Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Make it realistic even though it is not real Mrs. Brown gave her 8th grade students the following writing prompt from the released Ga Writing Test Prompts: Writing Situation The cafeteria manager in your school has noticed that many students throw away most of their lunches. She is concerned about this problem and would like to make changes in the menu based on what teenagers like to eat. Directions for Writing Decide how you would change the menu. Write a letter to the cafeteria manager to convince her that your changes will appeal to the teenagers in the school and reduce lunchroom waste. The student cannot understand how to write on this prompt because he likes the lunchroom food. The teacher has walked him through the prompt and has explained that sometimes when we can't relate to a prompt, we have to make something up. This still confuses the student. Can you offer any suggestions to Mrs. Brown? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) I would talk to your students about issues like this before the writing test. When your students get to the actual test, you are not allowed to assist them, just say good luck and try their best. This is why it's important to try and prepare them before the test. Then, I would voice your concerns to your administrator, board, etc. That would be a tough question for many students because they also realize that in school their opinion about food and stuff doesn't matter much so I wouldn't think they would see the relevance in this writing. The prompts for these writing tests need to be more appropriately geared for students so they want to write.                 Rating The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) Yes The suggested solution is relevant to the case Yes The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement Yes The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue Yes The suggested solution is original Yes Comments: It is hard because we do not know exactly what students are going to be asked to write about on these tests, but we can try to make the students understand that the content of what they write is not what is all that important. Teach them how to properly answer the questions and write a proper essay without worrying about if they are giving facts in the writing. They can make up experiences even if they did not go through them personally. Rated On: October 19, 2014 9:36 pm Rated By: MaXuDe