The Student Becomes the Master, and the Master ... Gets Promoted?

I get slightly nervous when veteran educators start coming to me for advice about their jobs.  And we're not talking about people who have been teaching for 3 or 4 years, we're talking about people who have been in education for over 25 years.  And this isn't information that I know because these people's actions demonstrate the type of mastery that you'd come to expect after dedicating so much time to a pursuit, but because they constantly mention it on a semi-daily basis.  They just find places to slip it in, you know, like "When I was a classroom teacher 20 years ago..." or "24 years ago after my first year of teaching..." or "Back before the internet, when I started teaching..." or my favorite "Man, you almost weren't even alive when I started teaching!"

Also, we're not just talking about teachers, but we're talking about the people who are leading this organization.  Coming to me - a non-traditionally trained instructor with a total time in the classroom an order of magnitude less than the total number of months these people have been in education - for advice on how to do their jobs.  Don't get me wrong, I'm flattered and all, but come on people...  If this is what we're coming to, maybe we should switch jobs.  I'd say I'm about due for a promotion, but I've observed that thanks to the union, those only seem to come when you do an exceptionally poor job at your current position.

Speaking of which, did I mention that I'm supposed to be one of the Union Representatives at my school?!  No joke!  Those of you who have been following my blog probably have a pretty good understanding of my feelings towards the unions (if you don't read here, here, and here), so hearing this may be a shock to you.

I was elected jointly with Katey, the other TFA teacher at my school.  She had a great analogy to describe how it happened, which I'll utilize.  It's like we were the slow kids in school, and were the last ones to say "Not it!"  (I literally told the staff "I can't stand the Union, I loathe the fact that I am obliged to join it to teach here, and don't support them at all", and they still wanted me to do it.) Anyhow, it happened, and so supposedly we're representing the union at our school, although neither of us really has any clue what to do.  Although perhaps I should modify that to say I have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing, and thankfully Katey has been extremely dutiful on following up with her Union responsibilities. It's been suggested to me that perhaps the most damage I can do to the Union is abstain from doing anything at all in my current position, which I've considered.  However, due to the respect that I have for my fellow educators, I feel that I would be doing the most damage to them by not doing anything, so I figure I should probably step up my game.  Something feels amiss.

PS - While you're here, please click on this link and vote for my idea in this Social Media in Education competition that I entered in to - I'd greatly appreciate it!