My girlfriend is a substitute teacher and before that she was a college student. I spent a lot of time in a variety of Kindergartens: rural, urban, and suburban; first of all the affluent and especially the weak; well-equipped schools and financially struggling schools; multi-level and single level; inclusive and typical. She has witnessed manykindergarten-teacher”>used in many different ways to teach all reading skills to social discipline in school administration. Every day she comes home and to my failure I feel I have experienced the best and the worst that Kindergarten has to offer.
What did I learn? I taught primarily what not to do as a kindergarten teacher. I hope future and current Kindergarten teachers can benefit from this plan.
1. Don’t treat your students like robots or care. Remember that they are people, just like younger adults with less wisdom and experience! Make them like men. If you find yourself treating your students worse than you treat your friends, you are doing something wrong.
2. Don’t refer to your students as friends. Just because they’re in the same Kindergarten class together, doesn’t mean they’re friends! In particular, don’t refer to your friends as comparing them to each other or trying to talk them out of each other. (See below.)
3. Compare your students to each other. In the five years under the age of five girls are typically a full year for girls in all developing countries. In a typical Kindergarten class, there is a whole year in the present age range. An extra year of development and life experience makes a big difference in five year olds. Perhaps most importantly, we are all human. We all have strengths and weaknesses. Some people’s strengths are more apparent than others in the school environment. Embrace the uniqueness of students and prepare for re-testing.
4. Do not chatter. Of course, if the student is in danger of harming himself or others or losing property, it is important that you know. In my experience, it’s not the kind of talk that goes on in the classroom. I’ve heard Kindergarten teachers say things like, “If you see any of your friends playing with their shoelaces, make sure you tell me.” I sure hope one of my friends doesn’t find out from my teacher that I’m playing with a shoelace when I’m not supposed to! (It’s a stupid rule anyway. See below.) Let your students answer for themselves.
If anyone is cracking down on contentious lawsuits, I encourage them to exercise. Observe the matter so that all are reverent, and nothing escapes their hands, but M. Agrippa is rewarded by not interceding. Tattla became increasingly restless over the years distinction behavior. By following up on the rewards of each prayer, your students retain student behavior a true teacher, and to learn how to get along with others by using words he would know himself and work out the problems in himself.
6. Don’t let discipline get out of hand. Being very clear about rules and consistency is important in classroom management. If you let go of the little things, you’ll be well on your way to keeping your race on track. Unfortunately, some students will have trouble with even a few simple rules that you really need to enforce. When someone abandons the rule, don’t let your discipline go beyond control.
For example, Timmy is noisy during story time (kind of disruptive), so you tell him he needs to sit out of the group so the other students can hear. When he goes to sit on the floor, he is grumpy and crying. You stop the story and tell him if he doesn’t stop now he won’t have playtime. You can’t stop telling him he won’t have the game, and if he doesn’t stop now, you’ll talk to his parents. The state got out of control.
People are curious, and as much as you want to be able to control them absolutely, you won’t always be able to do so. When a rule is broken, give a consequence and leave it at that. If you escalate the training, the student will quickly feel powerless, and feeling powerless will soon lead to more mistakes.
7. Don’t extinguish the joy! This is the biggest “don’t” on this list. If you take nothing else away from this article, it should be your primary responsibility as a kindergarten teacher to make sure your students are happy at school nor do they lose their natural curiosity and love of learning. Share their passions and joy. Help them find the answers to their questions. Don’t be afraid to stray from your prepared lesson plans when things seem to be going in a different direction. Let the students show you where they want to go. If your students hate school, you are doing something wrong. Unfortunately it is! Most of your students will be in a school environment for the next twelve years in some way. If they are already afraid every day, they are in for a long and hard journey. Teach them that school is a wonderful, fun place, and that you did your job well as a Kindergarten teacher.
