About The Indignant Teacher {after month 5 of concerted indignance}

I was honored to have been recently invited to take The Indignant Teacher nationwide, and am pleased to report that “She” is officially an “Author” for the widely recognized, leading alternative-media source in the country, Schools Matter:@theChalkface. The following is my story of how The Indignant Teacher came to be, which will soon be featured in @theChalkface’s author pages.

For those of you who may not know:

“What originally began as two have now become one: Schools Matter @ the Chalk Face. Hundreds of words are written here daily in defense of public education from more than a dozen educators, from around the country and across the globe. A grand machine purports to grind our public schools to atoms. We are the wrench. Join us.” – @theChalkface’s homepage…they also have a weekly online radio show featuring the leading educational experts from around the globe.

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{@theChalkface Author Pages}

Jill O’Malley Conroy: The Indignant Teacher

The Indignant Teacher was born after I resigned from a 15-year teaching career in the Boston Public Schools, after dealing with the toxins of corporate reform on the inside for as long as I could stand. In March, I walked away from my classroom in one of Boston’s most impoverished and toughest neighborhoods – where it’s not unusual to have school “Lockdowns” until the armed man on the loose is apprehended – and never looked back when I did. That happened to coincide with my oldest son’s 1st experience with high-stakes tests in Massachusetts, which is something that pained me as a mother to watch.

I “officially” resigned on April 1st, with little to no understanding of why my boy(s) and I were having to endure such toxicity in our respective schools, and from our respective positions within them. As I set off on my journey to understand what was happening, the first thing I realized was that Diane Ravitch was who best could teach me. As she had already taught so many before me.

As soon as I first grasped the impact of what I was reading (in both Dr Ravitch’s blog posts and links she provided to other articles and posts) was when The Indignant Teacher came to be. All I knew that identity to be was a way to share what I was learning, because as it was for me, learning would prove to be the way we would win this War.

The truth is so unbelievable…it’s almost too much so. But at this point, it’s undeniable, and Dr Ravitch’s upcoming Reign of Error will prove that beyond dispute.

Over the last 5 months, The Indignant Teacher’s efforts have taken her to come to the point where she realizes more specifically her primary teaching responsibilities, and also to where she has been granted opportunities that best allow her to do so.

Just before the Chalkface bosses contacted me, I had realized my main goal of The Indignant Teacher would be to educate enough Bostonians about the reality of this Corporate Reform Movement, as it’s been driven to become, in hopes of influencing the Boston Mayoral Race. Recently, I’ve started to think about convincing the next Mayor – starting now – to agree to put a moratorium on high stakes tests in Boston.

I decided the best way this could be done is to share what I had learned from studying Diane Ravitch all these months, somehow finding a way to catch people up to speed in time for the release of her new book, which is sure to start a Revolution. I finally created a series of blog posts called “Indignant Lessons”, #1-9, specifically give a summary of key events from how I was best able to understand the overwhelming amount of information. It simplifies everything and presents it as if it’s a story about a war, as basic but alarming as can be.

I am honored to have been invited by Tim and Shaun, the founders and directors, to bring The Indignant Teacher to ed reform’s best alternative media weapon – which they have created @theChalkface, and I hope that together, we can attack, not just in Boston, but in all the suffering districts and states.

I have spoken with Dr Ravitch about The Indignant Teacher’s next set of Lessons, which came about as a result of also being honored to be asked to review her book (to be released on September 17th, exactly one week before Boston’s Preliminary election). Rather than publish the perfunctory book review, with the requisite quotes meant to hook the reader into purchasing it -and getting the message himself by doing so, I will be publishing a modern day “Cliff’s Notes” of sorts. But instead of putting the reality of the acts and scenes from Shakespeare’s tragedies into terms a 12-year old can understand, The Indignant Teacher will be putting the reality of the chapters from the world’s biggest case of corruption tragedy into the same, thus giving her readers the message without necessarily them having to read the book. And she hopes to be as successful as more successful than  Cliff, by causing the reader to want to read the actual tragedy in its entirety, something he failed to do.

Keep on the lookout for “Indignant Notes”, and when you see them, please make sure to pass them on to anyone and everyone you can via all your social media outlets, and on every FB group’s wall possible. Sharing the message of what Diane Ravitch has to say is arguably the best plan of attack, and we all need to grab our guns. Now.

The Indignant Teacher hopes to make that as easy and efficient as possible, with her Indignant Notes. She’s doing the hard part. All you have to do is pass it on. Once you see for yourself the urgency there is, you’ll be sure to.

Trust me, it’ll be the best decision you ever make for your children’s futures. I say that not as a teacher, nor as an author, nor even as The Indignant Teacher; I say that to you only as a mother.