I have decided to be darning and reckless. Tomorrow and Friday I’m administering the first of three Benchmark tests at school to all my sections. This exercise will last two days, two class periods for each section, an hour and a half total, to assure the students have enough time and don’t feel too much desperate pressure. I’ve tied the benchmark to their grades to give it some bite, quite unlike California’s CST foolishness, so the extra time should temper things just right. A daring move, but one I hope will pay off in just a smidge more dynamic tension as apposed to desperate pressure and result in better scores.

Now for the reckless part. While they are taking the benchmark, I plan to work on Scions of the Moon. One could argue as to the ethical nature of such and point out that I should be prowling the aisles between the desks, patting a shoulder here, pausing a bit there, using proximity and a murmured, “…keep it up…” to redirect drifting focus. And I have ever intention of doing just that, but for 15 minutes here or there, five or six time a day, I hope to type on Scions with a mad obsession. I hope I can catch up on my word count a bit and maybe force something to break loose so I can create buy-in for this story.

Originally posted in The Salamander’s Quill 1.0 now deleted.