Monday, February 3, 2014

The Badass Teachers Association "Evaluate That" Campaign Goes Viral

The Badass Teachers Association exploded last night on Facebook and Twitter with their #evaluatethat campaign. The idea came to the Facebook page via Georgia BAT Stephanie Lavender Weber who was staying the night with her students in school due to the snow storms that hit Atlanta last week. Stephanie proudly posted about staying with the students and taking care of them until their parents could come get them. She ended the post with #evaluatethat. BATs took it and ran with it. One #evaluatethat meme, made by BAT Kelly Braun, has over 50,000 hits on the BAT Facebook page. Here are some of the BAT stories for #evaluatethat I walked students home who were being threatened and harassed. #evaluatethat I don't just teach science. I teach empathy, self-worth, and the understanding that all life matters. #evaluatethat I treated two of my former students and one of the girls mother to have a haircut and color at a local beauty school before school started so they could enter high school feeling good. We then went shopping for school supplies and clothes. The lady who does my nails donated three bags of clothes from her daughter that went to college and both girls spent the rest of the day trying them on. The smiles on their faces is worth more than any amount of money. #evaluatethat One of my former students published a book of her poetry and dedicated the book to three of her high school teachers - of which I proudly was one. Now - evaluate that. #evaluatethat I had a senior student who couldn’t afford her senior yearbook. I bought it for her – anonymously #evaluatethat I attended the honors ceremony and graduation of a student I had three years in a row as his "mom" as well as the graduation party with his family. When I was honored with a lifetime PTA membership this year he came up to my school with flowers and a card and told my students that once you are one of her kids you are always her kids #evaluatethat We have hundreds of stories like this on the BATs Facebook page and we have thousands streaming on our #evaluatethat twitter feed. We will be making a film of these experiences and also will investigate some sort of publication. BATs fight every day to take back public education. Gates, Murdoch, Walton, and the Broads may have more money but we have more spirit! #evaluatethat Join BATs on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/BadAssTeachers/ Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/i/connec

1 comment:

Laura h. Chapman said...

Love it. Get as much PR as you can. Forward this to Diane Ravitch, contact Edweek, teacher magazines, "People" and other grocery store magazines, then go for some time on the Daily show with Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert, etc etc. Don't depend only on facebook, twitter and the like. Another sympathetic publisher may be Valerie Strauss at the Washington Post. I think there is a book here, just watch out for issues if anyone seeks to profit from the sales.