Small Children

Yipes! It's been over a year since I wrote. The good news is, I'm doing quite a lot of writing outside of this blog, mostly on my book, The Stretch Project. I'm making steady progress; I work on it every day, even if only for 10 minutes. It's a wonderful, satisfying discipline.

This year, I'm back to teaching in a "normal" school (i.e. one with a building), Stoneridge Children's Montessori School. My youngest students at Stoneridge are 2 years old (!) . . . fortunately, I've also got middle schoolers still . . . and everything in between. I'm loving it. Toddlers and preschoolers glisten with wonder; they are wide-eyed and funny and uninhibited. At the beginning of the year, it was an adjustment to sing "little kid" songs. Some kids' music is obnoxious, but I sift through the CDs for songs that I enjoy: silly stuff, preferably with goofy little dances. There are many moments when I feel sly and triumphant to have found a profession where I can engage in tomfoolery for legit income.

Of course, there are new challenges, too! Some of my classes have been chaotic at times, and I am re-learning that when students misbehave, I can't take it personally . . . but I must take it into consideration. As always, my goal is to get to a point where I don't encounter many discipline problems. I've found that the more I empower my students, the more they want to work hard and make amazing things happen. Fortunately, this is Montessori philosophy, so my colleagues are down with this sort of thinking. With a couple of classes, I still have a long way to go from philosophy to reality! But I'm on my way.