The Teacher Dream.
I haven't had one in over a year. Mine are fairly typical. I am shouting as loud as I can but no sound is coming out and I am invisible to my charges. Usually this takes place in my most recent classroom. Then someone with a clipboard comes in and the fright is so great I make myself wake up.
This one was different.
I had about 20 students, not the crème de la crème to which I had grown accustomed. Oh, no. I went into a strange new classroom with a station-like suite of adjoining rooms, knowing my charges were challenged in some way. I think it was difficult to coax them to read aloud, and they did not have the knack or interest.
As soon as I spent attention on one of them, the rest of my group took off cheerfully and went to another station, joining a group already at work with an aid. I had FOUR FULL TIME TEACHING ASSISTANTS! Two men and two women.
I got the feeling my aids thought I was not getting the complete picture. I kept losing my group. My kids could be found in the courtyard, laughing and enjoying each other and just being alive.
I had no feasible lesson plan--at least three of the things I tried had not worked. The whole quad erupted in laughter and fun. Why was I trying to educate these beasts? They already knew more than I did. They knew how to be happy and love one another.
I got it.
I understood.
So I gave myself permission to wake up.
That night was the first time I had a teacher dream that did not end with me struggling to wake up and lower my blood pressure.
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In keeping with my Winter Squash a Day in October theme, here are images I remember from a REAL classroom. These are circa 1940, and you can buy your own right HERE. Before you think you can figure out how old you think I am, when I retired I had posters from 30+ years before. So these delightful 1940s images which I remember from first grade in New Jersey may have been a cherished part of a seasoned teacher's collection.
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