I received the following communication and think it will appeal to some readers of this blog.
Your move.
Dr. Ravitch – Dr. Mark Naison began a Facebook page as a “joke” a few weeks ago of Teachers he felt were “badasses” in fighting corporate reform. He invited me to join right away 🙂 I did. When I joined we had 70 Badass Teachers. We did a recruiting day beginning on Sunday as a joke for Badass Teacher of the Month. We conducted the recruiting for 1 hour on Sunday beginning at 4. We went from 200 members at 2:00 to 1000 members at 8:30. We now have over 3000 members on our Facebook page called the Badass Teachers Association. It is a page filled with teachers from all over the nation and some from other corners of the world. We are Badass because we are not going to bow to the corporate takeover of our schools. We are beginning agendas on educating the masses and rising up to stop all of this. Anyhow, we had our first induction into the Badass Teachers Association Hall of Fame. To be inducted you had to show that you are/were fighting Corporate Deform. I am happy to report that not only were you inducted but you were inducted along with Karen Lewis of the CTU and Shaun Johnson and Tim Skelar of TheChalkFace. We would love for you to join our FB group and come give an acceptance speech. Here is our URL
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I’m one 😉
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I am too!
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I am one too and love it!
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It’s a lovely lively place to hang out! 🙂
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I’m all in.
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I’m in.
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In
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Is Diane in?
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I’m in
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I’m in too.
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How can we ask to join? Closed group?
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You can click on a “request to join” button up at the top.
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Done. It is an honor to be among you all! 🙂
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Do you badasses want to come to Indianapolis and help us fight the common core and our “good” friends at Stand on Children, FEE, Gate’s, etc.? They got their game face on and we need troops to attend a late summer- early September rally before the ultimate showdown on Common Core at the Statehouse. It’s going to set education history- no joke.
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We MUST fight! We need a plan. Will you propose something on BAT?
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It won’t let me join. Do u have an email I could send to?
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Erin,
Mark NAISON told me that BTA wants everyone. It has been overwhelmed by responses. Don’t give up. Try again.
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Joined. My note to the BTA:
All you other badass teachers are my heroes. It is long past time when teachers took back their profession from the federal government, from state departments of education, from corporate-backed NGOs, from wealthy plutocrats, from the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, and, importantly, FROM THEIR OWN SO-CALLED LEADERS who have supported and continue to support taking away teachers’ autonomy, their ability to decide for themselves what will be taught, when, and to whom, and how that learning will be evaluated. It’s time to return to site-based, teacher-led management and decision making in the areas of standards, curriculum design, choice of educational materials, choice of pedagogical methods, assessment, teacher evaluation, professional development, and much, much more.
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It is wonderful to know that I am uniting with teachers across the US who are ready to take action to stop the insidious destruction of public education by corporate “reformers”. We are orgainizing and getting stronger by the minute.
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The more we get stifled, the more badass we’ll be, yo. 🙂
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I’m one
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We have been happy for so long getting lost in our students and taking them higher and further. We were not really politicians and tried to stay away from politics because it can be divisive. We love cheerful givers no matter the affiliation. But people kept pushing us and dumping on us, so here we come…get ready.. We (educators) have always been badasses we just didnt brag or boast. Now we have to put our attention on these attackers. I am a BADASS and I approve this message.
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: )
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Don’t just test … don’t just teach. #BeABadAss
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Happy to be a member, NYC
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Looking forward to meeting a few BTA folks at the Rally to Save Michigan Schools tomorrow in Lansing!
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Jeff, don’t forget to scroll down the page to order your BAT shirt! It is going to make it easier to find each other across the US as we start to unite
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Love being a BTA…….😜
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I tred to join just now, and rec’d thie message that the group is closed.
😞
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Try again. It is not closed! Anyone can join!
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You’ll have to apply- it’s a closed group. That doesn’t mean we’re closed, just that not everyone gets in. 🙂
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in
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I’m with you in spirit.
Better to organize than to agonize.
Most Krazy props to all the members of the BTA out there!
🙂
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I also want to join as I’m definitely a badass teacher. It says the group is closed. Is there a different way to join? Thanks
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I don’t think it is closed
Try again
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It is closed, but just go to the page and send a request.
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oh, YES we are!
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I’m in, wholeheartedly!!
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Don’t leave me out! Badass is my middle name.
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I’m one. Been one for a while (badass, that is), but it’s so awesome to see how many of us are sick of what is happening to our kids at the hands of the deformers. Solidarity!!
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Count me in.
I’m also a madass.
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I’m one…..thinking I was one of the first batch on the page! Mark is the biggest BA in the group and we all appreciate everyone’s efforts-big or small!
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I am going to assume that there are now numerous requests to join – as I did, I have yet to receive confirmation and allowed into the discussion. I am patient… the educator side of me but I want to be a Bad Ass immediately!!!!
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Don’t need no stinkin facebook site to tell me I’m a Bad Ass Teacher. I’ve already been certified being a “Difficult Teacher” by Mr. TeachBad.
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I see Ceresta Smith’s a member. I suppose she is a badass.
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I don’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade. Forming Facebook groups for support and solidarity is a great thing, especially with how beaten down people are. But I hope no one is deluded that joining a Facebook group qualifies as action or protest.
Yesterday the first of 50 Chicago public schools closed. Principals of the not-to-be-closed schools have received their budgets, pared down below even basic minimums, to the point that schools have to chose between toilet paper and teachers. A toilet paper protest was planned to coincide with Barbara Byrd Bennett speaking to the elites at the Chase Auditorium. About 100 people showed up.
No matter how many thousands are in a Facebook group, until you can get those thousands – and hundreds of thousands more – to put their bodies in the streets like they did in Brazil, nothing is going to change.
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Dienne,
You are quite right. I believe this site is an awakening. I was truly surprised at how many Teachers did not realize that what was happening to them in their State was also happening to other Teachers from all parts of our Nation.
The classroom Teachers do not have the time to read blogs and articles about the current “reform”. The media for the most part has stayed out of the issues. This facebook page is great in the sense that it gives the Teachers a place to vent and it is an awakening to the facts of how wide spread this new corporate “reform” truly is and it’s destructive nature!
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It let me join. I’m excited to work with them if they’ll have me.
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Erin, I am sure they are thrilled to have you.
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