The night before I addressed the Kentucky School Boards Association, I had dinner with a group of teachers and parents from Tennessee. The group included Mama Bears, BATS, and TREES.
One of the BATS was Lauren Hopson from Knox County, who teaches third grade children. She is smart, strong, experienced, and wise. She is also outspoken, as I learned by watching this video, in which she let the board know what teachers really think: They are tired of being pushed around. They are tired of an evaluation system tied to test scores. They are tired of pointless training. They are tired of foisting test after test on little children. They are tired of getting training from consultants with less experience than they have. They are tired of the charade foisted upon them by the state of Tennessee. They want to teach. What an idea!
When Lauren gave her talk, she had no idea it would be posted on YouTube. In a week, it had tens of thousands of views. Now it is over 100,000.
Help this video reach every parent and teacher. We can be the change. Social media can counter the billionaires who are trying to destroy our public schools and demoralize our teachers.
Be sure to forward to Dennis Van Roekel in his alternate universe.
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Hear, hear!
Lauren Hopson is the gift that keeps giving in Knoxville, TN. She put her career on the line with this presentation. Knox County School teachers & principals, under the thumb of a Broadie superintendent, is firing teachers for speaking-out.
She is fantastic. Why aren’t there more teachers like this speaking out? Her description was so true. I can’t believe what a farce the whole evaluation system has become. The leadership there is obviously not working for the people.
Excellent speech, Lauren. Nailed it.
Teachers aren’t speaking out because it’s hard to come by a job nowadays and they’re afraid they’ll be fired. Even those with tenure.
Thanks for this, Diane. Will share it on my blog!
It’s Lauren, not Laura. Thank you for recognizing her bravery and character. Proud to know her!
Dave Gorman
Knoxville
Smart, strong, experienced & wise!
Precise description of RealTeachers & RealEducators!
Gates, Obama & ball-bouncing diplomat Arne do not fully understand who we are. Classroom teachers have skills Billionaires did not know about or underestimated. We’ve seen it all, know what to do, and we are survivors.
SMART, STRONG, EXPERIENCED & WISE!
And, we can’t be paid off by their blood $$!
We have SCRUPLES!
Well-said
Reblogged this on Roy F. McCampbell's Blog.
Well spoken, Laura, well spoken.
Get ready for that “conference of concern” letter in your mail box.
Diane, with the proper HTML coding you may imbed this video in one of your Blog posts so anyone can watch it on your Blog without going to YouTube and the viewing counts for the views on YouTube.
I’ve supplied the coding.
outstanding
Love this
Reblogged this on Crazy Normal – the Classroom Exposé and commented:
Thanks for posting this!
Everyone should see this!
Awesome!!!!! Thank god someone is stating their opinion. Now, more parents need to stand up too!!!
Thanks for publicizing about the Momma Bears!
http://www.mommabears.org
Way to go, Lauren!
Excellent video! I shared it on Facebook and am emailing it to my colleagues. We, too, will have part of our teacher evaluation based on student surveys. Having watched kids take these surveys, it is very enlightening (as well as concerning) to ask kids why they chose the answers they did. Kids live in the moment and their answers often reflect what kind of day they are having. We have also started giving kids as young as second grade computerized standardized tests. While some in the district place too much faith in the validity of the results, these tests tell me absolutely nothing.
So true
Excellent! I will tweet it and put it on Facebook.
I wonder whether TN’s 2011 tenure reform law might be challenged in federal court, as it extends the definition of ‘inefficiency’ as grounds for dismissal to incorporate then as-yet-undefined evaluation system. If Lauren’s statement is correct, teachers are not allowed to review or have a fair hearing on evaluation methods/ results. I suspect the state cannot under the law simply legislate away the right to examine the evidence against the plaintiff nor to get a fair hearing on it.
Excellent, excellent, excellent!
Every word is true. Thank you Lauren for your courage, honesty, and integrity. Arne Duncan and President Obama, how do you live with yourselves, hearing this truth, and knowing this demoralization, is the result of your actions and policies? It is shameful. It is immoral. It is heartless.
“Actions speak louder than words, but not nearly as often.” ~Mark Twain
Lauren, You are brave and your video is powerful.
When this first started, a few of us in our state thought we were alone.
We thought it was our immediate leaders creating and using the barbaric tactics of an oppressive regime..
Your video is a testament to EXACTLY the problem teachers in the RTTT states are having..
The $$$$ Hungry Non-Education *”Greedies” have successfully turned the educational system into nothing more than Business as Usual….using the children of the United States of America as the Guinea Pigs…and….. without one ounce of thought into the Inhumane Treatment of its workers…
This is shameful and unforgivable…This needs to stop before it gets anymore out of control than it already is..
Thank God for Diane Ravitch and her ACTIONS as she continually strives to get the message to these Armor-Clad Authoritarian Rulers who are destroying the lives of so many with their $$$$$ wallets and their total disregard for the opinions of the experts in this field!!!!
We are Running with the Bulls……but we are not running away!!!
Thanks for telling about Momma Bears!!!
http://www.mommabears.org
Here’s one of your favorite wealthy ed reformers, bankrolling a propaganda piece on pensions:
http://pando.com/2014/02/12/the-wolf-of-sesame-street-revealing-the-secret-corruption-inside-pbss-news-division/?utm_content=buffer43703&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
It’s weird how the vital civil rights issues of “pension reform” and “education reform” always seem to go hand in hand, isn’t it? 🙂