Free Sample
The Complete Guide to Becoming A Preschool Teacher, Except Special Education
The real pay, the real path, and the real day-to-day of working with three- and four-year-olds — so you can decide before you commit.
by Alumigogo Books
Chapter 1: What Does a Preschool Teacher, Except Special Education Actually Do?
Let's start by clearing away the postcard image. When most people picture a preschool teacher, they imagine a small person with paint on their hands and a patient adult kneeling beside a tiny chair, guiding a crayon across construction paper. That picture is real, but it's maybe ten percent of the job. The other ninety percent is a demanding, fast-paced, physically tiring, and surprisingly administrative career that happens to take place in a room with furniture sized for three-year-olds.
The official title — preschool teacher, except special education — covers licensed educators who work with children between the ages of three and five, typically in center-based programs, Head Start classrooms, private preschools, or public school pre-K programs. You are not a babysitter, though you will wipe noses and tie shoes. You are not a nurse, though you'll administer a fair amount of sunscreen and the occasional emergency dose of a child's prescribed EpiPen if your center requires it. You are a certified early childhood educator, which means your job is to guide children through one of the most developmentally explosive periods of their lives — and to do it in a way that is measurable, documentable, and compliant with state regulations.
The Core of the Job: Structured Play and Seamless Teaching
The single most important thing to understand about preschool teaching is this: children this age do not learn by sitting and listening. They learn by doing, by