This is Not a Test!

This is Not a Test is a poem written and performed by Jose Vilson at the Save Our Schools March in Washington, D.C. on July 30th, 2011. It has been mashed up with the song "In Threes" by the Beastie Boys and a video by: http://www.youtube.com/user/SDeBellaGia
and
http://www.youtube.com/user/interinc5
DOWNLOAD the song here:
http://www.fatcow.com/controlpanel/FileManager/m.cmp?cmd=dlfile&p=kidsquo...


Find out more about the Future of Teaching at:
http://future.teacherleaders.org/
http://emergentlearner.com/

"This Is Not A Test" (SOS March)




"This Is Not A Test"




Welcome, America, to the latest installment of a people's march

For the next 3 minutes, I will ask you to defy protocol

Disband the status quo

Bust open these deformed gates

Unlock the teachers' lounge

Unlock the teachers' lounge

Unlock the teachers' lounge

I beg your pardon, but I am not your proctor

I march with the protestors, and our hands are raised,

A pledge for a new narrative

This is not a test!




This is not a test, Mr. President.

This is an assessment written against the idea that the dates and places of our history

Can be shrunk to the choice between B&C

And that is our purpose for this assembly

An extended response to a failed corporatist agenda

A reflection on the state of our most public of options

Measured through the rubric of human rights

But this is not a test!




This is not a test, Mr. Duncan

Take note: this is not us asking

This is not us begging

This is not us pleading

This is us fighting for all things equal

This is us uniting as a more perfect union

This is us reminding America of a promissory note unpaid

This is us writing our own documentation when Politicians refuse our kids the opportunity

We are all DREAMers, and this is not a test!




This is not a test, Mr. Bloomberg

This is the generation of children from the classrooms where

teachers boldly stood and thought kids could learn

Educators, stand firm, whether in cafeterias, mess halls, or prison halls,

School is in session

And we submit our entire lives for millions of students a year

So even when I stand in front of the class, I am always children first

This is not a test!




This is not a test, Ms. Rhee

This is an exam unmoved by mayoral cycles, and I?

A bubble you cannot erase

A mouth you cannot tape

A heat you cannot beat

I come in a swarm of thousands

So I am a bee you cannot eat

This is not a test!




This is not a test, Mr. President

Given an answer sheet, these students shaded in L-O-V-E over ABCD

A set of standards commonly set forth before

Acing geography by means of peace instead of war

Shaping the world henceforth

They will elevate our math to where the sum of the people

Is greater than the parts

Becoming fluent in the languages of English, Spanish, and caring

America, please put down your pencils

This is not a test!

This is not a test!

This is not a test!




Deformers, you are dismissed.

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[FlyingFish747]

Love it. Where can I buy this? I'm sure BB won't mind.

[liam2319]

It is hard to tell who is radder: JH or JV. Love ya both!

[gata40]

Hell yeah! Thanks Jose!