Listen to your Mommas!

1. Listen to your Mommas! Why our voices matter

2. Who are the Momma Bears? www.MommaBears.org

3. How did we meet?

5. How our “movement” grew:

6. *Issues & Positions: • Pro-student • Pro-teacher • Pro-public school • Pro-parental support & involvement • Against high-stakes testing • Against Common Core • Against Charter Schools • Against Vouchers • Against Data Mining • Age appropriate curriculum & materials for students *Ask me why later

7. Mother Crusader’s Blog: “Reformers attempt to pit parents in "high performing" schools against parents in "failing schools", and parents across the state against the teachers that educate and care for their children.” http://mothercrusader.blogspot.com/2012/05/happy-mother-crusaders-day.html?m=1

8. Mother Crusader’s Blog: “It is time we tell them that we're not falling for their divisive rhetoric. Instead, we want a fully funded education system that works for ALL studentsand we want to work with our kids' teachers, administrators and school boards to build strong, vibrant learning communities.” http://mothercrusader.blogspot.com/2012/05/happy-mother-crusaders-day.html?m=1

9. What do we do? Website & Blog:

10. Facebook = Instant connection

11. Who are the Momma Bear bloggers? Anonymous because: • We don’t do it for fame • We want to protect our kids • We are protecting our sources

12. Networking with other groups: • Stop the TN Testing Madness • Stop Common Core TN • TEA (TN Education Association) • BATS (Badass Teacher Association) • TREE (TN Reclaiming Educational Excellence) • SPEAK (Students Parents Educators Across Knox County) • TN Parents www.tnparents.org • Diane Ravitch Network for Public Education • Parents & teachers!

13. Success stories: www.MommaBears.org

14. Success: Contacting legislators

15. Success: Blitz Gov. campaign

16. Success: Petitions

17. Success: Tripod Surveys

18. Success: Climate Surveys

19. Success: Inappropriate book

20. Success: Opt-out movement

21. Success: uncovering secrets

22. Success: Poppa Bear bloggers

23. Teachers are not the problem. Teachers are the SOLUTION!

25. BATs • Who? • Why? • What are they doing?

30. From a teacher who quit: “Teaching receives little respect from the public in general, but more upsetting still, is the fact that teachers receive such a lack of respect from our very own educational leaders. Teachers are viewed as expendable rather than valuable, incompetent rather than intelligent, and scorned rather than honored.”

31. Teachers are not the problem. Teachers are the SOLUTION!

32. Are there “bad” teachers? Think about your worst teacher. Did you learn something? Was it someone else’s favorite teacher? What about teachers that “don’t like you?”

33. CAN teachers be measured? “I already knew the answer, before I asked the question, because you will never be able to measure a person's heart and that's the variable all these knowledgeable people do not understand. They are trying to find exactly what is that makes a teacher effective and they just do not understand a teacher's heart. They are evaluating you through their own heart and their eyes, which are not those of a teachers. I could have saved them millions of dollars, but they didn't ask me and that is not my job. I just help raise money.”

36. The truth about education policy: The truth about education policy is that it is written and enforced by people who have either spent little or no time in the classroom with the students that these very policies affect. Why not allow the individuals in direct contact with students to mold and shape the environment of the students? Education is the only industry that is developing a product without any valid market research from its users! Students aren’t asked what they want or need. Teachers aren’t asked what would work for their students. - Joshua Katz, high school math teacher in Orange County, FL (video)

37. Teachers are not the enemy: • Teachers are not the enemy: It is the private companies like Pearson and interest groups like ALEC, that write policies and laws that are passed over steak dinners with words like “accountability” and “rigor” to perpetuate their bottom lines on the heads of our students. - Joshua Katz, high school math teacher in Orange County, FL (video)

38. Follow the money: “Follow the money: of all the tax dollars that go into education, how much goes directly to students? How much goes directly to a teacher’s relationship with students (which by the way, are another leading indicator of student success)? Compare that to how much goes to private companies for materials and resources, as well as bureaucracy? Just follow the money.” - Joshua Katz, high school math teacher in Orange County, FL (video)

39. Momma Bears “follows the money” trailResearch, research, research…Share, share, share… Social Media 

40. Curmudgucation blog: “I am always struck by the huge contrast between the Reformsters and the Resistance. On the Reformster side we find almost exclusively people who are making a buck from all this mess. We find glossy sites and paid consultant work and huge efforts (and expense) to push the carefully spun and crafted message out there. On the Resistance side, we find...well, we find a herd of cats. A big unpaid volunteer DIY widespread pay-your-own-expenses herd of cats. If Reformsters were working on the Resistance's collective budget, with the Resistance's expectation of monetary reward in their future, the battle would be over today, because they would have about three people left fighting for their cause.” 5/31/14 www.curmudgucation.blogspot.com

41. HOW and WHY we will win: “It is an amazing world in which people with no resources by a computer and their own spare time can sit down and reach out to others, where a network of people can share their concerns and information and understanding and strength across the miles.” 5/31/14 www.curmudgucation.blogspot.com

42. The Power of Words: “There's a powerful need for words. What I hear over and over again is some version of, "I knew something was wrong, but it was wrong in such a fundamentally bizarre way that I couldn't even find the words to explain. My gut just knew something was horribly wrong."Followed closely by, "Thank God it's not just me. I was afraid it was just me." There's a powerful need for clarity and understanding and a sense of connection to other people who share a belief in the promise and importance of public education.” 5/31/14 www.curmudgucation.blogspot.com

43. “And if a C list blogger can gather a quarter-million reads in a little over six months, let that be a sign of just how huge we are in number. The Reformsters had better check their resources, because they are in for a long hard fight.” 5/31/14 www.curmudgucation.blogspot.com

44. GREAT BLOGGERS: • Diane Ravitch • Mercedes Schneider – Deutsch29 • Peter Green – Curmudgucation • Crazy Crawfish • Edushyster • Schools Matter • WhatIsCommonCore.wordpress.com • Missouri Education Watchdog • Just average Moms who blog about their own experiences: • http://www.lynnerigby.com/blog/2014/05/why-i-am-pulling-my-kids-from-public-elementary-school-a-letter-to-the-powers-that-be/ 373 comments, 41.916 likes since May 30th!

45. “I’m a photographer. This is my daughter… and this is the first photo of her that I have ever hated.”

47. “Those of us who love public education are many, and we're committed, and we're connected, and we're not going away, and we're not giving up, and we're not alone, and we're not dependent on the kindness of corporate sponsors.” 5/31/14 www.curmudgucation.blogspot.com

48. We enjoy the shade of trees that we did not plant