I know, I know....I shouldn't rant and rave like a crazy woman.
Right?
Well....apparently we haven't met. My name is Mrs. Teacher. Aside from teaching, ranting and raving is what I do. I am rather good at it.
I have been thinking about all the times I am having a polite, casual conversation with someone I have just met and they inevitably ask me what I do. It usually goes something like this....
"So, Mrs T....tell us, what is it that you do?"
"Well, Gertrude (or whatever), I'm a teacher."
G: "Wow! A teacher! That is so great! I just really think that like, teachers are like, super important to like, society. That is just so cool that you are a teacher! So, like, what do you teach?"
(I'm not sure how or when Gertrude turned into a valley girl, but she did. Get over it.)
S: "I teach Kindergarten half-time and Music half-time!"
G: "Oh.....wow....so you don't like, teach then...."
People. I can't even tell you how many freaking times over the years I have had this kind of response from others when I answer that "what grade" or "what subject" question. Countless times.
The other most popular response is something along the lines of "oh wow, that must be so fun! So you just get to play and read stories and make crafts with your Kindergarten class!"
Two things;
1.) I will save my rant on the importance of music education for another time. This is specifically about Kindergarten.
2.) Yes, it is so fun. And it is so hard. And it is stressful and busy and challenging and exhausting and heartbreaking and amazing and crazy. Fun is only one of the things involved in being a Kindergarten teacher.
It upsets me that society has the idea that early childhood education and the primary grades are not "teaching". They are just "fun" and "cute" and "isn't-that-nice". To be fair, it most certainly is not everyone that shares this erroneous view, but enough in my experience that I would say it is prevalent!
Now, did you know that I have the exact same qualifications to be this nice, fun little Kindergarten teacher as a High School English teacher has? And feel free to replace "High School English teacher" with ANY other teaching position in the public school realm. That's right. The same. Oh sure, we had our focus, our specialty, our major, if you will. But when it comes right down to it, my Bachelor of Education is what got me my Teaching Certificate, and that is what qualifies me to be a teacher of anything. There is NOTHING stopping me from transferring into teaching any other grade, other than the simple fact that I don't want to.
Kindergarten is a child's first step into the formal education system. They learn what it means to be a student in the Kindergarten classroom. They learn important routines that are sometimes taken for granted later on....like listening to the teacher without constantly interrupting, following instructions and getting into a line. Do you know how many children I have taught to write their own name? Zip up their own coat? Put their shoes on the right feet? Blow their own nose? How about the letters of the alphabet and the corresponding sounds - do you think that might be important? How about identifying numerals and counting? How about helping a child to get over their fear of school so that they don't scream and cry at the beginning of every single day? I could go on and on and on and on....
The fact is, every grade, every age level is important right from Kindergarten. To assume that the teaching of young children isn't important or isn't considered "real" teaching is incredibly ignorant. Kindergarten and the primary grades provide an important foundation that other teacher's can build upon down the road.
And these jobs are not for the faint of heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment