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What teachers REALLY want

May 8th, 2013
by Lily.
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Welcome to National Teacher Appreciation Week. I looked under my pillow to see if the Tooth Fairy left me something. Nope. Checked the fireplace to see if Santa had been there? Zip. Maybe a piñata filled with sweet surprises? Nada.

Ok. Maybe we didn’t ask. You don’t get what you wish for. You’ve got to let people know what you want. We did that. We asked teachers all over the country what they wanted, so jot this down so you know what to leave under the tree for next year.

thank a teacher

1. They want people to trust them. Teachers want to be held to high standards (which has nothing whatsoever to do with a standardized test.) They want the responsibility and the authority to collaborate with their colleagues and design instruction that interests their students and nurtures the whole child, mind, body and character. (more…)

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The Time is Now: Watch the rally for immigration reform

Apr 9th, 2013
by LilysBlackboard.
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On Wednesday, April 10, tens of Thousands of community, labor and immigrant rights supporters and immigrant families converged on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol, urging Congress to pass common sense Immigration Reform in 2013 that includes a clear and direct path to citizenship for the nation’s 11 million undocumented immigrants.

Educators from across the country were there to support their students and millions of aspiring Americans who contribute daily to our nation.

Lily led educators who came to take a stand for their students and their families.

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Check out some great photos from the rally and what people were saying on social media! (more…)

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The Time is Now for Dreamers: Join the rally April 10

Apr 9th, 2013
by Lily.
6 comments

Wednesday I will stand on the West Lawn of our nation’s capitol with thousands of others and demand that a dream come true.

Congress isn’t Disneyland and I am not wishing on a star for Tinker Bell to wave a magic wand. It’s not that kind of dream.

Real dreams aren’t about magic. They’re about work and sacrifice and never giving up. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream that his children would live in a world that judged them by the content of their character and not the color of their skin; That there would be a place for them in the country that they loved that simply offered them the same equal opportunity, as anybody else, to live their lives as far as their talents and hard work and luck would take them.

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High Stakes Testing Ground Zero…And the Revolution that Followed

Jan 22nd, 2013
by Lily.
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Norma de la Rosa didn’t sleep the night before because she was afraid.  Norma is the president of the El Paso Teachers Association and she’s not afraid of much.  Not politicians or reporters or giving speeches before hundreds of people, but she was about to do something no one in El Paso had done before.  She had invited the entire community to come to what is being called their Ground Zero.  She was afraid that no one would come.

Ground Zero is what we call the pit left after an explosion.  After an attack.  Bowie High School was Ground Zero for hundreds of students whose futures were attacked.  The students at Bowie are smart, energetic teenagers with as much right to a future as anyone else’s kids.  The school is located along the border.  You can throw a rock and hit Mexico.  There is a high poverty rate among families. High unemployment.  Many students are English Language Learners.  These boys and girls need an excellent education to meet the challenges that are part of their lives.

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(more…)

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