First, let me thank the New York Coalition of Radical Educators for putting me on. When they originally asked me to come on, they wanted me to do “This Is Not A Test,” the poem, but the urgency of now called. Without further delay, here’s the video from this past weekend. (Special shout-out to Norm Scott for the video.)

Welcome, New York, to the latest installment of a people’s march
For the next four 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. Duncan.
This is an assessment written against the idea that the dates and places of our history
Can be shrunk to the choice between B and C
And that is our purpose for this assembly
An extended response to a failing 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, Ms. Tisch
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 New York 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 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 StudentsFirst
This is not a test!

This is not a test, Mr. Cuomo
This is an exam unmoved by presidential aspirations, a test you’ll have to retake because the bar’s too high and I?
A bubble you cannot erase
A commission you cannot deactivate
An ethic you cannot dismiss
A mouth you cannot tape
A heat you cannot beat
And you look like you’ve lost weight with approval ratings so slim
Our message so indigestible, I am a cuisine you cannot eat
As my kids who you’ll never visit would say, let me go in
I am a zephyr teaching out here for a decade, so I am a debate you cannot win
Let me be obstinate, obtuse,
Grant us reprieve from VAM or simply vamoose
Hold not our public monies hostage the way billionaires cradle your subservient neck on the Upper West Side
Opt out of Wall St. handouts the way parents have opted out of your Pearson-poisoned handshakes and back-pats
Democratize, neo-liberal Democrats, because we’re past polling for justice when it’s just-us
Choke not our public schools into submission and cop your plea afterword
I can’t breathe, and this is not a test!

This is not a test, Mr. King
Given an answer sheet, these students shaded in L-O-V-E over A-B-C-D
A set of standards commonly set forth long 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
New York, please put down your pencils
This is not a test!
This is not a test!
This is not a test!
Deformers, you are dismissed.

photo c/o