I wrote a book for preschool teachers. And yes, there is an entire chapter about a child jumping in pee.
That probably tells you more about this book than a very polished announcement would.
It’s Not Your Day. It’s Theirs. is now available on Amazon in Kindle, paperback, and hardcover. If you have been waiting for me to say that, I can finally say it.
I did not start out knowing what I was doing
During my first few weeks in a preschool classroom, I cried in the back of the room. I was trying to figure out how to get through the rest of the shift. I did not feel like the teacher I thought I was supposed to be.
I have learned a lot since then. Some of it came from trying something that worked. Plenty came from being wrong.
There was the little girl who would not leave the train table. At first, I thought letting her stay meant we were allowing her to refuse. Once I stopped making the train table a battle, I had room to get to know her.
There were children who showed me what they could do after I changed what I was doing. There were lessons that turned up again during free play, when nobody had asked the children to keep working on them. And there were activities that went so far off my plan that I had to decide whether to stop them or pay attention.
I wanted to tell you what actually happened
I did not want to write another book that made teaching sound neat and predictable. I wanted to tell the stories behind the things I believe now.
It is easy to say, “Follow the children’s interests.” It is a different thing to be standing in a classroom watching your fire-safety activity turn into children swimming in shaving cream. That is where the interesting part of the conversation starts.
If you read my shaving-cream story or the post about children who are not ready to touch sensory materials, you already know some of the questions I keep coming back to. Am I watching the child? Am I helping? Or am I so focused on what I expected to happen that I am missing what is happening?
The book gives those moments more room. It also includes the families, the goodbyes, the doubts, and the things children gave back that I never expected.
This one is for the adults
Most of the books I create are for children. This one is for you.
For the teacher who has gone home replaying one part of the day. For the teacher who loves this work but has still wondered whether she is any good at it. I wanted you to be able to read a story, laugh, and think, “Okay. It is not just me.”
I am not writing from the other side of a perfect classroom. I am sharing what the children taught me in mine.
You can read more about the book here or find your preferred format on Amazon.
Thank you for reading my classroom stories here—and for making room for a whole book of them.
Lindsay
