Wednesday, July 27, 2011

#SchoolDidAGoodThing - A Challenge for change

Challenge

I have been blessed with the number of responses to my initial #SchoolDidAGoodThing post. I never thought it would bounce around the world the way it did. Responses from Diane Ravitch, Justin Hamilton and amazing educators around the world truly inspired me. I love checking in on the tag to see the few new tweets that have appeared from time to time. However, I'm not satisfied.

The Save Our Schools rally is in DC this weekend where educators from across the country are going to voice their opinion on the current state of education. Sadly, I can't be there and I know there are many others who want to be there as well. So, I have an idea.

What if every single educator tweeted a message to @ArneDuncan and @BarrackObama a positive message of what schools do using #SchoolDidAGoodThing? If we all shared a united voice on how important schools are and how critical it is to have teachers at the table for discussions, they might just start to listen.

There are so many educators that are on Twitter and engaged in blogging, it is possible to make a difference if we can all band together for a common cause. Trying to reach out to the politicians that are making policy is key. If educators rallied behind this tag and spread it across Twitter, Facebook, Blogs and even Myspace, we could make them listen.

The Challenge:

I challenge every single educator that has a Twitter account to tweet the President and Secretary of Education a POSITIVE message of what schools have done using #SchoolDidAGoodThing. If you do not have a Twitter account, sign up and send these tweets in support of the teachers that are taking the time to head out to DC and show the government how serious we are about the education of this nation's children.

There is no reason that we can not get this tag to start trending across the country. You do not have to be an educator to use the hash tag. The more people that we get to send tweets or post comments on Facebook pages, the bigger influence we can have. We have to speak up, and that time is now. Maybe then, politicians will see educators as more than test givers and punching bags.

Please take a minute of your time to share this post with everyone you know that wants to make a positive change in education.

Do you have the time to help make a change?

- @TheNerdyTeacher

Picture from Flickr Creative Commons

4 comments:

  1. I love that you highlighted the word POSITIVE in this blog post. Sometimes there is a lot of negativity in discussions about what schools cannot do that what schools ARE doing to help better education.

    Will definitely help to spread this message! Thanks Nick.

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  2. It's like a hashtag flashmob! I'm in!

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  3. VIVA Project teachers www.vivateacher.org are all about sharing the best positive solutions that teachers themselves create. We SOOOO need positive ideas. Today we launch #teachersmatter with a discussion on how data can be helpful in teaching and for teachers. Let's join forces.

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  4. Love the challenge....and I love that you are acting as an agent of change!

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