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She Leads Them On


I stood on the Lincoln playground watching the kids play their games.  Voices rang through the air, shouting of childhood pleasures in the fun that was surrounding them.  Often there is more than one class out on the playground and the kids delight in the games that allow so many to join.  
On this particular day Mrs. Barker's Kindergarten Class was out while my class was.  They were busy jumping rope, hanging on the bars, sliding down the slides, and running in all sorts of directions.  Their faces told the familiar story of playtime in the warm sun.

I continued my walking around the playground until I noticed that Mrs. Barker held her hand up high in the air as she walked toward me.  I stopped, now positioned in the middle of the playground and watched.
My mind settled on the scene that unfolded.  The little kids of Lincoln gathered around Mrs. Barker.  She began walking away from the school and her class followed like ducklings.  She began pointing to the ground, showing them the artwork that other children had completed earlier in honor of their teachers.  Her boys and girls looked at the artwork, pointing their fingers, and enjoying the tour.

I watched more closely and noticed something.  The ease and grace with which Mrs. Barker carried herself with a group of 5 year-old's began to consume my mind.  The kids seemed to take turns walking beside her; each delighting in the time they had with her.  She always noticed the one next to her with a smile and at the same time kept the others in her sight.  They walked around in several circles and the scene became one that could be painted.  An experienced teacher; humble, graceful, dedicated...surrounded lovingly by her students.  Children that have grown to love her over the past nine months; children who have grown to trust her.  

She was, in her own way, introducing her students to all of the Lincoln teachers by walking the chalk art created by the "older kids".  She was demonstrating how kids view their teachers...the very teachers that many of her students will have in the future.  She was instilling with quiet persuasiveness a respect for the adults that will someday educate them.  They say that "all one needs to know in life is learned in Kindergarten"...the lesson on the playground was but one tidbit of what these children learn from their Kindergarten teacher.  

As quickly as she rounded them up with her raised hand she brought them to a quiet line amidst the busy playground.  They willingly and very naturally fell into line, raised their own hands like their teacher had done, and prepared to enter the building.

As they disappeared into Lincoln School I wondered how many of them will always remember Mrs. Barker as their Kindergarten Teacher...I know that answer...

...each and every one of them.
Mr. Casten
May 11, 2012

Copyrighted material of Michael C. Casten

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