The average teacher’s classroom is equipped with desks, textbooks, and pencils. This  classroom however, is filled with crayons, coloring books, and a sandbox.

Preschool teacher and mother of three, Amy Pufahl teaches ages three to five at Saline area schools and has been doing so for the past two years. Like most teachers, Amy Pufahl knows from personal experience that teaching a room full of children is no easy task. Still loving her job, Amy had her eyes set on a job from childhood.

“It was in third grade” Amy said. “and I was in Mrs. Mull’s room. And I loved Mrs. Mull, and I just thought that I would want to be a teacher too.”

Amy has taught grades eight through preschool, but finds that teaching the toddlers is preferable. “I feel that there’s less stress about testing and having the kids ready, though you might be surprised that there is stress at the preschool level, to get them ready.”

Respect towards a teacher provides an easier time for both the teacher and the student. According to Amy, there is a noticeable age difference when it comes to who respects the teacher. “Most preschoolers I find respect me as a teacher. In middle school, there’s a lot of testing boundaries. But I do demand respect.” Said Amy. “No matter the age, whether they’re three or thirteen, I am able to get the respect of children. But I also give them respect in return.”

Being a mother of three, Amy has been able to implement how she handled her own toddlers into her workplace. One of the main things kids learn in preschool is how to share and accept that they cannot have everything. Of course, there is a reason Amy puts up with the occasional tantrum. “ I find that most kids are generally happy and enthusiastic about their world.” Amy said. “And especially with young children, I get to experience their awe in discovery.”

Teaching is known to be one of the most underrated professions. Amy gave her opinion on what people thought of ‘Mrs. Pufahl’.

“The people that I interact with on a daily basis on the whole, respect me and they tell me how they don’t know how I do my job everyday. That, it must take a lot of patience to be with all those children all the time.” Said Amy. “But whenever there is an article in the newspaper about teachers and you read the comments section, it’s eye opening to find out how many people despise teachers, they loathe teachers, for their high pay and their easy hours and their great insurance.”

“And those are things that were occurring in teaching twenty to thirty years ago, that aren’t occurring in teaching today and that’s very frustrating to me because i’m certain that a lot of these people who comment, who have grammatical errors in their comments, and flawed reasons don’t know how frustrating and demoralizing it is to be villainized.”

In the past six years, teachers and schools in general have had their pay cut multiple times. This of course, resulted in extra curricular activities being cut along with teachers and staff.

When asked about this subject in particular, Amy had a solid opinion to tell. “The legislators in Lansing are making decisions about public education in effort to make people money” Amy Said. “instead of an effort to educate our children and we are seeing more and more with the haves and the have nots, and the middle class is being squeezed out. The cuts that are being made aren’t in the best interest of the children, and school is supposed to be about the children and so when teacher’s salaries are cut, or their insurance premiums are increased, or they’re required to take furlough days, that impacts families all over.”

Amy was asked how she saw herself as a teacher. “I think i’m a good teacher.” Amy said. “I have clear expectations that I set for my students, there are people who say that I’m strict. I think they’re right, I have high expectations for my students but they meet my expectations. So people who say three-year-old can’t do this or three year olds can’t do that or that’s too much to ask of a four year old, if they come into my classroom they’ll find out that they can do that and that its not too much to ask of them.”

Even with all the compromises towards the public schools lately, Amy will continue to teach preschool for years to come and prepare young children for the world outside of the classroom.