Memoirs of a Kindergarten Teacher, Pt. 2

Unexpected Experiences

Since my teaching license is for High School Social Studies, I never expected to find myself teaching a class of kindergartners. And because of that, I also never expected to have some of the experiences that I've had over the last 6 and a half months. I never expected to be encouraged to hug my students, or hold their hands as we walk to the library. I never expected to be singing Raffi songs to my students. I never expected to help a student clean up after he pooped in his pants.

I also never expected to have to say the following to students:

"Hands out of your pants please."
"Don't poke each other there please!"
"Put that back in your pants please!!"
"PLEASE don't grab me there!!!"

No Smoking!


How do you teach the dangers of smoking and drinking to children who grow up in a country where the vast majority of adult men smoke, and where the amount of alcohol consumption is quite possibly rivaled by no other country? In Science class a few weeks ago, I had to spend a week educating my kids on the negative effects of smoking and drinking. I began telling them about the serious illnesses you can get from the two. Within a few minutes, most kids' hands were raised, eagerly waiting to inform me that their fathers smoke and drink A LOT, and they are healthy. How do you tell a child that their fathers are probably not as healthy as they'd like to think? How do you tell a child that smoking leads to deadly illnesses, and then hear them talk about how much their fathers smoke? Do I tell them their fathers are wrong in believing it's perfectly ok to drink themselves into oblivion and chain smoke? Do I tell them not to make the same choices when they are adults that their fathers made? With each comment made by a student, all I could think of was to say, "Oh. Ok. Well... huh. Does your father only drink a little? Oh, he drinks a lot. Ok, and you say he's healthy? Uh huh, hmm..." I felt like the only good thing I could say was in response to a question asked by one student: "Roman Teacher, do you drink?" "Nope, I think it's yucky!" Unfortunately, that response was followed by, "No, beer is yummy!" Sigh.

A Confidence Boost


One thing I've learned is that teaching Kindergarten can be great for raising my self-esteem. For instance, when a student is struggling to twist open their orange juice bottle, I twist it open for them with such ease that they excitedly exclaim, "Whooooaaa! Roman Teacher, VERY strong!" Aw shucks, you guys!

Or when I draw something on the board that would not pass a middle school drawing class, and my students yell out, "Ooooh, Roman Teacher, VERY good drawer!" Blush.

Or when I jokingly start singing an improvisational song about taking out their text books and pencils, and they clap and say "Whooo, Roman Teacher, VERY good singer!" Oh stop!

Or when one of their writing assignments is to write 8 positive qualities about a teacher at Poly School, and one of them writes about me, "Very handsome." Gosh!