If You Want This Choice Position

Last night, I had occasion to visit a childhood favorite: Mary Poppins. Well—if I’m being honest— “favorite” is an understatement. I watched the VHS of this so very often as a child that the tape began to wear out. Add to that, I had a copy of the audio cassette (dating myself!) that I listened to each and every night over an and over until I fell asleep. Maybe I even rewound “Supercalafragilisticexpialadocious” about 20 times until I memorized how to say it backwards… (dociousexpialaliisticfragicalarepuS. She kind of cheats and only puts super backwards. But we can forgive her).

There’s lots of reasons this movie resonated with  me as a child:

• Goddess Divine, Julie Andrews.
• Eternal Heartwarmer, Dick Van Dyke.
• Imagination.
• Adventure.
• Beautiful, catchy music.
• Magical clean ups.
• Love.
• Grow ups learning to be better at being grown ups.
• Kids learning how to be better at being kids.

All of those reasons still remain with me to this day. Watching it again with my teacher lenses on, however, I found a new layer of reason to relate to the movie.

When it came time for the “Perfect Nanny” song by Jane and Michael I (naturally) began to sing along. As I sung along, I thought to myself, “wow! They’re kind of describing the trappings of a teaching to the whole child, child-centered classroom. And all from a kid’s perspective.”

So, I started taking it apart as a group of advice from students on how to be a relatable teacher. Let’s look at the lyrics of the song from the movie:

If you want this choice position
have a cheery disposition


Be cheerful. Put joy in your classroom. Be playful. Take time to have fun with your kids and to make lessons fun.

 Rosy cheeks, no warts!


Ok. Maybe this one isn’t so important. I don’t think a gorgeous complexion makes a good teacher. Still, I think this relates to having a cheery disposition. I think that if you come in pleasantly and friendly, your children see you as warm, glowing and approachable. I think that if you come in grumpy, unpleasant, and irritable, you can start looking grim to the students. I can certainly point to times where my mean teacher voice has come out where the children probably saw me as something spectral, like a warty, crooked nosed witch.

 Play games, all sorts.


PLAY! PLAY! PLAY! Make games for learning. Make games for having fun. Teach them lots of different fun ways to play together. And play with them!

 You must be kind, you must be witty
Very sweet and fairly pretty.

Be kind. It stands by itself. If you want to teach children kindness, approach them with kindness.

Be witty… teaching involves being on your feet and having a quick wit. It means reading the room and making decisions as you go. It means coming up with creative ways to reach everybody and to keep reinventing the wheel on how to engage the whole class. As an aside, I also like to think that my penchant for puniness gets me the “witty” descriptor. Though when honest with myself, I know that puns are typically los on the PreK mind.

Very sweet and fairly pretty… Again I think the image of the teacher that students get comes directly from the teacher’s disposition. Be warm. Be loving. Be a friend.

 Take us on outings, give us treats
Sing songs, bring sweets.


Go play outside! Go take walks! Explore! Have adventures!

Sing! Sing! SING! Maybe it’s only true in Early Childhood, I don’t know. But for my money, singing is essential for greetings, partings, transitions, learning activities, games, and adjusting attitudes. It is also fun.

Give treats and bring sweets… Maybe not so much. I work in public school. I try to help point them toward healthy choices, rather than provide candy. Still, I’d like to think that when I do things like sanction a “Frozen” dance party or take 10 extra minutes to finish a game rather than force transition to journal time, the students feel like they’ve been given a treat.

 Never be cross or cruel
, never give us castor oil or gruel.

Never be cross!? Of course you get pushed over the edge and end up being cross sometimes. Sometimes you have to be cross. Or at least firm. But humans don’t like to be yelled at. So do your best to redirect firmly, but not degradingly.

Don’t be cruel. Let consequences be natural. Aim to be restorative, not punitive.

Luckily as a teacher, not a caretaker, we get to evade ever being the purveyor of nasty remedies or foods :).  

Love us as a son and daughter and never smell of barley water.

Love us as a son and daughter. Of course you can’t get so emotionally attached that you forget to be firm and guiding. But teaching is naturally an act of love. You become wholly invested in the growth and change of 20 individual children. You see every side of their temperament. So think of them as your family. Learn to love them, warts, rosy cheeks and all so that you always approach them from a charitable and compassionate place. And even more importantly, make sure they feel loved.

If you won’t scold and dominate us,
we will never give you cause to hate us.

Finally, the truth. You get what you give. Don’t dominate. Don’t dictate. Be fun, be loving, be helpful. Don’t make the kids feel controlled, belittled, put down and they won’t see teachers (or grown ups in general) as enemies.

Of course this is just scratching the surface. It is silly, and even outdated in some places. But at its core, it reflects the essential things that children hope to get from the grown ups that guide and take care of them. And bonus, now I have a viable reason to love Mary Poppins as a 28 year old ;-).

I wonder what my students would write if I asked them to compose such a thing. Maybe it would be worth it to ask them this for their next journal entry….