Maybe I should blame Snug. After all, he bit me, my right hand and wrist are swollen, I was running a fever, and I've been sleeping more. Result? I'm dreaming more.
Whatever the reason, I had my first school starts soon dream this morning.
It began with me having been assigned to teach a section of a speech course. I've never taught a speech course. I'm not qualified. But, I had to do it.
Furthermore, in my dream, I missed the first class meeting. It was a MWF section, so in my dream I headed to class on Wednesday, aware that my students had shown up on Monday, but not me.
As I approached my classroom, my students were seated in Eugene's Cuthbert Ampitheater,
and I had to get their attention, joke about having missed day one, and joke some more about having forgotten to bring the roll sheet, and joke even more about the fact that my friend and fellow teacher Jeff Harrison would be giving the course's opening lecture.It turns out, in my dream, that two members of the speech faculty at LCC, Barbara and Suzanne, also attended this class session, rightfully skeptical about an English teacher giving a course in their area of specialty, as if anyone could teach a speech class.
It turns out Jeff's lecture was on the abuses of Jungian psychotherapeutic methods and he illustrated his lecture with brilliantly colored psychedelic illustrations that vividly lit up a screen for the students.
Jeff wasn't two slides into his lecture before Barbara pounced on what he was saying, challenging his every word. Our plan to draw upon his expertise in Jung as a way of getting a speech class underway failed miserably, but I jokingly intervened, said something clever that made the sea of students laugh and assured them that everything would be fine on Friday, even though I had forgotten to order a textbook for us to work with, but that I would cover that with class presentations easier to understand than a textbook would be.
Barbara and Suzanne were not amused.
I physcially shook myself awake.
I'd had enough of this angst riddled dream.
I'd love to hear from other teachers. Is it common for teachers to dream of facing an overwhelming number of students? Of not showing up for class? Of being unprepared for a teaching assignment? Of having other teachers observing and harshly criticizing one's class meeting? I've heard that teachers having standing undressed in front of class nightmares. I used to have this dream when I was in elementary school and dreamed I was playing football on the playground naked, but I don't think I've had this dream as a teacher.
I'd love to read comments/stories about dreams you've had about teaching or whatever profession you practice.
4 comments:
When I went back to my workshop and shared my dream it was a common thread. Everyone seemed to have had some sort of before school nightmare. Some couldn't find their class,others slept in, others were inprepared. Mine was a whole lot rolled into one, but I am glad I wasn't in an amphitheater. Holy! Of course in Inchelium it would be the football field and I would probably have to stand at the fifty yard line and recite poetry or something. grits.
that is unprepared
unprepared grits? IEG speaks of unprepared grits in polite company? (raising eyebrows)
It's so interesting to hear of the "other side" dreams. I was such a high-strung student that I had these overwhelming dreams every semester! The worst one (at least the one that was most believable and terrifying at the time) was one in which I had forgotten to attend a class the ENTIRE semester. I showed up the class before the final exam and tried to negotiate with the professor to allow my final exam to serve as my entire semester's worth of work. The problem with that negotiation was that he accepted, and I had to learn an entire semester's worth of work in two days! I nearly threw up in my sleep!
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