About Kiri April 16, 2008

I am a public school pre-kindergarten teacher, somewhere in flyover-land. I work mornings with a classroom of delightful children, 5 of whom have been identified as having special needs of one sort or another. I also work a few afternoons a week (or give up some of my prep time) as a mentor teacher, working with the kindergarten and first grade teachers at my school.

When I was in college I had no idea I would end up as a teacher, so I majored in History.  A few years after college, I was complaining about my job, when a very good friend turned to me and said, “Why don’t you be a teacher?”

That was it — my lightbulb moment.  After that I went to grad school and got a master’s degree in early childhood education.  I started off in daycare, but moved to an urban public school district within a few years, and taught kindergarten for many years.  Now I teach pre-kindergarten, and I love it.

My school is not doing well under NCLB, so this year we began a teacher quality program to improve our teaching, and thus hopefully improve the children’s test scores.  I am a mentor under that program, and find that I have a lot to learn about working with my colleagues.  It has been a diplomatic minefield, but still, rewarding and a good intellectual challenge.