About 8 or so years ago I was talking with my brother, about airport experiences. He was telling me about his most recent trip with my dad where they almost missed their flight due to airport security lines (don't worry, this isn't turning into a Seinfeld joke.) The security line was a mile long, and their flight was boarding - my brother was sure they were going to miss their flight. My dad turns to my brother, tells him to follow, then darts down the line, charging towards the metal detectors. My brother was terrified. He followed my father, head down like a scared puppy, and charged forward. When they got to the front of the line, my dad turned to the person in front and simply stated he was about to miss his flight and would the person mind if he jumped in line ahead of him to catch his flight. The person had no problem and let them go ahead. My brother was astonished... did that seriously just happen? How did they manage to skip a 45 minute line??
I was confused... why did my dad do that? When I asked him what gave him that kind of confidence he explained the following two principles:
1. Always wear a suit while traveling. It's never hurts to look really important.
2. Always act like you know what you're doing. People usually can't tell the difference between really good fakes and the real deal.
While I don't always travel in a suit, I quickly learned the power of faking it. People in the faux handbag industry learned the value of a really great fake, why couldn't this apply to people? Now, please don't take this as me supporting being a fake, but when in a pinch, it's alright to act like you know what you're doing and hope people believe it.
This principle is what has been the basis for my job over the past 2 years. First, I had no idea what it meant to be in an ID cluster, so I faked it. Then, I had no idea what it meant to teach math and english to students with intellectual disabilities, so I faked it. Next, I didn't know what "life skills" curriculum meant and what that encompassed, so I faked it. Lastly, I didn't know what vocational training looked like, so I faked it.
But today... Today I didn't fake it. Today, I made it. Our cluster was functional. It was beautiful. It was happy. It was appropriate. It was a well oiled machine. It was what all the kids wanted. It was appropriate for their levels. It was exactly what it should be, no faking.
While the other two teachers (yes, we have a 3rd teacher as of 8am this morning!) may feel like they're faking it, I was right in my element. The best part? The kids must have known, because we have never had great first day, and today was GREAT. They were all following directions, we got through the majority of our classes (we started late because of the rest of the school, not because of us), and all the logistics went seamlessly. It usually takes us about a month to get to where we were today. I am VERY excited to see what our group will look like in a month!
I thought it was just our group. I couldn't imagine the rest of the school having as good of a day as we did. But it turns out everyone stopped faking it today. Some people had 25 kids in their classes (usually that number hovers around 15 for the first 2 weeks), many teachers were able to meet the majority of their students, the building wasn't overcrowded with parents, there was an orderly way to handle registering new students, the list goes on. The only thing that didn't go right was the football team was supposed to meet with me after-school and didn't get the message, but that is extremely minor in the grand scheme of things.
It's looking like a great start to the year! Now the battle is maintaining this wonderful momentum we're starting with. I'm pretty sure we're up for the challenge.
I was confused... why did my dad do that? When I asked him what gave him that kind of confidence he explained the following two principles:
1. Always wear a suit while traveling. It's never hurts to look really important.
2. Always act like you know what you're doing. People usually can't tell the difference between really good fakes and the real deal.
While I don't always travel in a suit, I quickly learned the power of faking it. People in the faux handbag industry learned the value of a really great fake, why couldn't this apply to people? Now, please don't take this as me supporting being a fake, but when in a pinch, it's alright to act like you know what you're doing and hope people believe it.
This principle is what has been the basis for my job over the past 2 years. First, I had no idea what it meant to be in an ID cluster, so I faked it. Then, I had no idea what it meant to teach math and english to students with intellectual disabilities, so I faked it. Next, I didn't know what "life skills" curriculum meant and what that encompassed, so I faked it. Lastly, I didn't know what vocational training looked like, so I faked it.
But today... Today I didn't fake it. Today, I made it. Our cluster was functional. It was beautiful. It was happy. It was appropriate. It was a well oiled machine. It was what all the kids wanted. It was appropriate for their levels. It was exactly what it should be, no faking.
While the other two teachers (yes, we have a 3rd teacher as of 8am this morning!) may feel like they're faking it, I was right in my element. The best part? The kids must have known, because we have never had great first day, and today was GREAT. They were all following directions, we got through the majority of our classes (we started late because of the rest of the school, not because of us), and all the logistics went seamlessly. It usually takes us about a month to get to where we were today. I am VERY excited to see what our group will look like in a month!
I thought it was just our group. I couldn't imagine the rest of the school having as good of a day as we did. But it turns out everyone stopped faking it today. Some people had 25 kids in their classes (usually that number hovers around 15 for the first 2 weeks), many teachers were able to meet the majority of their students, the building wasn't overcrowded with parents, there was an orderly way to handle registering new students, the list goes on. The only thing that didn't go right was the football team was supposed to meet with me after-school and didn't get the message, but that is extremely minor in the grand scheme of things.
It's looking like a great start to the year! Now the battle is maintaining this wonderful momentum we're starting with. I'm pretty sure we're up for the challenge.
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