I Had a Dream Last Night

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Early this morning, I had one of those teacher dreams.

I was in my Algebra II classroom, it was the final weeks of the semester, as it is now, and I was utterly unprepared. After a few minutes of winging it and going over the homework,



I decided to let my class go early. Normally, that is cause for student celebration. But today there was an angry student who complained that he had learned NOTHING all semester.



This was not surprising to me as I am an ENGLISH teacher who never took a math beyond the required Algebra I and remembers nothing of it beyond the abject terror and her temptation to offer sexual favors to her teacher in exchange for a passing grade (thank God that wasn't necessary--he was not an attractive soul, poor man). Anyway, I apologized to the poor student who only wanted to learn something, and I awakened in a cold sweat two minutes before my alarm went off.

Ah, November; it makes a teacher want . . .



. . . some encouragement.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Indeed it does. I am ready to let my student's just do whatever they want as long as I don't have to instruct anymore!
November 14, 2007 at 9:21 AM
Anonymous said…
Former English teacher here. Also one for whom Algebra remains a terrifying endeavor.
November 14, 2007 at 11:05 AM
Anonymous said…
Checking in with you, halfway through NaBlo. Glad to see you're still going strong.

Gotta love those anxiety dreams...
November 14, 2007 at 11:48 AM
Melanie said…
My anxiety dream is usually the reverse situation. I am suddenly in a college class (usually Calculus or Physics or ASTROphysics, etc.) and I discover that, though enrolled, I have not been to class once and it is the day of the final exam.

Those dreams take years off my life, I am sure of it.
November 14, 2007 at 4:07 PM
Mrs. G. said…
This is so interesting. The last week or so I have been thinking a lot about how effective I am as a teacher...how much I'm getting through to my kids. Maybe November is just a vulnerable month for educators.
November 14, 2007 at 8:45 PM
Zenmomma said…
I had never really thought about teachers having school anxiety dreams. Makes sense I guess. Mine used to be much like Melanie's until I stopped mid-dream once and declared than none of it had control over me. It was very empowering. I hope you are able to get a sweet night's sleep soon.
November 16, 2007 at 5:13 PM
JCK said…
Yes, I hadn't thought of teachers having anxiety dreams either. Too funny, well I guess not for you. Great post.
November 16, 2007 at 11:37 PM
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