We are organizing a nationwideTeach-In for this Tuesday, Jan 31 to oppose the confirmation of Betsy DeVos and reaffirm our commitment to public education.
The idea is that, rather than striking, teachers will set aside time to teach a lesson on the importance of public schools. There is apage on the website with lesson plans you can use so you don’t have to create one before Tuesday.
If you want to take the next step, document your action (e.g, photo, video clip, short blog post, the lesson activity you used, student testimonial). Considersending it to us (and your U.S. senators). With your permission, we will post it on the website to build the case for why public education matters!
Also, please feel free to email any activities you design prior to the Teach-In. We will post them on ourresources page, giving participants more ways to engage with students.
DeVos’sfirst confirmation hearing confirmed many of our fears, not only related to her lack of experience in public education but also her history of supporting education programs that undermine public schools. We believe that Tues, January 31 (the day of her confirmation vote) is an opportune time to take a stand for public education, both to oppose her confirmation but also to contribute to the long-term national movement to counter the ever-increasing attempts to privatize public education.
This is the first of what will become a monthly Teach-In on Democracy -- the 4th Tuesday of every month.Publicschoolsmatter.org will be a space where we can continue to share resources for teaching about democracy for each of these Teach-Ins. So please consider creating and sharing lesson materials other teachers can use beyond Tuesday as well.
We need to spread the word across the country quickly so please share this post, thelink, and/or theFB eventwidely!
Now is the time to fight for our public schools!