Things I Learned in Kindergarten

Here at Darlington, teachers have the wonderful opportunity to visit other classrooms to observe and learn from one another. Since I’m back in school learning about literacy, I thought it would be fun to go back to where it all begins. 

If you teach secondary grades, you may think, like I did, that there is no way you could ever go back to kindergarten. You can’t have a conversation with them; they are jumping all over the place. It’s nuts down there! However, when you watch a master teacher teach, your eyes open up to what your class could look like. We’ve all heard about things I learned in kindergarten about getting along with one another. However, I learned lifelong lessons about how to teach my middle school classes.

Every student in class can be a leader or look forward to leading a class. The responsibility is big, but if a kindergartener can do it, a middle schooler can do it, too. 

We all need to pat ourselves on the back at least once a day. Maybe we did something right, or we got the right answer, or just supported a friend who was feeling down. A pat on the back will always cheer you up. 

If you want to remember it, put a little boogie in it! Adding rhythm or rhyme is a great mnemonic. Facts are easier to remember if you can sing them out loud. 

Small steps are not just for kindergarteners who need to reach things that are high. Scaffolding pays off in the middle school classroom and at any point in our lives, even as adults! 

If you mess up and need to start over, or just want to be ready to move on, shake it off! There are plenty of opportunities to do it again and again. Repetition helps things stick. 

Coloring is fun! Writing in the sky is sometimes more fun than writing on paper, and it also helps the learning stick! 

Finally, teaching students routines from day one is exhausting, but it pays off. I never would have expected 20 5-year-olds to move around a space without running and crashing into each other. Maybe there is hope for our middle schoolers!