Kindergarten

Well, it's official. I have a job for next year, and I will be teaching ... KINDERGARTEN! (Cue horror movie shrieks and ominous music.) It's a bit different than I was expecting (i.e. hadn't thought about sitting on carpet squares and finger-painting), but I'm already getting excited about the idea. Now, if only every other woman I tell about it will just stop saying "Aw, so cute!" or "Oh, how precious." We'll work on that.

I've decided that when I start teaching I am going to blog about it in a very scientific way while also respecting the privacy of the subjects (or students) involved. Rachel gave me a book for my birthday a few years ago called "A Primate's Memoir" by Robert M. Sapolsky, who refers to each of the members of the baboon troop by a name from the Bible. I think I'll do that with my kids, too, only maybe I'll use characters from Shakespeare or an HBO series. ("Today McNulty peed himself while I was helping Ophelia get rubber cement out of her hair." Something like that).

So it's been a little while since I posted and I wanted to make up for lost time by also posting a couple of links that I've been enjoying:

A good piece at the New York Times Magazine about "Building a Better Teacher."

An hilaaarious commercial for the hilaaaarious show "Modern Family." Some day I'll have to post specifically about the show, as it's really funny, but for now, enjoy the taste.

I've also been reading a new book, "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" by Paulo Freire. I'll have to comment further on it when I've been able to read a few paragraphs without either falling asleep or becoming somewhat overwhelmed. Gotta get back in the habit of reading academic works, I guess. Phew.