I’m a secondary trained teacher and yet I work in a primary school OSHC. And it has convinced me that Early Childhood and Primary teachers are saints. I honestly have no idea how they do it.
In terms of the students, I find that I can be blunt with the older students where I need to be more gentle with the younger ones. And the older students tend to appreciate it, which I like. Also, when they do something silly or out of the ordinary; keeping a poker face is so damn hard. I struggle with it constantly.
They say the most amusing things:
“Miss, why do you wear two necklaces?” – One from my partner and one from my grandparents.
“Do you have kids? Are you married?” – No and no.
“Why do you have two rings on one hand?” – One from my grandparents and one I bought for myself.
There is no way I could cope with constant questions like that. And generally they are asked one after the other, never ending!
Also, how on Earth do Early Childhood and Primary teachers deal with students when they say: “Miss, they’re not going out,” and (my personal favourite) “But Miss, I want to play with them. I don’t want to play with anyone else!” The latter is usually accompanied with tears.
Also, what about the ones who haven’t yet been toilet trained properly? Ouch.
When it comes to the planning of work, I don’t know how they do it. The planning would be insane; especially for multiple areas and if they are in areas that aren’t a strong point. There is no way I could do planning for Math and teach it. Not my strong area at all. And putting Reception to Year 2 students on a spectrum of how comptency – forget it. How you do it when they are constantly learning and changing? I have no clue.
I also feel that the offices and staff room would be a haven. And also that you would be craving intelligent conversation rather than trying to decode what students want/need.
Early Childhood and Primary Teachers, you all are saints. I take my hat off to you.