As we wrap up our month-long campaign, No History Is Illegal, we can count more than 11,500 people who visited the campaign website, and nearly 1,500 people across five continents who pledged their support. These include many amazing stories of solidarity, such as:
And, at Knox College in Illinois, students in a Historian’s Workshop opened their class discussion on these issues to invited guests—friends, prospective teachers, and professors—and ended by writing letters to students and teachers in Tucson.
Support for Tucson teachers and students continues to grow. Most recently, the American Educational Research Association (AERA) released a statement on the suspension of Mexican American Studies in Tucson, “…the AERA Council emphasizes the substantial body of research that reveals that such courses improve critical thinking and reduce stereotyping and bias among students. Characterizing the legislation as educationally indefensible, AERA urges the Arizona State Legislature to repeal HB2281.”
Rethinking Schools posted a preview of their Spring editorial, which acknowledges the ridiculousness of banned books but focuses on the heart of the issue, saying, “Many commentators focused on the outrageous act of banning books. But the books were merely collateral damage. The real target was Tucson’s acclaimed Mexican American Studies program, whose elimination had long been a goal of rightwing politicians in Arizona.”
Of course, the struggle does not end with the month of February. If you are looking for ways to stay with the campaign and support the teachers and students in Tucson, consider organizing a screening of Precious Knowledge in your community. And watch the premiere of Precious Knowledge on PBS May 17.
You can also join or support Librotraficantes, the caravan to smuggle banned books into Tucson. This group will be traveling from Houston, Texas to Tucson March 12 to 18 carrying ‘contraband’ books and creating a network of underground libraries.
The blog Banning History is collecting video testimony of people reading passages from the banned books.
We continue to encourage you to tell the story of how you shared the struggle of Tucson in your classroom by writing a testimonial on the No History Is Illegal website. You can also directly support the teachers in Tucson by making a donation to the Save Ethnic Studies legal defense fund.
Thank you for being part of this amazing act of solidarity.
In Solidarity,
Teacher Activist Groups (Association of Raza Educators, Education for Liberation Network, Educators’ Network for Social Justice, Metro Atlantans for Public Schools, New York Collective of Radical Educators, Rethinking Schools, Teacher Action Group Philadelphia, Teacher Activist Group Boston, Teachers 4 Social Justice San Francisco, Teachers for Social Justice Chicago)
A call for solidarity from the national network of Teacher Activist Groups (TAG)
NYCoRE is a proud organizational participant in TAG
They say shut it down. We say spread it around!
As a network of Teacher Activist Groups (TAG), we believe that education is essential to the preservation of civil and human rights and is a tool for human liberation. In alignment with these beliefs, TAG is proud to coordinate No History is Illegal, a month of solidarity work in support of Tucson’s Mexican American Studies (MAS) Program. In January, 2011, state attorney general Tom Horne declared the Tucson Unified School District MAS program illegal. Over the past year, teachers, students and administrators have come together to challenge Horne’s ruling, but on January 10, 2012, the TUSD school board voted 4-1 to cease all MAS classes immediately for fear of losing state aid.
In the month of February we invite you to strike back against this attack on our history by teaching lessons from and about the banned MAS program. On the website (http://www.teacheractivistgroups.org/tucson/) you will find a guide that includes sample lesson plans from the MAS curriculum as well as creative ideas and resources for exploring this issue with students. Whatever happens in Arizona, we can keep the ideas and values of MAS alive by teaching about them in our classrooms, our community centers, our houses of worship, our homes.
February 1 is the first day on which TUSD must comply with this law. It is also the first day of African American History Month. And as Dr. King warned us, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” What is happening in Arizona is not only a threat to Mexican American Studies, it is a threat to our right to teach the experiences of all people of color, LGBT people, poor and working people, the undocumented, people with disabilities and all those who are least powerful in this country.
Our history is not illegal. Please join us by pledging to teach MAS.
Courtesy of TSJ-Chicago – http://www.teachersforjustice.org/
The New York Collective of Radical Educators is pleased to offer an opportunity for teachers to build community and develop as activists. Educators will participate in Inquiry to Action Groups linking social justice issues with classroom practice. Small groups will meet weekly (for a total of six, two-hour sessions plus a kick-off and possible conference workshop) between January and March to share experiences, respond to readings, exchange ideas and develop plans of action.
2012 ItAGs
1) No Justice, No Peace: Creating a Culture of Peace Through Nonviolence Education
2) Re-Imagining the Identity of Special Education
3) Write On!: Writing for Social Justice
4) Public Education for the 99%
5) Pipeline Pedagogy
1. No Justice, No Peace: Creating a Culture of Peace Through Nonviolence Education
Countless lesson plans have been created to help young people identify bullying as a form of violence. Yet so often our attempts to teach peaceful conflict resolution in the classroom ignore the structural violence that many of our students and their families face on a daily basis. In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., “True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.” So can we hope to teach peace in the presence of injustice?
This is an ItAG specifically for educators who work with elementary school children. Participants will examine the various forms of violence that overtly and covertly manifest themselves in daily life. We will explore the philosophies of practitioners of nonviolence including Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez, and discuss how to introduce and break down these concepts to even the youngest of learners. Our goal is to develop curriculum that goes beyond anti-bullying to help students identify the pervasiveness of violence and the power of nonviolence.
Facilitators: Karla Tobar is a fourth grade bilingual teacher in the Bronx. She is a 2011 Ahimsa Center Fellow, an experience that sparked her interest in nonviolence education. Alanna Howe is in her seventh year of teaching in New York City Public Schools. She is currently teaching 5th grade at a dual immersion school in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn.
Dates: Tuesdays from 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm. Kick off on 1/27; sessions following on1/31, 2/7, 2/14, 2/28, 3/6, and 3/13.
2. Re-Imagining the Identity of Special Education
What is “Special Education”? Good question!!
This ItAG seeks to redefine, reinvigorate, and re-imagine what it means for us (educators, service providers, family members) and our students to be a part of the Special Education SYSTEM (roar…). Through the sharing of stories, critical readings/discussions, and transformational art (yes, you might get dirty!) we will collectively re-imagine and recreate the World of Special Education.
Facilitators:Margrit Pittman-Polletta is a Brooklyn native and early childhood Special Education teacher at PS 24 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Emily Clark is not a Brooklyn native. She teaches ninth grade English at Manhattan High School, a District 75 high school, in Manhattan.
Location: Manhattan High School, 317 West 52nd Street (Between 8th and 9th Aves), Manhattan
Dates: Thursdays from 5:30-7:30 pm. Kick off on1/27; sessions following on 2/2, 2/9, 2/16, 3/1, 3/8, and 3/15.
3. Write On!: Writing for Social Justice
This ItAG will explore what it means to write for social justice. Participants will engage in writing activities as both writers and teachers of writing. Participants will discuss standards, literacies, and definitions of social justice in relationship to writing as an educational, artistic, and social act. Ultimately, our goal is to develop strategies, insights, models, and tools that enrich our teaching practice.
Facilitators: Ama Codjoe is the poetry-teaching artist with A.C.T.I.O.N. (a social justice and arts program) and the co-facilitator for the Social Justice Pedagogy Team at DreamYard Project in the Bronx. Chrissy Williams is a high school English instructor at Arturo A. Schomburg Satellite Academy in the Bronx.
Location: Institute for Urban and Minority Education, 2090 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard. 8th Floor, Manhattan
Dates: Thursdays from 5:30-7:30pm. Kick off on 1/27; sessions following on 2/2, 2/9, 2/16, 3/1, 3/8, 3/15 and 3/22.
4) Public Education for the 99%
The Occupy movement has taken over the country! This ItAG will begin by exploring public education from the vantage point of the 1% (What’s Wall Street got to do with our schools?) and end by re-imagining what public education will look like when democratically run by the 99%. The ItAG will collaborate with members of Occupy the Department of Education (DOE), Occupy Wall Street (OWS), and will be action oriented throughout the process.
Facilitators: Alba Lamar is a third grade teacher in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. She is a member of NYCoRE and a member of Occupy the DOE. Leia Petty is a high school counselor in Bushwick, a member of Occupy the DOE and a contributor to www.socialistworker.org.
Location: The Atrium at 60 Wall Street
Dates: Sundays at 12pm (noon). Kick off on 1/27; sessions following on 1/29, 2/5, 2/12 2/26, 3/4, and 3/11.
5) Pipeline Pedagogy
The School to Prison Pipeline is a system of policies and practices within the DOE and the NYPD that push young people away from schools, into the streets, and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems. Also known as School Pushout, these policies disproportionately affect youth of color, youth with special needs, and youth from low-income families. In these sessions we’ll explore the origins of the pipeline in New York City, what pushout looks like today, and ways in which stakeholders including parents, teachers, administrators and students might work together to help dismantle the system that is depriving the most vulnerable youth populations of a quality education.
Facilitators: Wazina Zondon is a social justice-minded educator and NYCoRE member. She currently teaches sex ed to 8th graders in downtown Brooklyn. Angela Jones is the Coordinator of the School to Prison Pipeline Project at the New York Civil Liberties Union. Her work focuses on improving school safety policies and putting an end to the path that leads students away from schools and toward the juvenile and criminal justice systems.
A general kick-off meeting for all ItAG participants will be held Friday, January 27th, 6:00– 8:00 p.m. at NYU, Pless Hall @ 82 Washington Square East (between Greene and Washington Square Park). 3rd floor Lounge. Dinner provided. (Call Ariana @ 917.270.7901 if you have trouble finding the location).
Registration
The registration fee is $30. Multiple teachers from the same school can register together for the same ItAG for a reduced rate of $25 each. This will cover the cost of materials and support NYCoRE’s ongoing work. More info on itags available at http://www.nycore.org/projects/itags/.
