Sunday, February 12, 2006

Confidence Comes in the Form of Snow and Kindergarteners

I have kind of forgotten over the past couple months that I am good at a few things. And in one snowy weekend, it all came back to me that I was good at a few things.

True, it is not a modest thing to say about oneself, but I don't care. This is my blog and I can be self-assured if I want to be.

First, I had forgotten how good I am at winter weather. I can clean off the fourteen inches of snow on the car like a champ. I can get out of snowed in parking spots with a little drive forward and a big thrust in reverse. I can stop on icy roads and not swerve...not one little bit. I know the foods to have on hand...Chili, lasagna, ice cream, cake, hot cocoa, coffee, cinnamon rolls, and more ice cream. I am good at remembering to bring an extra pair of socks in my purse because my other socks could get wet. I am good at having extra winter gear because someone might need a hat or mittens.

Along with my winter skills, I was reassured this weekend that I can be a good teacher. I have not forgotten this fact but merely packed it away until I needed that confidence for a weekend like this. I had an open house with some kindergarteners that will be in my class next year. I was nervous and quite frantic about whether I still had a clue. Yet, when the children arrived and we engaged with each other, I knew that I had made the right choice for next year. When we sat together on the carpet to read The Kissing Hand, a book about going to school for the first time, the children interacted with the book and we enjoyed the story together. I use the term "good teacher" in a flexible sense. In my eyes, it means that I have planned a meaningful time where social, emotional, and academic learning takes place. I can't say for sure what the children took away from our morning together. I can only speak to what I have taken away...a sense of confidence that I have a clue about snow...and school.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I think we forget how great stuff can come out of the simplest moments. Way to look at those moments and benefit from them...and for sharing all of you!

Dree said...

Oh, I LOVE "The Kissing Hand." I use it with my new first graders every year on the first day of school. Great book. :)

Me said...

You can take the girl out of the Midwest, but you can't take the Midwest out of the girl!!! :)