Are you a preschool or primary level teacher?

Following David's premise that our work is a pilgrimage of identity, and knowing that the very best teachers at these levels intuitively establish full rapport with children by "matching" them in so many observable ways, then ...

...Do some newcomers to our field expect that teaching individuals at these levels will be easy? easier than middle school? easier than high school?

...Do some college students choose to study at our level because they expect that the "curriculum" is simply numbers and letters -not realizing that the curriculum includes careful activation and mindful regulation of all our emotional buttons? a deep knowledge of human resources, child psychology, child development, sociology, family systems, learning to learn and cultivating curiosity, problem solving, social skills, unique learning styles, and a lasting love of learning -despite multiple obstacles that will arise in home life, school life, and community life into the future?

...Do some "outsiders" -adults unaware of the skillfulness in our abiity to attune-confuse out attunement with weakness? or lower intelligence? or childishness?

...Do  some"outsiders" -like the general public, school board elected officials, ivory tower types, lawmakers - underestimate our insightfulness, capacity to engage lofty conversations about the nature of learning and the art of teaching? consider hard data? make unlikely resources work for the advantage of twenty highly differentiated and developing persons under in our care?

Stereotyping and prejudice filters perceptions.  Unchecked, it drives us to talk with a loud voice to any elderly person, or special needs person in a wheel chair!  Unchecked, we make unwarrented assumptions  -just because we have unconsciously learned to "associate" certain characteristics with particular genders, appearances, roles, stages, stations, locations, neighborhoods, nations, occupations, etc.

So let's hear it from the teachers of our very young...have you been mistaken as having a preschool mentality because you work well with this stage group? How do you know? What can we do to counteract this misperception?

How can we help address this issue effectively without eclipsing the immense value of our talents?