Monday, August 18, 2008

"Beer is not candy and candy is not beer"

That brilliant line is from the logic of one of my 3-year-olds today. She was so funny. We were talking about the "treats" that they were going to get for being good today and she came out with this! I just have to laugh sometimes. Today, another one was trying to tell me that she wanted to color on the chalkboard but everytime she asked me she wanted to know if she could "write on the chopblock."

Teaching 19 three year olds has NOT been easy and there have been many times that I wanted to just walk away from it. (IT being the situation - not the kids) I love when they understand things and answer questions correctly. I love when they say funny things in their preschool talk - like mommies cooking "chocolate chip curkies" or "messing up chicken nuggets every time." It seems like when I am ready to walk out the door, my kids say something that keeps me there. There is one little girl that is younger than the rest and I am working really hard with her teaching her how to stay in her seat and do what the class is doing. Her mom emailed me last week when I was literally about to walk in my principal's office and quit and said that the girl came home and said "Mommy, Mrs. Morgan said its not playing time!" I just laughed so hard and then it hit me that I am the teacher that they come home and talk about. When mom and dad ask what they learned that day - they are going to be talking about something I taught them. So, although its a terrible situation with 19 of them, I can't imagine my classroom without each of them. They all bring something new and different. Their thing this week when they are sitting in car line is to tell me "I stay with you," or "You come home with me and watch scary moobies (movies)." Maybe it's just a lie I am telling myself to make me stay, but I think that if they want to stay with me or have me go with them, I'm doing my job right.

Keep me in your prayers - specifically that another k-3 teacher will be hired. I just feel like I am not able to give them the time they need to be successful in k-3. Sure, it would be easy to say that it's JUST k-3 and it doesn't matter, but it matters to me that I make a positive impact on them and that's got to be enough.

2 comments:

Emily Little said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Emily Little said...

Rachel,
This is going to be long... Just a little note of encouragement- you are doing a GREAT job! Ignore the people who think teaching 3k is easy- obviously they have never been in a preschool classroom- the students are expected to retain a lot of knowledge and more than a lot is expected of their teacher!
Not only are you teaching them their alphabet and colors, more importantly you are shaping their opinion of school that will follow them for the rest of their lives. You are also teaching them the early basics of how to interact with other children and adults. As you can see early childhood is my soap box! I applaud you for pushing through the hardships of teaching something that you have never had a desire to teach before (pretty sure I could never teach middle/high school! Ha thats a funny thought :)
Just keep doing what you are doing! It will be so exciting to be able to look back at the end of the year and see how far your "babies", who by then are no longer babies, have come. And you can know that you have taught your heart out for their sake. Your students and parents are lucky that they have been blessed to have a teacher like you.