I've always wanted to write a book about cool jobs I never knew existed.  There's the tv show about dirty jobs (blech, I wish those had remained unknown!).There's a bunch of jobs that didn't exist (most somehow connected with technology) when I was in 8th grade, toiling away in Mr. Haines's class, investigating and reporting on five future jobs I'd like to have. For the record, journalist, author, teacher, and floral designer were the four I can remember. 

Today, in Exchange magazine, a magazine for people in the early childhood field, I read an interview with one Sharon Young, who is an Outdoor Classroom Coordinator.  A what?  Far more than your usual "Playground Monitor" or, as we called her when I was a kid "Yard Duty," the job of an Outdoor Classroom Coordinator is to manage the outdoor environment in a way that supports activities initiated by the children yet also incorporates classroom studies. "Loose parts" are available for kids to use in constructing projects, art materials and dramatic play props inspire creative endeavors, and little extras, such as shells and treasure in the sand box invite children to interact with familiar environments in new ways.

Imagine being the person in charge of the community garden, the guide to plants, animals, and weather, the outside play partner who shares with children the wonder of the natural world.  You'd get to play outside *every day.*  Watch flowers and children grow. Blow bubbles.  Draw on the sidewalk with chalk.

That's what I call a cool job.



Photo from a preschool in the UK, Maids Moreton.