The Magic of Being a Teacher

Before I begin, when I say teacher, I am not only talking about a classroom teacher. I am talking about all forms of teaching and impacting children: parents, caregivers, grandparents, aunts/uncles, friends, neighbors. It takes a village, right?

I teach second grade. Second graders are seven or eight years old. Let me describe the average second grader to you:
1. happy
2. excited about school
3. talkative and willing to share thoughts/ideas
4. willingness to please and work hard

Not all students walk into my classroom this way. Some students are shy, scared, stubborn, argumentative, angry, etc.

Some students ping-pong from a variety of mixed emotions as we spend 9 months together due to a variety of reasons or life situations.

There is magic in being a teacher. As a teacher, we have the GIFT to work with students so they know they are safe in our classroom, teach them the necessary academic skills as well as work on life skills to help facilitate kindness, empathy and compassion.

I believe that every single teacher has heard it over and over again about taking time at the beginning of the school year to set clear expectations and build rapport with students. However, doing that at the beginning of the year and never revisiting it, does not work. Over the years, I have found myself asking students, “Do you know why I am here? Do you know what my job is?”

I have to explicitly remind my students throughout the year that I am there to help them learn and to help them learn to solve problems. It is not enough to say it once or twice. We have to constantly remind our students what our job is and that we are here for them.

It is so important to start the school year off with meaningful conversations, positivity, clear expectations, kindness, inclusion and diversity. Picture books allow teachers the opportunity to introduce or review a wide variety of topics that often shine a beautiful spotlight on diversity and inclusion. Below are a list of 21 picture books I will be using to begin my school year.

Title	Author	Theme
I Am Enough	Grace Byers	Kindness, respect, self-love
The Invisible Boy	Trudy Ludwig	Finding strengths and celebrating strengths
The Arabic Quilt	Aya Khalil	Celebrating culture and written language
The Lemonade Hurricane	Licia Morelli	Mindfulness and meditation
Your Name is a Song	Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow	Celebrating the beauty in names
There’s No Dream Too Tall	Amie Dean	Empowerment and dreaming
F is for Feelings	Goldie Millar & Lisa A. Berger	Identifying and exploring feelings
The World Needs More Purple People	Kristen Bell & Benjamin Hart	Celebrating all people
Perfect	Max Amato	Finding beauty in mistakes and working together
How To Get Your Teacher Ready	Jean Reagan	Humorous how-to book about teachers
What Does It Mean To Be Kind?	Rana DiOrio	Kindness and empathy
The Name Jar	Yangsook Choi	Celebrating the beauty in names
Happy Dreamer	Peter H. Reynolds	Dreaming and uniqueness
We Are The Same In A Different Way	Renee Ecckles-Hardy	Celebrating all people
Kindness is a Kite String	Michelle Schaub	Kindness and empathy
The Word Collector	Peter H. Reynolds	Celebrating the importance of words
Wonderfully Made	Kaitlyn Derosiers & MEgan McBryde	Celebrating all families
Books in the Park	Elle Montemayor	Celebrating the importance of reading
Say Hello!	Rachel Isadora	Celebrating languages
Nella’s Kindness Kicks	NelliRose Farella	Kindness and effects of actions
All Are Welcome	Alexandra Penfold	Celebrating all people

What are you favorite books to start your school year or to read to the children in your life? I would love to continue to grow my classroom library. Please put the titles in the comments.

I invite you to visit my instagram page to see the video reel showcasing all the books above.
https://instagram.com/christina.dankert