Pytash: Literature Knowledge and the High School Graduate (Chapter 7)

So I've come to the end of another book, and I have mixed feelings about this chapter. While reading the section called "Assessing Student Effort" I really didn't like that Jago was saying that standardized testing is a good thing and helps the students. I don't feel this way. I have never felt this way. I think that standardized testing is just an out used by administrators and the government so they don't have to do the real work of seeing if kids are learning in the classroom. I also think that standardized testing takes away from actual teaching. Having experience with the OGT, and ACT I feel like teachers have so much pressure put on them to perform that all they think about is the OGT and getting their students to pass.

What I did like about this chapter though was Applying Literature to real life section. Jago said that, " I look for ways to engage students in lessons where they apply what they have learned from literature to more familiar circumstances." I find that interesting and I liked her example of electing a president using Julius Caesar  characters. I thought that was a good way to relate the characters to life today.