The Little Things

Since kindergarten, I have wanted to be a teacher. Everything in the classroom thrilled me. Throughout my thirteen years of schooling I have kept my dream to be a kindergarten teacher. Throughout those thirteen years, I found myself not only interested in learning, but how the teacher prepared for the day. I would come in early or stay after class asking my teachers questions about their work.  I was eager to help any way I could.  I was very observant of the unseen preparation that went into each day and each lesson, which most students never saw. Now in college, I still aspire to be a kindergarten teacher.

The thought of helping to develop the minds of five and six year olds continues to encourage me everyday. My first experience in a classroom, on the other side of the desk, was in a half day kindergarten class at Madison Elementary School. This experience was possible because of my service learning from my education classes. The classroom was so different from what I remembered. Everything in the room was small; the chairs, the desks, and the students. The room was set up how I had envisioned my classroom to be when I begin teaching. The students’ tables are in a hexagonal shape, which seat six children. Each table has an assigned color: blue, red, yellow, or green with supplies in the center. In the supply box, the students have big triangle pencils to help them learn how to hold a pencil correctly. The pencil is in a triangle form so the students can figure out how to place their fingers. They have safety scissors that could not cut anything. The students are always asking for help to cut, and I had to bring the teacher’s scissors over because I could not even cut with them. There are glue sticks provided for each student and I was very surprised to see that they know how to use the glue stick correctly. In the middle of their organizer they have about six or seven boxes of crayons. For the first month, the children were putting all the crayons back into the box which was a huge hassle that wasted classroom learning time. One day that I came in, all the crayons were dumped into the organizer. I bought my mentor teacher, Mrs. Smith*, a care package. In the care package, were four plastic containers that fit perfectly into the middle of each table’s supply box organizer for the crayons. My mentor teacher was about to cry because she could not believe that I found containers that fit perfectly so the organizers looked neat. I now realize that it is the little things that make a teacher happy and fulfilled.

The walls in the kindergarten classroom were incredible, fully covered in posters of numbers, letters, shapes and colors. There were five major activity centers in the room: writing, reading, blocks, toys, and imagination. One of the cutest parts of the room was the cubbyholes for the students’ personal items. I created die-cuts of sailboats and fish for the AM and PM classes. I wrote the names of all the students on the die-cuts and placed them on the cubbyholes. The projects that I was able to help my mentor teacher with meant so much and made me appreciate the teaching profession even more. I noticed that the little things are what make teachers love their jobs.

In addition to the incredible walls in the kindergarten classroom, the calendar board is amazing and a huge part of the kindergartener’s day. On the board they learn shapes, colors, numbers, days of the week, the months of the year, and that day’s date. The students know how to keep tally marks and place value. They are also learning about money and the presidents pictured on the money. I had the wonderful opportunity of instructing the calendar board all by myself for one day. By doing so, I learned how to transition from one activity to another and creative ways to keep the students’ attention. There is a new student helper for each day and their job is to point to the parts of the calendar board with a meter stick. My job was to make sure the students were following along and stayed on track. It went smoothly and I learned so much about myself as a teacher and ways to help my students learn.

Instructing the upper and lower case letters “Rr” was another amazing learning experience. I set up the students’ literacy centers to work on the letter R. I instructed the students differently at each table. The first table had to write the letter “Rr” on the worksheet. The second table traced the letter “Rr” with glue and placed rice on the “Rr”. The third table made a raccoon out of the letter R and colored it. The students enjoy the literacy centers because they get to do things individually and be creative. At each table, about half of the children could not write the letter R. I helped each one by placing my hand around their hand and showing them how to write it, then allowing them to practice it on their own. After they completed each letter on their own, I cheered and praised them. They smiled and were proud, which made them want to finish the worksheet and write more. Just like the number “3”, seeing the student’s faces light up when they could write it on their own was such an astounding feeling.

My mentor teacher had amazing classroom management. She had many creative ways to get and keep her students attention. When her students were working on patterns, she would clap her hand in a pattern that the students had to repeat. In my Introduction to Education course, Diane Hale spoke about the “Tribes” method of classroom management and building a community. Mrs. Smith*’s version of classroom management was similar because she created a small community in her classroom. She developed basic rules which were posted on the wall that the students had to follow. There were consequences for inappropriate actions which they had discussed and understood. Mrs. Smith* teaches her students about positive thinking and people skills, common sense, and behavior skills by promoting manners everyday. Her students were learning to be polite to one another, to their teacher, and other adults. This promoted self-esteem which Guy Doud, the 1986 teacher of the year, discussed how self-esteem in students was a big issue. Teachers need to create a positive environment to encourage positive self-esteem and Mrs. Smith* did this very well. I was impressed by her care and interest in each student’s well being.

I have already learned so much about myself as a teacher though this first service learning session. My eyes have been opened from this experience and I am excited to be involved in many new and different situations. I now realize that a kindergarten teacher not only has to teach the standards, but also the basics about manners, people skills, common sense, and behavior in and out of the classroom. I found that most kindergarten students love school and are excited about learning, which makes my job as a teacher even more rewarding. Through these experiences of classroom management, teaching styles, and learning styles, I will grow and learn as a teacher to better my classroom.

*Names were changed

First 7 pictures are from a personal collection

I love teaching: http://www.amherst.k12.wi.us/userwebs/faculty/godfshar/trsdhome.html