I recently wrote about one of my daughters who has grown up to be a minister and just happens to also be my pastor.

What she does every day is great – studying God’s Word to share with her congregation, counseling, advising those struggling with problems, sharing in the lives of the people in both good times and bad.  Is is bragging to say I am proud of her?

But my second daughter also shares the love of God every day – in a different way.  While she never stands in a pulpit or formally counsels people, she has a ministry too.

She is a grade school teacher.  Every week Monday through Friday she not only teaches children how to read, write, do math, but she also has to be a therapist, a nurse, a disciplinarian, a comforter, and often serves as a safety net for those children who come to school without breakfast, or who have seen and even experienced violence in the home.

She is one of those teachers who goes above and beyond.  Every year at Valentine’s day she knits caps for every one of her students.  She spends a lot of her own money buying supplies for the students and special additions to her classroom.

Along with the day in the classroom, she spends hours planning lessons, grading tests, and sadly has to spend too many hours dealing with all the red tape the government now demands of our teachers.

I found some information from Corey Murray, a veteran education editor, writer and content producer that shares some of the reasons I so admire my daughter – and all those who teach our children.

If you were offered a job that paid an average annual salary of $49,000 and required you to work 12- to 16-hour days, would you take it?

Sounds like a lot of work for not much pay.  But, as a new infographic shows, that’s about what the average U.S. teacher can expcet when walking into a classroom.

Despite the conventional wisdom that K–12 teachers work shorter days (the average U.S. school day is 6.7 hours, according to the National Center for Education Statistics), the graphic, from BusyTeacher.org, shows that the average teacher workday is much longer than that. In addition to a full day in front of the classroom (the graphic pegs the average school day at eight hours), teachers are expected to arrive at school at least an hour before school begins, and many stay an average of three to five hours beyond the traditional school day for meetings, grading, and other administrative or volunteer activities. That doesn’t even include the amount of time they spend counseling students, serving as role models and doing work that goes above and beyond the traditional job description.

OK. But it all balances out, right? Teachers still only work nine months of the year. They still get summers off.

If you believe that then you probably don’t know many teachers. As the infographic shows, most teachers devote a good portion of their summer “break” to preparing for the upcoming school year. That includes two to four weeks for continuing education, three weeks for curriculum planning, and another four weeks for training, classroom setup and preparation. These hours further increase when you factor in the time teachers spend learning how to use and integrate technologies.

Next time someone tells you the nation’s teachers have it easy, or suggests cutting salaries to save a little cash, share some of the statistics below.

Who can say the long-term influence my daughter has on all the lives she has reached over the years?  Her ministry is so important – and I’m proud of her.