Testing

I think one day of standardized testing should be allowed per year. From personal experience, I think two weeks (like the PARCC) is too much because its stressful and not fun for the students, and students lose valuable class time. For example, because of the shortened classes, teachers can't teach their full lesson that they planned. The lessons will be pushed to a further date, taking time from future lessons. I think one day of testing should be enough because the state can still track how students are performing on the tests, and the teachers don't use a lot of class time.

Endings and Beginnings

"With every ending comes a new beginning." It's hard to think about endings even though they bring new beginnings. In two months I will be graduating middle school and moving on to a new high school. I look around the classroom and its crazy because I realize that I probably wont see some of them anymore. Everyone's taking different classes and some kids might even be going to another high school. I've known most of my classmates since Kindergarten when I was five. There are even some kids that I've known since I was two or three because I went to preschool with them for years. It makes me sad knowing I won't be close to my classmates anymore. Since the advanced class stays together through all our classes, we've all bonded in a special way. I'm going to miss the jokes the boys tell during class, talking about old memories from Hynes, and the field trips we've took like Camp McLean and Springfield. Even though endings are sad, we have to take a minute to think about the beginnings. Beginnings can be happy, for example, we will be starting high school in the fall. We will be joining sports teams, taking harder classes, moving on with our lives and making new friends.  "With every ending comes a new beginning."