Adding #GASS to Classrooms … Grandparents Adding Soft Skills

Stop and Smell the Roses!

A friend asked me for help on teaching her 2nd grade granddaughter math.  She came home crying because she failed a 2nd grade accountability test.  My 9th grade grandson did not like Geometry and was worried he might get a “C” if he did not pass his final exam.  He loved algebra but had problems in his online AP math class.  I am MADD! Ask me F2F what #GASS means.

I saw Linda Darlene-Hammond at a SXSWEdu conference in 2013 to find solutions to this challenge.  Yet here it is almost a decade latter and the senate wants to add multiple-choice accountability testing to SB3 which gives teachers and librarians a needed salary boost.  Yes, I called and talked to my legislator’s (Beddencourt and Murphy) office interns. I hope they listened and will share my message and that of many experts on testing.  Thanks to Raise Your Hand Texas for their Act Now Flyer.

Together is Better – Part of testing needs to be collaborative building on strengths.

Scott Pelley on the American flag, and Americans’ common purpose – The “60 Minutes” correspondent says “We the people” can only sustain a democracy when divisions do not recklessly tug at the threads holding us together.