests have become so frequent in elementary and high school education that they have become the most important tool that is used by school boards and colleges to determine a student’s achievements, but how

Freakonomics Book Review Essay - 630 Words

Maria Vega March 9, 2010 Freakonmics: A Rougue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything What they were all responding to was the force of Levitt’s underly- ing belief: that the modern world, despite a surfeit of obfuscation, complication, and downright deceit, is not impenetrable, is not un- knowable, and—if the right questions are asked—is even more in- triguing than we think. All it takes is a new way of looking. - Stephen J. Dubner. Freakonmics is a book written by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubuer. Steven d. Lennits is the living definition of the phrase â€Å" Think Outside the Box† He is not a typical economist, he even states it in the book’s introduction, â€Å"I’m not good at math, I don’t know a lot of econometrics, and I also†¦show more content†¦Would Roshanda by Any other name be smell as sweet? This chapter goes on by saying that even the name your parents assign to you shows a bit of their love. These as you can see they are not the usual chapter titles, these do leave you thinking â€Å"What?† or â€Å"Really why?† This keeps you reading. It is really hard not to be triggered by the answers of these questions and the interpretation of them in your daily lives. The facts that actually caught the most my attention was the on Chapter 4 was that he stated that as Crack become more popular they had a few more police going against it, but this actually d id not change much, it only made it better for drug dealer. You might wonder why? So read the book, just kidding. Here it goes, how the drugs Were now scarcer they could put the prices higher. This teaches us that we have to really look careful to what our government does, because we at the moment might think its better but it sometimes can be worse. This book is an eye opener, making you look at things in a different way changing your views and perspective of things we thought were impossible or that they had no relationship at all. He incentives you to formulate the correct questions by questioning everything that you feel curious about. Just remember what a genius once said, I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.- Albert Einstein. Just remember how the book saysShow MoreRelated Book Review Freakonomics Essay1524 Words   |  7 PagesThese theories were not only logical, they were also encouraging, for they attributed the crime drop to specific and recent human initiatives, showing us that we had the power to stop it the whole time. Author Steven D. Levitt defines Freakonomics as ?the science exploring the hidden side of everything.? In this example, Levitt does just that. Instead of just accepting the conventional wisdom of the time, that the drop in crime rate could be attributed to an innovative police force, a goodRead MoreApplication of Freakonomics to Project Management1806 Words   |  8 PagesA Book Review of Freakonomics and Application to Project Management November 2010 Project Management Summary The idea to write Freakonomics began in 2003 when journalist and award winning author Stephen Dubner wrote a profile of economist Steven Levitt for the New York Times Magazine. 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Airlines Like hotels, airlines do not book or charge by the weather, but by the day of the week, month, season, etc. Their bookings may be full when surf conditions

Terminal Degree In The Health Industry Essay Sample free essay sample

The wellness attention industry encompasses the merchandises and services offered by a battalion of persons and organisations. Any single or organisation that makes available services or merchandises which contribute to wellness care or wellness betterment is a supplier of wellness attention. I am inclined towards wellness attention because of my functioning attitude. A grade in that field will maximise my accomplishments and passion to assist people in demand. As each human being meets a new human being. he or she makes judgements about how much of ego to portion with that other single. Before sharing profoundly. we all assess the hazard in footings of what we think the hearer will make with our personal ideas and feelings. If trust is experienced. we portion more and turn more. The critical elements of the wellness attention industry that promotes openness are described frequently in the literature of the field. As a wellness attention practician. We will write a custom essay sample on Terminal Degree In The Health Industry Essay Sample or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I must pass on regard for the patient as a individual with rights—a individual seeking to populate the best life he or she can for ego. It is my naming to widen echt lovingness as I try to understand the patient’s universe as if it were my ain and give the patient verbal cues about that apprehension. Until we recognize our function as assistants and see that we are responsible for the quality of lives of others. we allow our heads to command our actions. The wellness attention field fulfills my desire for peace and felicity which leads to a better manner to populate by bettering the lives of others in the procedure. Helping people through healing is a baronial undertaking and I want to be in that country in assisting people who are ill. If my terminal grade is geared towards the wellness attention industry. I will be able to portion all the cognition and accomplishments to my loved 1s and assist them in my ain lovingness manner. It would besides be helpful in the hereafter as these are accomplishments that are most utile over the long draw.

Research Paper on Pop Art Essay Example

Research Paper on Pop Art Essay Pop Art Research Paper Introduction The 20th century was characterized by significant changes in all spheres of human life, which were particularly obvious in economic life of the society. In general the main trend may be characterized as a trend to commercialization regardless the sphere of life of human society. Unfortunately, art, being a constituent part of the development of any society was also significantly influenced by this trend and new movements started to appear for which commercial success of artist was particularly important. Among these movements may be named numerous movements constituting Pop Art. This trend is particularly noteworthy because art has always played an important role in the life of human society. It was important regardless the level of the development of human civilization and time because it was quite natural for people to be a kind of artists. Otherwise, mankind would hardly be able to make such a progress that has been made within thousands of years, and particularly within the last century. At this respect it is worth to mention that the 20th century, being a period of great changes in art, may be also interpreted as a very important period, a point when art gradually evolved and got to be a part of mass culture based on the purely commercial principles of mass production. We can help with writing your essay on Pop Art now! We will write a custom essay sample on Research Paper on Pop Art specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Research Paper on Pop Art specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Research Paper on Pop Art specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The essence of Pop Art In general it should be said that the 20th century is characterized by many as a period of decline of classical art and classical art movement that is, to a significant extent, the result of a rapid and to a certain extent unparalleled development of modern art movements and appearance of such phenomenon as pop art. Pop Art is very complicated phenomenon to study and to understand because Pop Art movements often introduce innovative ideas and absolutely original techniques. Moreover, Steven Henry Madoff in his book Pop Art: A Critical History underlines that â€Å"Pop Art of the 20the century may be called the art of originality and uniqueness† basically because every modern movement of Pop Art tends to be independent and different from others. Speaking about development of Pop Art and about its basic characteristics it is primarily necessary to briefly define what it is and reveal its essence. This will provide us with a possibility to better understand its nature and define the basic characteristics, which are typical for Pop Art and which are probably unique for Pop Art movements. First of all, it should be said that L. Alloway argues that Pop Art may be defined in different ways â€Å"either as a reaction to dominant ideas of abstract expressionism, or as an expansion upon them†. It is noteworthy that Alloy’s definition of Poop Art and certain criticism was a kind of responds to the works of such artists as Richard Hamilton, Andy Warhol and other representatives of new art movements. Furthermore, it should be said that Pop Art movements have started their development since 1950s and the countries where they were particularly spread were Great Britain and the United States. Naturally, Pop Art was not developed in one day as something absolutely new but, on the contrary, it was rather a result of a quite rapid development of art in the 20th century and its main peculiarities. Nonetheless, Pop Art is really a unique phenomenon that appeared in the art of the 20th century and is the characteristic of it. At this respect, it is worth to mention that D. Hebdige in his book Visual Culture underlines that initially this art â€Å"was a movement that departed from the clichà ©s of boldness so often portrayed in modern art†. It means that pop art originates from modern art and consequently modernist movements, which were the characteristic of art, especially in the 20th century. At the same time, it is necessary to say that pop art is traditionally associated with a big problem because there are two contradictive views on pop art. On the one hand, Charles Harrison and Paul Wood in their book Art in Theory 1900-2000 estimate that art is not art at all. It means that some specialists, basically conservatives, believe that Pop Art is not an independent form of art but it is rather a product of mass culture deprived of any artistic value and consequently useless. On the other hand, the authors also underline that the opponents of such point of view believe that â€Å"pop art is quite progressive and perspective direction†, and they estimate that this is the way, which modern art should develop in. moreover, they stand on the ground that art is permanently changing and Pop Art is just a new trend that would be general line for art in the future. However, in actuality the truth is somewhere in the middle because it does not necessarily mean that Pop Art is not art. On the contrary, many specialists and critics for instance Nikos Stangos, recognize Pop Art. At this respect it is noteworthy that Nikos Stangos, in his book Concept of Modern Art, underlines that Pop Art is a constituent part of the modern art and it may be perceived as a logical continuation of the art development of the previous historical epochs. At the same time, speaking about the perspectives of Pop Art it is important to be very careful because, on the basis of the idea of art, as â€Å"a permanently changing and developing structure†, it is very difficult to forecast its future perspectives and nobody knows what Pop Art would be in the future like if it would be at all, at least in its present form. Nonetheless, it is still necessary to emphasize that Pop Art is quite a unique phenomenon because it is significantly different if we compared it with any famous trends in art in the past. Obviously this fact makes Pop Art even more interesting for both artists and critics as well as for wide audience. However, it should be pointed out that often representatives of Pop Art face a very serious problem when the audience simply do not understand their works because, as it is widely known, the wide audience, or at least its conservative part, often does not perceive the works of Pop Art as artist see them or wanted their works were perceived. As a result the audience does not want to recognize them as noteworthy because they remain a kind of terra incognita for them. Naturally, such view is too radical and to a certain extent not professional because in actuality pop art is â€Å"a regeneration and renewal from the nearly two decade reign of abstract art† It finds its reflection in the fact that pop artists disconnected themselves from the idea that art must contain meaning in the abstract. By the way, this is probably another reason why pop artists remain to be misunderstood by certain part of the audience. Nowadays, the popularity of Pop Art have been constantly growing since 1950s and such a progress is obviously the result of work of such outstanding artists as Andy Warhol, Richard Hamilton, David, Hockney, Peter Phillips, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg and many others, who developed this unique and original art movement. Commercialization of Pop Art It is very important to underline that despite the fact that the popularity of Pop Art grew, there was another important problem that a rapid development of Pop Art raised, the problem of its commercialization. In fact, on reflecting on the role of Pop Art, its significance and nature, many specialists concluded that it is highly commercialized and that it is a part of mass culture. To a certain extent such position is quite reasonable because often Pop Art is perceived as just a popular trend in the art and often artistic works are bought simply because they are popular regardless their artistic value. Ion order to better understand the commercialization of Pop Art, it is necessary to briefly discuss the work of some pop artists that actually shaped the public image of Pop Art and developed its basic trends. First of all, it is necessary to say a few words about Andy Wahrol who may be considered as a founder of Pop Art in the US. The media called him the ‘Prince of Pop’ and he was really successful since he made his way from Pittsburgh working class family to an American legend. Andy was very talented in drawing and painting but his first big break was in August 1949 when Glamour Magazine asked him to illustrate an article called â€Å"Success is a Job in New York†. By 1955 Andy Warhol had almost all of New York copying his work. Also Andy Warhol was into doing popular items Coca-Cola and celebrity faces, like Marilyn Monroe and painting was his real passion. His â€Å"Campbell’s Soup Can† is a classic and an easily recognized work of Andy’s. It is very important to underline that when he started his work as an artist he wanted to remove the difference between fine arts and commercial arts and he also wanted to mass produce his own pop art. His favorite printmaking technique was silkscreen that came closest to his idea of proliferation of art. On June 3rd, 1968, the event that significantly influenced his further life happened. On this day, Valerie Solanis shot Andy Warhol three times in the chest but luckily the artist escaped the death. After this event he has never recovered fully that probably influenced his creative work. Remarkably that since that time he has been spending most of his time making portraits of rich and affluent of his time like Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson, and Brigitte Bardot and his work became more and more entrepreneurial and he said that â€Å"making money is art, and working is art and good business is the best art† (Bockris 1987). Nonetheless he still remained a significant heritage in pop art. Another representative of Pop Art, Richard Hamilton, may be considered the founder of British Pop Art. One of his most famous works is the collage titled Just What Is It that Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appeling? (1956). Like, Andy Warhol he also initially started as an artist whose views on art were absolutely far from commercial life but gradually, he started to cooperate with outstanding and famous people like Paul McCartney and Beatles and commercial success arrived. However, his trend to treat the art as a part of mass culture, or mass production may be observed even in his works, including his early one mentioned above since he underlines practical or even utilitarian aspects of life, promoting consumerist values. At this respect, another artist, Roy Lichtenstein, is very similar to him but unlike Richard Hamilton and Andy Warhol, he simply â€Å"borrowed heavily from popular advertising and comic book style† that was particularly obvious in his work Roto Broil (1961) and that symbolized the consumerist attitude to art he promoted by his work. Conclusion Thus, in conclusion, it is possible to say that the development of art of the 20th century was characterized by the growing popularity of Pop Art, which actually was not always understood by the wide audience. At the same time, Pop Art managed to become a sort of mass art promoting consumerist lifestyle and treating art as a kind of business as Andy Warhol did later in his life. This is why it is possible to estimate that Pop Art as one of the strongest trends in the contemporary art may be characterized as a celebration of high capitalism and consumption. Bibliography: Alloway, L. (ed.), Modern Dreams: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Pop Art, New Publishers, New York, 1988. This book reveals the basic historical stages of the development of Pop Art since its beginning till the 1980s. Bockris, V. The Life and Death of Andy Warhol, Bantam, New York, 1989. The author of the book focuses on the life and work of a founder of American Pop Art Andy Warhol Crone, R. Andy Warhol. Praeger, New York, 1970. Another book dedicated to the life and work of Andy Warhol that helps better understand his attitude to art and his perception of the role of artist in the contemporary society. Harrison, C. P. Wood, Art in Theory 1900-200. New York: Touchstone, 2002. The authors trace the main trends in the development of art of the 20th century. Hebdige, D. Visual Culture: Chapter 6: Fabulous Confusion! Pop Before Pop? Routledge Inc., New York, 1995, 96-122. The book discusses the main trends in Pop Art related to popular artists of the 20th century. Madoff, S.H. Pop Art: A Critical History. LA: University of California Press, 2003. The author traces the development of Pop Art in the 20th century. McShine, K. (ed.) Andy Warhol: A Retrospective, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1989. It provides ample possibility to get acquainted with both famous and barely known works of Andy Warhol David Robbins (ed.), The Independent Group: Postwar Britain and the Aesthetics of Plenty, MIT Press, 1990. The book provides ample information on British Pop Art and pop artists. Roeder, G. H. Jr. â€Å"What Have Modernists Looked At? Experiential Roots of Twentieth-Century American Painting†. American Quarterly 39 (Spring, 1987): 56-83. The author focuses on the work of outstanding American pop artists, including Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Rosenblum, R. â€Å"Andy Warhol: Court Painter to the 70s.† Andy Warhol: Portraits of the 70s. David Whitney, (ed.) Random House, New York, 8-21, 1979. The author provides interesting information concerning the main works of Andy Warhol. Sandler, I. The New York School: The Painters and Sculptors of the Fifties, New Publishers, New York. 1978. The book depicts the development of Pop Art at its beginning Stangos, N. Concept of Modern Art. London: Thames and Hudson, 2001. The author focuses on the development of Pop Art in the UK.

Postmodernism and Cybersex essays

Postmodernism and Cybersex essays Gravitating around the epistemological and psychological spheres, postmodernist theorists, amongst other things, make two fundamentally crucial claims when discussing twenty first century computer mediated communications (CMC). The epistemological claim is that the search for the ultimate foundations of knowledge, for depth and mechanism, is futile. Postmodernism is an anti foundationalist philosophy in the sense that it denies that there can be such a thing as transcendent, perfect knowledge. Instead all knowledge claims are justified by rhetoric, convention or authority. The psychological claim of postmodernism is that the notion of a coherent and unitary self is an illusion. The self is really a multiplicity of parts and fragments. Associated with this, the coherence of traditional identity formulations relating to classifications on the basis of race, gender and other physical characteristics are also suspect. So, in keeping with the postmodernist doctrine, what could be more postmodern than cybersex? Now "cybersex" stems from the term cyberspace, originally a term from William Gibson's science-fiction novel of 1984, Neuromancer. Basically cyberspace is the name some people use for the conceptual space where words, human relationships, data, wealth, and power are manifested by people using computer mediated communications technology, or CMC for short. Cybersex, depending on who you talk to has a number of definitions and a number of approaches according to those definitions. How postmodern. Broadly speaking, cybersex is a generic term for erotic interaction between individuals in cyberspace. Generally, it can include exchanges of e-mail, real-time visual communication via webcams, encounters in chatrooms, bulletin boards, and other online virtual communities. However, given prevailing technological restraints, the majority of cybersexual activity occurs in chatrooms and is facilitated by text-sex - essentially, sexual ...

Distracted Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Distracted - Essay Example But the beliefs of freedom, his trust in advantages of electronic communication, fast mobility are but illusions of the modern civilization. Distracted. Yes we all are distracted, we face an erosion of attention and there is a Dark Age looming ahead of all of us. Maggie is absolutely correct in her observations in Distracted that the modern man is engrossed in everything else but the true essence of life for which he was born. (Jackson 2008). â€Å"Virtual love affairs and online games? Simultaneous books and instantaneous travel? Cubist painters, simultaneous poets, and telegraph operators were undoubtedly the front line of industrial society’s plunge into a culture of simultaneity and split screen attention. They were the first one to confront questions that we now wrestle daily. How do we navigate seen and unseen? Part I, Lengthening shadows, exploring our landscape of distraction, chapter 1, tracing the roots of our attention deficit culture gongs a bell into my ears that modern technology is a mere notion of living with the power to reach out to people when we are physically far away from them (Jackson 29) We are trying to live in a virtual world when we have the ability to live in harmony with the real one. It is costing us dearly to be wired to our mobiles, internets, ipods, television sets and high tech gadgets that have made us their slave while we glorify them to be our best assets. Humans are born with the basic sense of touch, smell, sight and taste. These are getting redundant as virtual reality does not offer them as yet. A caring hand, a tender voice, the fragrance of a rose and the taste of home made food made lovingly by a close one will never be a substitute for the best from the cyber world. Our connections to the electronic mediums of modern life are degenerating our biology. The basic human virtues are at stake and we are not in power but in constant failure of

Hamlet Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Hamlet Paper - Essay Example This setting emphasizes the exclusion of the people in this scene from the important and royal people who are tucked up inside the castle. It is as if the author is leading the audience gently up to the castle from a long distance and forcing them to pause and reflect on the time and place before tackling the main characters and plot. As the scene develops, however, it gradually becomes clear that this opening scene is setting down some markers for what is to come. It does this by drawing attention to three main themes which are: loyalty to the monarch, the difference between fantasy and reality, and the dread of some impending but unknown evil. The opening lines of the play are evidently an exchange between two guards, Bernardo and Francisco, who are changing places because it is time for one to finish his shift, and the other one to start. They speak to each other robustly and yet also respectfully, and it is clear that they both are in service to a monarch since Bernardo shouts ou t â€Å"Long live the king!† (Act I, Scene 1, line 3) as a means of identifying who he is. Both Bernardo and Francisco define themselves by their duty of loyalty to the king, and although they take their jobs seriously, it seems to be a life of hardship, because Francisco complains of the cold and of the fact that he is â€Å"sick at heart.† (Act I, Scene 1, line 8). This same declaration of loyalty to the king is repeated when Horatio and Marcellus appear, declaring that they are â€Å"friends to this ground/And liegemen to the Dane.† (Act I, Scene 1, line 8). The Dane is a reference to the king of Denmark, since kings were often referred to simply with the name of the country they ruled, and it is Shakespeare’s way of making it clear to the audience that the action takes place in this foreign country of Denmark. The loyalty of these men to the Danish throne is not in the least questioned but an element of doubt creeps in when it becomes clear that the g hostly apparition in front of them is â€Å"In the same figure, like the king that’s dead† (Act I, Scene 1, line 41). This reference informs the audience that there has been a recent changeover in the kingship, and that the soldiers have not yet adjusted to the new king’s reign. Bernardo says â€Å"Looks it not like the king?† (Act 1, Scene 1, line 43) and does not use a phrase like â€Å"the old king†, or â€Å"the former king†. This suggests he is still loyal to the old king and thinks of him automatically as the rightful monarch. The soldiers ask Horatio, who is addressed as a scholar, meaning that he has more education and status than the ordinary soldiers, to speak to the ghostly figure, and Horatio too, reveals his fondness and respect for the dead king, whom he refers to â€Å"the majesty of buried Denmark.† (Act I, Scene 1, line 48). In this case the usage drives home the message that if the fate of the whole country is tied u p with the fate of the king. This little exchange injects an element of suspense into the scene, because the audience is bound to be wondering what happened to the old king, and who is now ruling Denmark in his place. These questions are left hanging in the air, so that the whole topic of kingship acquires an aura of uncertainty. Further information about the dead king is given by Horatio, who presumably knew him, and fought with him