Yesterday I spoke to a high school class at Leon Goldstein HS about the movie - The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman - we made in 2010-11 when we were in the Grassroots Education Movement (GEM) - a pre-MORE group that emerged out of the ICEUFT Caucus. At that point we were just beginning to hold secret meetings about a proposed caucus that became MORE.
There is almost too much irony given current conditions between MORE and ICE (ICE SUSPENDS SUPPORT FOR MORE).
But I'll deal with those issues as I sort them out.
In prep I watched the movie once again and realized a) how freaking good it is - with all the big activists in NYC education in it - and b) how united we were in early 2011 we all were so much together on so many issues.
Maybe everyone should watch the movie together as a reminder.
Mike Schirtzer, a teacher at Goldstein, put me in touch with young colleague, Maurice Blackmon, who invited me. His class watched "Waiting for Superman" and our movie and were asked to come up with question on testing, race, equity, race, class and economic status. And boy did they come up with questions -- questions -- that caused me to have to do a deep dive into so many areas. They asked about tracking, tenure as a way for lazy teachers to escape doing work, charter schools and the union. I made a few critical comments. I learned later that one of the young ladies is the daughter of a top union official. Oooops.
Maurice texted me earlier that today they will hold a debriefing. I hope I pass the test -- but as you all know - I love to talk so if anyone wants to show the movie to their class I'm ready to go.
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