Day 11, I know courage when I see it. Mr. Gus Morales is courage walking in this world!

The story of Mr. Gus Morales, union leader, teacher extraordinaire, defender of Holyoke public schools is well documented.
Read his tale, recognize his truth, feel his strength, and know his heart  
> http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/06/over_100_holyoke_public_school.html <

Cesar Chavez said: “Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen the future, and the future is ours.”

Day number 11 is dedicated to my hero Gus Morales a teacher who refused silence and apathy.
A teacher standing up for his students,

His fellow teachers, and
His community.
In this age of high stakes assessment where children are reduced to test scores,
This age where America's children are sorted into tidy little boxes of:
Below Proficiency,
At Proficiency, or
Above proficiency. 
In this age where the "corporate bullies" they make profits from our children, and their data,
Where teachers must be silent,
Mr. Gus Morales stood up,
Mr. Gus Morales spoke up.
In this age of high stakes testing where apathy and silence rules,
Gus Morales fights for our children, our schools, and our communities,
Mr. Gus Morales is unafraid,
Speaks truth to power,
Stands taller than the rest. 
Mr. Gus Morales a teacher of teachers speaks for the powerless,
Speaks for the hopeless,
Speaks for the disenfranchised,

Speaks for our children,
Speaks for our teachers and
Stands strong for our public schools.

Mr. Gus Morales a teacher who reminds teachers what it means to defend public education,
What it means to defend students, and
What it means to defend our public schools.
This ten miles is all for Mr. Morales our hero,
Our beacon of honor,
Our sword of truth,
Our noble knight standing at the gate challenging all who dare to crush the dreams and hopes of our children.
This ten is for you Gus,
This ten is yours my brother,
This ten is for our role model of what teachers should be.
This ten is for our role model of what union leadership should be.
This ten is for a son of Cesar Chevez’s “The future is ours”
Sincerely another son of Chevez,

Jesse The Walking Man Turner

Yesterday at the Clear Water Festival I saw Gus Morales's letter of non-renewal online, yesterday I read the words of oppression trying to strike fear in every teacher across America. Yesterday I recognized greatness, recognized real power, recognized what a hero really is, yesterday I walked ten miles for Mr. Gus Morales a teacher's hero. If you want to know what this walking man listened to on his walk yesterday it was Enrique Iglesias's "Hero" 
https://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=aaplw&p=utube+hero+songs

A tale of two men, one who sees data, and one who sees children.

-->

Day number 10 is dedicated to the most amazing people, the people who have inspired me for as long as I can remember, our children in our public schools.
Today I give 10 miles to our nation's children.
You have always lifted me higher.
You have always helped me smile. 

You amaze and inspire me to walk to DC in the name of love.

My blog today is dedicated to our nation's students in our public schools. 

A tale of two men

As Secretary of Education Arne Duncan goes about his work in DC he meets with the powerful, the mighty, the wealthy. He wears his Giorgio Armani suits, and plays the occasional pick up basketball game with Congressional leaders, Senators, and even with the President.

He goes about his day wheeling and dealing billions of our tax dollars. He is a busy man far too important to spend any real time with teachers, parents, and children. When his day is done he smiles thinking about the important deals he made.

While Arne wines and dines the Corporate Elite I am walking to Washingto DC to protest the testing deals deals he makes. While he listens to billionaires, I am walking and listening to students, parents, and teachers. While he collects free lunches, I am collecting the narratives of resistance to his testing house of pain polices.  400 miles on the road, no limousines, no high powered lunches with the powerful and the connected, no calls from the White House, just two feet Walking to DC in the Name of Love. These Education Reformers have had the floor for 13 years, spent over a trillion dollars, and the data is in on their reforms. Their Education reforms have left our schools more segregated and our high school students knowing their reforms have not score this low in over 4 decades. Every curricula reform they have tried show either no effects, or a lost. While Secretary Arne Duncan dances with the elite, our children, our teachers our most needy public schools are being demoralized, humiliated, and abandon with every dance. I am not a walking man by choice. I am not an activist by choice. I have no desire to be away from my family, but I am compelled by my moral calling as a teacher to stand up for children, parents, teachers, and our public schools. Compelled by a moral calling to save our public schools I am walking to DC, because someone has to tell them after 13 years of education reform failures, they are not reformers, but the status quo. Someone has to shout out on the Capital steps:
Our Children,
Our Teachers,
Our Public Schools, Hand off,It simple Wahington DC,
Children are more than test scores.When my walk is over, I'll catch a ride home,
Teach a group of wonderful teachers from Jamaica about Literacy in our CCSU Literacy Center.
I'll teach them about what a balanced assessment framework looks like, kid watching, and I share the heart of a teacher. I share my love of teaching, learning, and teaching with them, and listen deeply to their stories. After they leave I spend a week with my family in the mountains of New Hampshire. Then I'll start cleaning, decorating, and preparing our Literacy Center for 40 new children. This is what I love, what I really do, and what matters most to this Walking man.
He gives out plastic medals to struggling readers, wear silly hats, participates in Readers Theater, sit on the floor and reads with children and teachers.

I have no Giorgio Armani suits, but I do wear the best that Sears has to offer.

As Secretary Arne Duncan fiddles with the powerful, the rest of us fight the good fight against illiteracy every single day. When his day is done, he dreams about data, power, and new ways to reduce the wonder of childhood to his game of testing the joy out of learning.When my day is done, I think about the many hours of hard work put in by my teachers and our children, and celebrate every new letter, new word, new story, and every smile that came my way today.

I am marching to DC just to tell Secretary Duncan that children are more than test scores.

See you in DC,

Jesse

 https://vimeo.com/131091408 My song of the day Barry Lane's More Than A number. Thank you Barry for singing the songs that matter most to us.

Day # 9 is dedicated to Stacie Starr, Dawn Neely, and every beautiful Ohio teacher standing up for our schools

This is a must read for every teacher and parent. It gives us a clear human picture of what these fake education reformers, and our policy makers and politicians are do to our schools. High Stakes Testing, the Common Core, and new test connected teacher evaluations are not keeping good teachers in the classroom, but chasing them out.

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2015/02/10/gasps-of-disbelief-as-live-with-kelly-and-michael-top-teacher-winner-resigns-over-common-core-testing/


Every day I find another reason to walk to DC, another reason to stand up, speak out, and act. Day # 9 of my walk to DC is dedicated to Ohio Veteran teachers Stacie Starr and Dawn Neely. Stacie announced her retirement rather then spend another day reducing Ohio's children to test scores. She was chosen as the winner of the “Live with Kelly and Michael” 2014 Top Teacher Search. She announced her retirement in the spring at the very Board Meeting called to honor her. Her reasons, she cited the increasing pressures on students and teachers under the mandated Common Core standards and testing mandates.
At the same Board Meeting Dawn Neely another teacher told the board:

“I don’t know what to do. I am morally against what we are doing, and I think history will judge us for what we do to fight for our kids,” she told the Elyria school board. “Look through the test books and you tell me if you think they are developmentally appropriate. No one is advocating for our district, and I am asking my district to be honest with the parents about what we are doing to students.”

Board President Kathryn Karpus replies: The district’s hands are tied. They are bound by Ohio laws that mandate the testing. Dr. Martin Luther King said this about laws: "There are just laws and there are unjust laws. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that ‘an unjust law is no law at all.’" Board President Karpus, a person can not do good supporting unjust laws. Morality matters more than any unjust law. I stand with my fellow BAT Dawn Neely, and every other Ohio beautiful Ohio teacher fighting back.

It is a teacher moral responsibility to obey just laws, but it is also his/her responsibility to disobey unjust laws. Ms Starr and Ms. Neely are answering the call to their moral responsibility as teachers. I am humbled by them, and salute them. God bless you Stacie, God bless you Dawn, and God bless every parent and teacher who answers this moral call to stand up for our children.

Why are you walking to DC Jesse?

I am walking, because someone has to tell them in DC that our children, our teachers, and our schools are more than test scores. More than their data, their profits, and their scapegoats that allow 49 states to spend more money on their wealthy schools than their poor schools. This walk is my moral responsibility, my higher call to serve the children in our public schools.
Who are you walking for Jesse?
I am walking for Stacie Starr, Dawn Neely, every Ohio teacher and student living under unjust laws that reduces them to data.
A change is gonna come, and I am walking for that change.
One Man Walking In The Name Of Love,
Jesse