Dream

Jennifer

I tend to have nightmares about school especially in the week before school starts in the fall, a day or two before every vacation ends, and on long weekends. This is from before the end of our last vacation.

I was in my classroom (which was a lecture-hall), and I didnít have much for my students to do, so they were somewhat rowdy. I kept thinking of additional things which we could do together, but each involved leaving the room for a minute to get something. Each time I returned there were more students in the room, being even rowdier. I didnít know anyoneís name, but finally realized the reason I didnít was some of them werenít my students. The final time this happened, one of the drop-ins was smoking a cigarette, holding it with a test-tube holder. I remembered that I could call the office for help, so I did. The secretary who answered yelled at me for leaving the classroom.

I woke up, and I couldnít remember what my situation is. I knew I was home, in bed, that I do teach school, and even that the secretary had in fact retired a few years ago, but I couldnít figure anything else out. I knew that the feeling of not being able to remember studentsí names is real, so I figured the way to go would be to pull up a visual memory of my classroom. It took a while, but I finally could remember where my windows are.

Classes went ok yesterday, but students were somewhat rowdy and I wasnít quite organized enough with what I wanted them to do.