Having a Good Day in School

This article provides an opportunity to listen to a master teacher describe the achievements that go into having a good day in school with kindergarten children. It can look deceptively easy to achieve. We visit Vivian Gussin Paley’s classroom, listen as she describes her goals, and get a glimpse of how she strives to achieve them. We then witness a novice student teacher, the author, attempt to learn to teach and then, in later years, help a struggling kindergarten teacher learn to have a good day with her children. We experience just how complex the skills are for having a good day in school. Shortly before she died, Mrs. Paley talked about four words that she felt she had not made clear to herself and others that provide the key to having a good day: That reminds me of … This article explores how these four words on the part of a teacher open the way to having a good day with children, and in thinking about teaching.