Play is Hard Work: Spotlight on a Preschool Teacher

Suzana Hernandez, a veteran preschool teacher with more than 10 years of experience, was born and raised in Montebello California, a suburb of Los Angeles along with her two brothers Jorge and Jose. The three of them were brought up by their mother.

Suzie describes her younger brother Jorge as outgoing, charismatic and as someone who enjoyed taking part in sporting activities including baseball, basketball and football. She however identified more with her older brother Jose who was shy and more of the indoors type.

Regarding her upbringing, Suzie fondly recalls her mother’s profound love and kindness and how she appreciated that her mother raised the three of them by providing a strong nurturing, and most importantly, balanced environment with plenty of, “structure and freedom.”

After graduating from high school, Suzie worked at her former elementary school’s after school care program. Eventually a teaching position became available at the school and she took the opportunity teach.

For her teaching was a life long dream. Ever since she was a young girl Suzie liked to imagine herself teaching. “As young as four,” she remembers, “ pretending that my stuffed animals were students and I was a teacher.”

Suzie told me how she would arrange her dolls in rows, make a makeshift blackboard out of paper and put math problems on it to teach her toys.

“When a kid plays with blocks they are learning math. They are figuring out which blocks should go where in order to build what they are building.”

Suzie noted two key people who inspired her to teach. One was her mother. “She [Suzie’s mother] just worked very well with kids and I guess I learned from that.”

The other, her kindergarten teacher. “I have a lot of memories about my kindergarten teacher. I remember the way she told stories. She made all the voices” and, Suzie goes on “ [she] would very much get into character. That was something I would look forward to.” Nowadays Suzie does the same with her students, providing an impression of Eric Carle’s The Grouchy Ladybug that would make a professional voice actor proud.

“It’s Awesome to see there little eyes interested and absorbing all that information.”

Despite her love for teaching, Suzie laments the fact that parents often don’t understand the importance of play in their child’s development. “When parents come in and see us playing they say, ‘Oh my goodness all my kid does is play all day.”

But Suzie points to the benefits of play. How it helps student’s social and problem solving skills. “When a kid plays with blocks they are learning math. They are figuring out which blocks should go where in order to build what they are building.”

But despite this stigma Suzie is rewarded everyday. “I love teaching. And I love seeing them do something they couldn’t do the day before. Like cutting with scissors. It’s Awesome to see there little eyes interested and absorbing all that information. That has to be one of my favorite things about teaching. Helping children develop and develop a love to learn.”