In 2003, after many successful years working in television, Kim Friedlund made the bold decision to leave the corporate world for a career as a pre-k teacher. "I never thought about it 'til I had kids," she says. "I'd take them to pre-k, and I'd see how the teachers' days always started with a 'hi!' and a smile and a hug, and then I'd go off to my office job." Eventually, Ms. Friedlund left her full time job and went back to school to become a pre-k teacher.

In some surprising ways, Ms. Friedlund says, this was a natural transition. In TV, she'd worked on programming for young children. As a mother of two, she'd participated in young children's activities, including serving as a Girl Scout leader. Through these experiences, she became convinced that young children's learning is closely tied to fun and play. Their openness and honesty, she says, make her work a joy, and the chance to touch their lives has made all the risks inherent in her mid-life career change entirely worthwhile.

Ms. Friedlund is preparing to teach for a second year in the Arkansas Better Chance (ABC) pre-k program. Her full-day class is housed in a Head Start center in Little Rock. The ABC system meets nine of the quality benchmarks established by the National Institute for Early Education Research including very stringent teacher-education requirements and comprehensive curriculum standards specific to pre-k. Ms. Friedlund uses elements from a number of approved, high-quality curricula with the Creative Curriculum model as a basis.

Ms. Friedlund believes that young children learn best through play and sensory interactions; so each week, she designs the entire classroom and all the activity areas to reflect a specific theme. She says, if the children learn only one thing during their time in her class, she hopes it will be social skills, because, she says, they'll be more successful in school if they're at ease with and considerate of others.

Even with only one year behind her, Ms. Friedlund already has much to be proud of including one particular boy who, at the beginning of the year, was prone to disruptive and even violent outbursts but made great strides with respect to patience and listening skills. While his progress was heartening, she was especially thrilled with the way the other children supported him. "I was worried there would be resentment about the extra attention he got, but they seemed to understand his needs, and they cheered his accomplishments. It really reinforced the idea that, 'fair' does not mean 'equal'. You give each child what they need."

Ms. Friedlund feels that while her first year in teaching was a success, it also crystallized for her both her strengths and areas where she can and must improve. Of the former, she cites a natural rapport with children, patience, a sense of humor, and the ability to be devoted to the kids while also remembering to take care of herself, a skill she says is extremely important because the job is so demanding and to do it well, the teacher, like the kids, needs to be happy and healthy. On the other hand, she admits to needing to improve her time management skills and to develop better strategies for parent engagement.

Among the many things Ms. Friedlund observed during her first year is the need for special education teachers in her area. "At least a full third of my kids had some kind of special need." She has decided to spend another four years in her current pre-k classroom and then pursue a master's degree in special education. "Pre-k is great for all kids, but I think the demand for special ed. teachers with the early childhood focus is growing, and the difference they can make for children is profound."