Wake County has issued all English III teachers to give all of their students a mid book assessment on the book The Great Gatsby.
This assessment consists of three different sections that use your ability to analyze characters and use creative writing corresponding to the last 7 chapters of the book.
Many of the students are not happy about this because some have not learned the material they have needed to in the past couple weeks.
Giana Cardinale, junior, said, “I think this test is kind of silly to have a test right in the middle of the book because we are not done analyzing all of the characters and they are still going to develop and grow, and people are still going to change and we just don’t know their whole story yet.”
“I’d say that for the most part, I am prepared; hopefully because I don’t really know what’s going on in the rest of the story, but for now I’ve read the book so hopefully I do well.” said Cardinale.
But also anyone can use common sense and notice it is not reasonable to give out an assessment on the book when they have only read about half the book.
Although giving out assessments regularly is normal, teachers are unsure how they feel about giving this assessment out because if you have not read the full book how can you draw analysis from the full book.
Gabrielle Paradise, teacher at LRHS, said, “Well I think it’s good to give out common assessments all of the students are assessed using the same rubric using the same measurement stick if you will to speak rhetorically.”
“However I don’t like the placement of it. I think that we should be allowed to give these common assessments based on how we’ve arranged them in the curriculum,” said Paradise.
“This test was originally supposed to be at the end of the unit, so it makes it significantly more difficult to put it in the mid unit if you’re supposed to be analyzing a character.
Even though Wake County has given instructions to give out this test for students, teachers believe in their students because they have prepared them.
“I prepare my students with directions, I go around and help everybody, give them plenty of time, I let them ask me questions over and over and over again. I don’t think this is a very challenging assessment so I’m not worried about it,” said Paradise.
I am a junior and I play lacrosse at Leesville. One of my hobbies is wakeboarding and I am excited to be a part of LRHS newspaper!