let them be little

One of my 1 1/2 year olds from last semester. This sweet girl woke up early from nap so we had a little extra one-on-one time.

I’m back in Tennessee and it’s the first day of classes. Hello spring semester of junior year! I genuinely love the start of new semesters and I’m especially excited for this one because my classes are all education courses. Sweetness. It energizes me to learn from professors passionate about teaching and alongside girls (and an occasional guy) that long to be in the classroom already as much as I do.

New semesters also mean a new classroom at work for this girl. I work at the early learning center on my campus and it has been one of the best pasts of my college experience. I’ve had challenging afternoons (I mean I’m working with preschoolers…). I’ve had frustrating moments. I’ve asked so many questions about behavior management and learned a great deal on my feet. BUT I’ve also had some of the best afternoons. These kids have made me laugh and smile over and over again. They’ve opened up my heart more and more.

I’ve been placed in the infants classroom this semester which is completely new ground for me. I’ve primarily worked with the “older” (2 1/2 – 3 year olds) kids with the exception of last semester where I had the toddlers (1 1/2 – 2) year olds). So I’m really looking forward to spending time loving on the babies.

One of the the things that I’ve learned working at a preschool and as a future teacher is just how much parents LOVE their babies. That seems so incredibly obvious that you’re probably wondering where I’m going with this. Well, it has really highlighted the hugeness of my responsibility of taking care of their children. They bring their babies into our classrooms every morning and leave trusting that they will be cared and loved well by us teachers. It’s our job and responsibility to create and maintain safe, fun, and joy-filled environments for their kids. What a responsibility and privilege that is!

I’m also constantly reminded to let them be little. They are learning and growing and developing. They are learning as I model how to correctly share for the 100th time. They are developing as they learn how to say more words or make sentences. They are little and I’m there to hopefully protect that innocence. I want them to have joy in discovering the world and learning something they didn’t know before. I know this probably seems pretty obvious too, but sometimes I place expectations on them that are way beyond their age. Then I’ll get frustrated with myself. So my goal is to let them be little. I’m just really thankful for the opportunity to have a job that I love as I work toward being an elementary school teacher.

{via}

P. S. Can I just take a minute to appreciate the cheesy sweetness of school/staff pictures? This is from last October and I kind of love that I have a future with lots of teacher pictures in it. I always loved when my mom would bring home her teacher picture every year and now I’m following in her footsteps. :)

Have a sweet day, friends!