During the first week of kindergarten, I was hyper aware of my twins' teachers. Having decided to separate them in kindergarten, I hadn't given too much thought to the ACTUAL teachers before school began. I was focused on the kids and how in the world we would ever get out of bed and get ready for school and out to door by 7:30am. When we arrived that first week, I quickly shifted gears to start comparing these two very different teachers.
My kids have teachers who are opposite extremes in some ways. In Phillip Done's book Close Encounters of the Third Grade Kind, he discusses the Messy and the Tiddys. As in teachers' desks. There are messy teacher desks and tiddy teacher desks (you'll have to read the book to find out which one Mr. Done is...I'm not letting any of his secrets out!). Being Tiddy with a little Messy thrown in (as in...I WANT to be a Tiddy and am a Tiddy most of the time, but I sometimes don't have the time to be as Tiddy as I want to be, so can be perceived as a little...Messy at times. Not that I am unsecure about that or anything.)
Ben's teacher is a Messy. I don't know how she finds ANYTHING in her room! But, find it she does. And she is so warm and caring and fun that I really don't mind so much anymore. (I DO worry a tab about Ben learning some (further) messiness from his adored teacher, but that is really my job anyway.
Lily's teacher, on the other hand, is a Tidy. Uber-tidy. She is SO organized, she doesn't even need a room mom. She has everything neatly labeled and put away and...tidy. Lily has a special folder that goes back and forth each day for her papers - this teacher is actually teaching tidiness, which I so value.
I adore each of my kids' teachers. Being a Messy or a Tidy is only part of this hugely challenging and fun job. I thank Mr. Done for sharing a little glimpse of what it is like to be a teacher.
This post is part of the Silicon Valley Moms Group book club today on Phillip Done's latest book Close Encounters of the Third Grade Kind. I received a free copy of the book to use for this discussion. Join in the discussion here!
