STAAR struggles

Just finished an article from last April, entitled https://www.texasmonthly.com/news/new-study-reaffirms-staar-reading-tests-not-on-grade-level/ about the time I was too busy to administer STAAR Algebra to read. I know my students needed my support and I had their back, particularly on reading and vocabulary. I am a firm believer that Math students need to define math terms in their own words, make pictures, and talk about math to understand math.

I tell the hatred of two frequent correspondents, Newton and Leibniz, https://www.newtonproject.ox.ac.uk/texts/correspondence/all, and that this peer talk and review is the backbone of our moving through to new levels of understanding in math. A treatise like Steven Strogatz' Infinite Powers, https://www.stevenstrogatz.com/books/infinite-powers, makes our grasp of difficult topics accessible.

So as a new Geometry teacher, it feels good to share my fears and struggles with this to date most difficult math course any of these students have tackled. And as a new teacher, my struggle is to get inside the constructions and terms that early Geometers like Euclid and Pythagoras built from scratches in the sand.

Texas has not had a Geometry STAAR since 2015, yet our District standards are high and our time short to get students involved in these logical discourses. As my year progresses, I will respond to this article to see how my skills in teaching stand up to the rigors of our requirements. Have a great New (School) Year!