I’m incredible.
I was diagnosed several years ago as humility challenged. I’m on medication. It’s not working. I still think I’m incredible.
I make it my business to be incredible. It’s the natural outcome of lessons from my father. He would tell us, “Do more than they asked. Do it better than they expected. You’ll never get fired. They’ll fire your boss before they fire you.”
I was thinking about my Pa in these days of turmoil and attack from politicians against educators and our collective voice, our unions and associations. When Pa retired from the Army, he got a job with the FAA and became a shop steward in his union – a public sector union. He believed in his responsibility to help his union. He believed in his responsibility to be an incredible worker. This was his union work ethic.
I am also thinking of my Pa because he was a man who worked with his hands as a mechanic. He never went to college. He never even finished high school. He was a sponge that learned by watching others and trial and error and volunteering for every training course the Army offered until he was a master of electronics and engines. He fixed things. He had a lot in common with our Education Support Professionals. The custodians and technicians and cooks and teaching assistants and bus drivers who work with our students.
My National Education Association and our state and local affiliates are often referred to in the press as the “teachers’ union”. But everyone who works in our public schools is eligible to be a member. Half a million of our members are Education Support Professionals. We couldn’t run our schools for a day without them. I know this, because I began my career in schools as an Education Support Professional. Specifically, a Lunch Lady. (more…)