Today was the first day of school. Most likely my last 'first day' in Kindergarten. As I was thinking about all of the 'first days' I've seen through the years, I remembered my very first day at this school.
I was here to start my student teaching experience. I had been assigned to work in kindergarten for half of the day, and first grade the other half. I had been teaching the kindergarten class at my church on Sunday mornings, so I had heard lots of stories about Mrs Walton, my supervising teacher in Kindergarten, from the children. From the stories and activities they talked about, I was expecting to see someone in their 30s teaching the class.
When I arrived at the school and the secretary directed me to the room, I looked in the window to see a tiny, white haired woman talking to the children. I thought that the teacher must have been absent and this must be her sub. But I knocked on the door, since this was to be my teaching assignment.
To my surprise, this 'little old lady' was the Mrs. Walton I had heard about. Could this really be the teacher that had excited and encouraged the children that I had seen at Sunday school?
Indeed, it was one and the same. It didn't take long for me to see that she was truly young at heart, no matter what the age on the outside may have indicated.
I learned so many things in my student teaching semester, but most important was a true love for teaching children. Maybe someday I'll write my own book, "Everything I Needed to Know about Teaching I Learned in Kindergarten".
1 successful day down, only 179 to go.
