Your Story!

In the middle of working on some final drafts of papers – I find myself back to a topic that I have blogged about before.  Take 12 minutes to watch this video from Moore Public Schools:

As of this writing on December 6, 2015 around noon, it has been viewed 65,000 times.  It was posted on December 3, 2015.

Why do I mention this?  Because it is student-teachers, teachers, administrators, and superintendents sharing their story about education.

Why is this important?  Because it shows the power of teachers and the impact they have.  It shows the power of sharing their story and not being defined by numbers.  It shows the human side of teachers and what they do every single day.

In this day, in these circumstances, it is so important for teachers to share what they do, the issues they face, the amazing things that happen in schools, the frustrations…Why?

Until this point, other people have told the story of the teacher.  Harnessing the power of social media, teachers are taking back our narrative.

If you teach, it is so important that you blog about what you do – that you Tweet, Facebook, Instagram – so that we can continue to take back our profession.

Refuse to be defined by those who view us from the outside.  Refuse to be defined by those who do not truly understand what happens in our classroom each day.

Refuse to let others share our story and experiences.

Take back the narrative – start a blog today.  Right now.  Write a post about why you teach and how important it is for you to continue to do so.  Share how much education you have and the actual amount of money your are earning.  Tell people how important it is to be viewed as a professional.  Tell people all of the duties that are required from you each day – so many outside of education do not understand all of the other things that happen each day.

Share your story with those who create policy – let them know how you are impacted by their decisions.  Often those who make policy do not get to live out the implementation.  We do.  Let them know what that looks like, both good and bad.

Remind people that we make a difference.