I loved school before I entered kindergarten. Preschool was easy; I had friends in class, naptime, dress up costumes, and best of all, we had story time. I raced to the far left of the carpet whenever my teacher read to us; that way, I’d be the first student to see the pictures when she slowly swept the open book across the room.

I don’t remember the first time I pretended to be a teacher, but I do remember “reading” to my class many times. Picture books were the only books I read to my empty bedroom because I didn’t have words yet. I only had the pictures to guide me through simple stories about bears living inside a tree or a monochromatic man with a monkey as a pet. I always made sure to show my imaginary students the pictures when I was done “reading”. I swept the open book across my room, careful to start with the left side then slowly make my way to the right.

Fortunately for me, my students were imaginary, and thus very patient. Since I was only using the pictures as a guide, I oftentimes got ahead of the story. I’d turn the page and the emotions shown on the characters wouldn’t match up with the plot I’d so hastily developed the page before. I had to restart books seven, eight times before I finally stuck the ending. The process was fun the first time through, but I’d get tired and frustrated around the fourth try. It was this frustration and perfectionism that nearly led me to quit my teaching career before it even began, at the age of four.

My employment status in limbo, I entered kindergarten. I decided that I still loved school. The classroom didn’t have dress up costumes, but we did have a pajama day, which was just as fun. Storytime got even better; my teacher, Mrs. Dobson, held the book out all the time so we could see the pictures as she read the words, not after. I could sit anywhere I wanted and still watch the story unfold. The best part about her was she didn’t want to keep the action to herself. She did her best to give the story to us. Before we read Dawn of the Dinosaurs (my first chapter book) we watched, drew, and touched plastic dinosaurs. I started to love not only school but learning.

Mrs. Dobson finally decided to give us words. The first books I learned how to read were quite dry, as beginner books tend to be.