My New Job

I've been at my new center for a whole week now and here are my initial reactions:

1. The only things I miss from my old center are the 2.5 hour naptime (lots of time in which to get things done, but let's face it... 4 year olds don't need to nap for that long) and my kids. Well, some of my kids, LOL. I still keep in touch with a few parents which is really great to know how things have changed there, how the office explained my sudden departure (which apparently is... they didn't), and how the kids are coping.

2. I LOVE SELF SUFFICIENT KIDS. My very first day, one of the girls didn't make it to the bathroom in time and had an accident. And guess what??? She went out into the hall, got her change of clothes and went into the bathroom to change herself. It was wonderful not to have to stop what I was doing to take care of that. They clean up after themselves, they are aware of how many friends are in each center so they know if they can play over there or not, they aren't spilling their milk several times at lunch. I could go on and on and on but I won't.

3. My heart really does belong to the challenging kids. First it was K in my 2's room who stole my heart with her independent, stubborn, sometimes foul mouth ways (she picked up a lot of words from her brother who had some mental health issues). now it's G who is K in a few years, LOL. So stubborn, so independent, so opinionated, and so cuddly. Her personality clashed big time with my coteacher's personality so they are constantly going head to head. I'm trying to be more patient with her, just like K needed more patience, and so far it's working. At least, I think so.

4. I LOVE TEACHING AGAIN. With the 2's I got to teach, like, colors and letters and shapes of course, but I never felt like I did when I was student teaching or the way I do now. I haven't actually taught anything yet because I spent a lot of the week just getting the routine down, but as I watched the activities L does with the kids and watched the gears turning in their heads... I was reminded why I love doing what I do. I love figuring out why a kiddo is struggle with something and trying to find ways to help them understand. I love doing hands on activities with a group that understands (mostly) that "don't touch that" or "don't throw that" means what I said, and that asks questions and has developed a higher level of thinking that they can connect it to other experiences in life.

5. I'm going back to school. I realized this week as we started teaching kids sight words that I love teaching reading. I love finding ways to teach the reading, to connect it to their lives, to help with comprehension and critical thinking, all of it. So in the fall I am returning to school for my reading specialist certification. It means a lot less time on my hands, and more student loans to be taken out, but the end result, I think, will be well worth it both financially and emotionally.

I so glad I love this place, and I really feel like it's where God wants me to be both my regular coteacher and the floater I work with on Fridays are Christians (the floater is actually the daughter of missionaries and was raised in Brazil -- how cool is that???). And while the center isn't a Christian center, I don't feel like I have to stifle who I am and what I believe.