Video: I was pepper sprayed in the face on MLK Day

To the readers of I Am An Educator, Thanks are due to so many of you who have contacted me with encouraging words in the wake of me being pepper sprayed by police on Martin Luther King Day.  Blow is the essay I wrote about what happened, which was originally published in The Nation.  The …

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Black Haitian Lives Matter: Haiti on the Fifth Anniversary of the Earthquake

Five years ago today, my wife, my one-year-old son and I survived the earthquake in Haiti. I will forever be grateful that my wife came back to the hotel early from her work that day and when the earthquake struck, we were all together.  While we were lucky—part of lobby of the hotel collapsed but …

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Top Ten Acts of Test Resistance in 2014–The greatest year of revolt against high-stakes testing in U.S. history

The year 2014 marked the greatest year of revolt against high-stakes testing in U.S. history. Across the country, students are walking out, parents are opting their children out, and teachers are refusing to administer these detrimental exams—often taking great personal and professional risk to defy the corporate education reformers...Here then are my picks for the top ten most powerful acts of resistance to high-stakes, standardize testing in 2014. I hope to add your action to my list next year!

Black Student Union: “This is our time to speak”–Are the education reformers listening?

Seattle Times runs front page profile of Garfield High School Black Student Union’s leadership in the Black Lives Matter movement: “We are fighting for our lives.” Two weeks ago Dan Beekman of the Seattle Times, a Garfield High School graduate himself, returned to the Bulldog house in search of a story about the Black Lives …

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“Voices of a People’s History,” 10th anniversary edition features testing resistance & MAP Boycott!

Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove’s updated primary source companion to A People’s History of the United States includes Amber Kudla’s anti-standardized testing graduation speech and Jesse Hagopian’s reflection on the Seattle MAP test boycott. Since its publication in 2004, Voices of a People’s History of the United States has played a vital role in my …

Continue reading “Voices of a People’s History,” 10th anniversary edition features testing resistance & MAP Boycott!