Akila Jabir Shabbiri

“Teaching kids to count is fine, but teaching them what counts is best” – Bob Talbert

I love being a preschool teacher. I love seeing little faces light up with a smile when I open the door to the classroom every morning. I love it when all of a sudden I feel my leg being hugged and I look down at a child smiling up at me telling me they love me. I love listening to a room full of kids laugh just because they like how it feels. I love the “difficult” children who say no to everything and test me to see if I mean what I say. I love it when my students are so excited about a topic that they ask a million questions and don’t want to leave the rug for our next activity. I love creating a sense of community by encouraging the parents and caregivers to linger a bit at drop off and pick up and chat about what’s going on in our room and in their lives. And what I love most about being a preschool teacher is that I see the difference I make in my student’s lives, every single day.

To me, teaching preschool is very different from teaching older grades. Once a child reaches kindergarten the focus becomes academic – it’s time to learn to read, write, “do” math and take tests. The “soft skills” like learning to deal with frustration, make a plan and follow it during play, taking turns, making friends and dealing with conflict, are rarely taught and often not supported. And to be fair, what teacher has time to deal with a child who can’t sit still on the rug when she has 24 other students and a lesson to get through? But the reality is that it is the mastering of those “soft skills” that will actually determine a child’s success in elementary school and beyond. And teaching those skills is the job of a preschool teacher.