[well, technically I am not (only) a preschool teacher, I am instructing college students to become good – and developmentally appropriate – early childhood educators]

– when you walk down the street you hum to yourself “The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah” all the way up to ten (“the ants go marching ten by ten, hurrah, hurrah/…/the ants go marching ten by ten/the little one stops and says ‘the end!’/and they all go marching down/to the ground/to get out/of the rain, boom, boom, boom…”

– when people are asking you “where are you going” you almost tell them “I’m going on A bear hunt

– you cross the streets only on the cross-marks and sing to yourself “Stop, look and listen/before you cross the street/Use your eyes, use your ears/Then you use your feet

– everybody you meet on the street is smiling at you, that because you’re herding a bunch of 4-year olds

– you habitually look in 15 directions at once, and can sustain a fluent conversation with an adult while settling down conflicts over a glue stick, getting kids to climb down the shelf, and yelling “get on the carpet square”

– you have glitter in your eyebrows, paint on your fingers, glue on your pants and various mismatched toys in your pockets