Teaching season has begun once again!

I talked to the education director of the wildlife museum where I work and volunteer and she was asking about my interest in various teaching assignments. Then I really opened the flood gates when I told her I am no longer working at the humane society! Suddenly, I was being signed up left and right for various classes and will probably even be a camp counselor in July. Woah! I just finished marking all my working days so far in my calendar, and it's looking pretty full.

That freaks me out just a little, because working with small children and their parents just does that to me. It's difficult to be so "on" all the time. It might be easier if it was just me and the kids, but then again, maybe not!

I'm also really excited because I do love children, I love teaching, and really, how can anyone not love a paycheck? Oh paycheck, how I love thee so...

"Ode to a Paycheck" -- new CD single by Meg, coming soon to your local music store!

I am actually looking forward to my upcoming class (starts March 14th)! I'm a little bummed that I have to give up five weeks of being at the water sanitation plant, though. I love it out there! But when the director lady is saying stuff like, "Yeah, so-and-so has been teaching all year long and just wants to have a change of pace, just for five weeks," it's hard to say no. So I didn't. And now I'll be teaching the little kiddies (ages 3-5)!

Advantages to this are: sleeping in a bit, being indoors (no bugs or stepping in otter poo), and being able to go right back out to the marsh the following week. And then I can step in all the otter poo I want!

I'm a little apprehensive about it all, even though I'm sure everything will be great. Whenever I teach, I get freaked out right before I head out in the morning. Then I get there, have fun, and feel great afterwards. It's a terribly stupid cycle. It leaves me wondering, when on earth will I learn that I enjoy this teaching stuff, and just relax?

It even happened this past Friday, when I was out at the water sanitation plant again, after two months of being away (field trips weren't scheduled during that time). We had 5th graders. For some reason, that sounded older to me (must be because we usually have 3rd graders), so it made me nervous. But then they arrived and they all looked so young! And then I realized that they're only ten years old. They ARE so young!

And there was no reason to be nervous. The kids were polite and interested, and even though I feared I may have forgotten everything, it all came rushing back. And I think they all had a good time!

I was happy that they were so well behaved. I only got annoyed at them once, but that was because they were talking and talking and wouldn't stop! The good news is, they were talking about what we were doing. They were just so excited about everything that they were having a hard time controlling themselves. So no problem! If they weren't into it at all, that would have sucked. But everything worked out just fine.

I was doing the dip-netting station with the kids, which means they got to run tiny nets through the water to see if they found any living creatures. They found tiny fish, midge larvae, a couple dragonfly and damselfly nymphs, a few crayfish, and many, many scuds. I am always happy to make the scuds sound super cool, especially since they are very teeny tiny pond shrimp and are the most common creatures out there to find! Most kids aren't thrilled to find them, until I say things like, "Oh my gosh, you caught a scud! These guys are great!"

It's nice when they can get excited about even the small wildlife and I can explain why putting them back in the water is so important and how we should respect all life, even the tiny things we don't normally think about. It's nice that I can bring awareness of these things into their lives, even if just for a moment. Hopefully, it'll even stick with some of them!

So Friday was a lot of fun, and I definitely left there feeling happy about everything. Hopefully I'll be able to experience that feeling more and more with all my upcoming classes! I guess I'll just have to wait and see!

~~Meg