Sometimes as you are browsing the internet you come across something that makes you say, “Ain’t that the truth!” Well, today’s post is about that something. The reality of teaching graphic shown below from @thethriftyteacherlady speaks about the unseen work that teachers do everyday. The work that usually goes unnoticed. But, it’s work that should not be left in the dark; it’s work that should be shouted from the mountain tops. Teachers everywhere need to be advocates for their profession.

Advocacy is something I preach to my preservice teachers, beginning when they are freshman. In Foundations of Education, an introductory course at my College, I compare a teacher’s job to that of a surgeon in an Emergency Room. I ask students, “Which job do you think is more difficult? Which job comes with more stress? More accountability?” Most say the job of the surgeon because s/he is responsible for life and death situations. I do not disagree that the job of a surgeon is important. But, the point I make is that the job of a teacher is just as critical, but has less support.

For example, while the surgeon is diagnosing one patient, the teacher is diagnosing 25 or more children, each with different learning needs, backgrounds, and personalities. While the surgeon is providing care with the best technology, tools, and staff (nurses, specialists, etc.), the teacher is providing care with limited resources and technology and most likely they are doing this all by themselves. The surgeon’s work is supported by a network of medical professionals who give advice about what works best while the teachers get advice from politicians and community members who lack expertise in child development and educational research. I could go on and on, but you get the point. The sad part of the tale is that the surgeon is revered and but the teacher is not. Both are saving lives, both are changing the world, but one is respected and valued above the other.

Advocacy is about changing “what is” into “what should be” and it begins with one educator at a time. We need to embrace the power we all have and do something to change the perception of education as an “easy” job with “summers off.”  We need to live the words of Lilly Tomlin: “I always wondered why somebody doesn’t do something about that. Then I realized I was that somebody.”

At the Campaign for America’s Future Awards Gala in October 2015, National Education Association president, Lily Eskelsen García, sums up the work of educators when she speaks about “What Teachers Do.” Teachers “Do” so very much….more than they are given credit for by the general public. It is our duty to advocate for our professional every chance we get. I will leave you with this.