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A Day on the Job: Primer on teaching preschoolers
By JOHN REINAN MELISSA AJABSHIR, 34Preschool teacher and curriculum specialist Westminster Day School, St. Petersburg How long have you been a teacher?Since about 1993, but I was a stay-at-home mom for a few years during that time. What drew you to preschool teaching?What I studied at Florida State was child development; that was my major. So I knew I wanted to do something with young children. How old are your children?I have a boy, 5, who's in kindergarten here. I have another boy who's 6. He's in first grade at Baypoint Elementary. Has being a mother given you insights about children that they didn't teach you in school?I really thought, after a major in child development, that I had all the answers. And with my first son, all the standard child development things worked with him. My second son is more of a free spirit, and I had to throw it all out the window. I learned that nothing works with every child. There are a lot of things that work with a lot of children, but you still have to use your intuition. To a certain extent, mom does know best. You're teaching 4-year-olds now. What are you trying to accomplish with them?One of my main goals is to instill a love of learning. If they love coming to school, that sets a foundation. The second goal is socialization. To a great extent, it just happens. But there are some kids who, if you don't intervene, they don't learn how to interact. And the third main goal is preliteracy skills. Do you have a philosophy of teaching?I believe in a play-learning approach. Everything I teach them is a game, a song, a story. Do you think modern parents push their kids to achieve too much at an early age? Like, if they're not reading the encyclopedia by age 5, they won't get into Harvard?We definitely see some of that. We mostly have parents who are looking for the socialization experience, but we do have some who have an academic focus. If I have a parent like that, I talk to them about my goals and explain my philosophy. And when we explain that, they usually understand. And we definitely do academics here; it's not like we ignore it. How do you keep your sanity in a room full of 4-year-olds?Part of it is structure and routine. The day is very structured. And another big part is the classroom environment. The way the classroom is physically set up actually influences behavior. If you're having fun, you're going to be behaving. There must be times when discipline is necessary, though.I use positive guidance. I teach them what they can do to behave correctly, rather than punish them for doing something incorrectly. What's your favorite thing about this job?When I see children coming in with challenges and overcoming those challenges and knowing I had something to do with that. A child comes in, she doesn't know how to make a friend, and now she's making friends -- I get excited about that. What's your least favorite thing?There's so much in the day that I want to do, and it's hard to keep it all organized. I don't always succeed, and that's why I have a very messy desk. What hours do you work?About 30 hours a week. What kind of money do you make?I'd really rather not say, because I don't want the other teachers comparing salaries. If you could have your dream job, what would it be?Working for some government organization, helping children around the world -- with a secretary to handle all the details.
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