MWMM: Potty Mouth

For my second blog appearance, I have chosen to write about a funny (and not to mention, embarrassing) experience that happened when I had my first administrative observation in September.

As a first year teacher, you are placed in the Beginning Teacher Program which lasts three years. The program includes many meetings and various observations by other teachers and administrators. My first observation was completed by my mentor and the second by a peer (another teacher in the school). The first two went well, but I was extremely nervous to have my administrative observation, which was being conducted by my school principal. What will he think about the chaos? Will he understand why the kids are playing with playdoh? Will he understand why their letters at literacy are made out of sandpaper? The questions I had were overwhelming. The good news is that he did understand all the reasons why my preschoolers were doing so much playing and exploring...the bad news is that he got to sit in on a quite embarrassing, yet typical, pre-k conversation.

(Note: To better understand this story, it is important to know that during the first week of school, I had two children pull their pants down and pee on the playground...one boy and one girl).

Picture this: It's circle time. Me + sixteen little 4 year olds are together in a circle. We're about to read a book and do some super fun literacy activities. My principal, bless his heart, is sitting in a teeny tiny chair with his suit on and his laptop on the teeny tiny table. He's just ready to type away what happens next...

Child M raises his hand.

Ms. Molly: "Yes, M?"

Child M: "I've got to go poop!"

Ms. Molly: "Alright, please take care of that in the bathroom."

Child B: "Max poops outside."

Ms. Molly: "Yes, B...and is Max an animal or a person?"

Child B: "A dog."

Ms. Molly: "That's right. And B is right boys and girls...animals live outside and they usually pee and poop outside. People live inside so we go to the bathroom inside."

Child C: "Well, if dogs poop and pee outside then they'll get their clothes all poopy." [insert exploding laughter due to the word "poopy" being used]

Ms. Molly: "Good news! Animals don't wear clothes so their clothes will not get poop or pee on them when they use the bathroom outside."

Child A: "My cousin's dog wears a sweater." [dang it, I thought I had 'em]

Ms. Molly: "Well, yes, maybe some dogs do, but most dogs don't and people still only use the bathroom in the inside potty."

Child M: "Well, my dad lets me pee outside." [dang it, I thought I had 'em again]

Ms. Molly: "Some people do different things at their house, but when you're at school the only place you can pee or poop is inside the bathroom in the potty."

Child I: "Then how come B peed on the playground the first week of school?" [now they really gave me away]

Ms. Molly: "It was an accident and now everyone knows that we pee inside. I'm noticing that you all have a lot to say about pee and poop. If you have anything else to say, please whisper it to your hand and tuck it in your heart and you can tell me later. (Editor's note: Gah I can only hope Molly says this to Mike when they get in big fights. That would be a-w-e-s-o-m-e.) We've got to move on to our story."

Thankfully, that was the end of that. But as I felt my face get hotter and hotter, I could only imagine what the Principal had typed on his laptop about our conversation. The good news is that in our meeting that afternoon, he was pleased with how I handled the conversation and his notes say, "conversation turns to poop and pee experiences. teacher handles very well. teacher tells students to whisper stories about their pets to their hands and tell her later. students are ready to begin working with letters." At least they were ready at the end to work on their letters. Maybe they learned something on that day... :)

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Who doesn't love a good bodily function story! Thanks Ms. Molly!

On a side note, last night as we were about to go to sleep Chad says:

"Ugh. I need to find out what size clothes you wear at different stores in case I get you clothes for Christmas. I tried calling Molly last night and she hasn't returned my call..."

quiet for a few seconds...

"... she's a bad family member."

Busted. It made me laugh but wasn't long enough to merit it's own blog post. So I figured it tack it onto the end of MWMM. So Mol, you've been warned. You're on the outs with Chad.