Transcript

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JULIE RAMSAY

You don’t have to take huge steps, but you do have to take that first step.

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Many legislators across our country, it’s been 30, 40, 50 years since they’ve been in a classroom themselves as a student, and they have an unrealistic expectation of what learning looks like. It became apparent to me that I needed to speak with legislators and policymakers.

And so there were five of us that went to our Capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, and we met with our legislators. We set up some appointments. We talked to people in the hallways. We had an elevator speech.

And what we were really doing is we were sharing our students’ stories. We were sharing the amazing things going on in our classrooms and how every child, regardless of their zip code or their parent’s bank account, deserve the same learning opportunities and what learning looks like.

This last spring, in March, I was extended an opportunity to testify in front of the Alabama legislature. As a result of that, there’s been an outpouring of teachers from across the country who have started asking us, how did you do this?

We organised an EdCamp NBCT for National Board Certified Teachers and candidates who are pursuing certification so that we could not only pursue and push our teaching practices, but we could elevate our profession, find our voices, and positively impact student learning. What I’m most proud of in advocacy is the fact that my students have seen what I do. And as a result, they’ve become advocates themselves.

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Advocacy is something that’s important for every teacher, every educator, regardless of your role or level of expertise, needs to embrace. Because if you’re not willing to stand up and share your students’ stories, people from the outside will. As teachers, we’re role models. We have to demonstrate. We have to live and practice what we preach to them.

And if you don’t speak up, who will? You are the expert in your classroom. You know your students. You know what they need. You need to be the one to stand up and share that.

I don’t have any special gifts or talents to do what I’ve done. I’ve simply shown up, and I’ve shared stories because I was determined that every student deserved a high-quality education.

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