I Really Am Teaching Them Something!

For several years, I taught a young fives class. It was a neat change from my kindergarten class because I had fewer students and it was very much a bridge to kindergarten, filled with lots of learning-based play. Just like every teacher, sometimes I felt successful and sometimes not so much, depending on the day.

There was one successful moment that sticks in my mind even now. At the time, we were working on making patterns with manipulatives, toys, and ourselves. Several days afterward, we went to our regular Friday children’s mass. (I worked at a Catholic school.) As we were walking along the interior courtyard to the church, one of my little girls stopped and stared at the wall along the side of the church. “Miss B!” she said. “It’s a pattern!” And as I watched she walked along the wall, chanting and touching a statue, a window, a statue, a window, and a statue–all the way to the entrance of the church. I almost got a little teary-eyed! I knew they were learning, but it was delightful to see the information applied when we were out and about.

It’s these moments that keep us teaching and learning as well. Tell me about a time when one of your students had an “a-ha” moment.  


5 thoughts on “I Really Am Teaching Them Something!

  1. “A-ha” moments happen all the time for the preschoolers and myself… moments of learning and discovering. We learn something new everyday. We never stop learning.

  2. I remember one time my children pointed out Greek & Roman architecture of the buildings as we road by the museums in Chicago. My children went to class my art with me and it was awesome to see that they were actuall paying attention in class too.

  3. I know that I really am teaching my kindergartners, regardless of any ‘a-ha’ moments; however, the a-ha moments help ME. This week we have been talking about numbers (last week too) and one-to-one correspondence. The first day we talked about the one-to-one correspondence, I could tell it didn’t make complete sense, but they were doing the work right. I wasn’t entirely sure how to help them understand better though. The next day, I did things a little bit differently and one of my students actually said ‘OH! Now I get it!’

  4. I’ve just retired from teaching preschool after 41 years. In my prekindergarten class one year I taught about all the places you can visit in California. One of the monthly units was San Francisco and there were many interesting places to talk about, books to read and crafts to take home. A month later one of my parents came in and told me how much she appreciated the knowledge her child was retaining and sharing. They had taken a trip to San Francisco for a week and while there their daughter sitting in her booster seat said, “Oh Mommy, this is Little Lombard Street, the crookedest street!” Her parents were amazed and she could relate what she had learned to her older sibling and parents. They passed many more spots, the Painted Ladies victorian houses in a row, the Golden Gate bride, Bay bridge, China Town, Coit Tower, Golden Gate Park, the Japanese Tea Garden, Fisherman’s Wharf, the Sea Lions living on the pier, and so many other places. Her child could name them just by recognizing their destination, and tell them all about it. She was their very own Vistor’s Guide. What a amazing experience for the family.

  5. When teaching children about insects I dress them up like insects. While talking about them. I never was quite sure if each one was picking up the parts of a insect until one of my little guys went shopping with Mom. He wanted his mom to buy him some battle armor and a hair band. When she ask why he told her the battle armor was just like what I had at school and used for the exoskeleton of a bug and the hair and is thevantenna

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