Teacher's anxiety dream
Last night I dreamed I walked into my classroom and it was swarming with unfamiliar faces. There were about three times as many people there as were supposed to be there. A respected colleague was sitting in the back of the room to observe my teaching skills. I started taking attendance and at every turn was foiled by something. I kept pacing back and forth in front of them saying, "You there-- now what did you say your name was? And have you been here before? You don't look familiar. Now you say you're registered for my section, but are you sure? Maybe you're on the wait list? And are you certain you took the prerequisite course to qualify for this one?" This went on and on, and was made all the more difficult by the fact that the students kept talking to one another and getting up and changing seats. By the time class was over--an hour and forty-five minutes later--I still had not completed taking attendance. In the end of the dream I was saying to the colleague who had come to observe me, "I want you to know, I don't think this session really showed all that I'm capable of doing as a teacher! When you go to write up your observation of me, please keep that in mind!"
Yeah. I've had many teaching anxiety nightmares, including the one about finding yourself in front of them not wearing certain key articles of clothing, and also the one in which you suddenly realize it's the first day of class but you have not prepared a syllabus and have no idea where your classroom is; and I've also had a recurring nightmare from a student's perspective, in which it's suddenly determined that my Ph.D. should be revoked because it's revealed that I didn't complete high school math/gym (in my recurring dream, it alternates between these two, and I'm always sent back to high school, in my thirties, to complete math/gym).
But this is a new one. It takes me an hour and forty-five minutes to take attendance. Hmmmm.
Yeah. I've had many teaching anxiety nightmares, including the one about finding yourself in front of them not wearing certain key articles of clothing, and also the one in which you suddenly realize it's the first day of class but you have not prepared a syllabus and have no idea where your classroom is; and I've also had a recurring nightmare from a student's perspective, in which it's suddenly determined that my Ph.D. should be revoked because it's revealed that I didn't complete high school math/gym (in my recurring dream, it alternates between these two, and I'm always sent back to high school, in my thirties, to complete math/gym).
But this is a new one. It takes me an hour and forty-five minutes to take attendance. Hmmmm.
4 Comments:
I've had this one, but it is usually integrated with the don't-have-a-syllabus variety. And, of course, all of my teaching anxiety dreams end with me totally losing control in my anger at my students. I don't think that says much good about me . . .
ps: sorry. I forgot I changed my blog account name. This is Linda T.
Huh. Why are you dreaming about teaching on-level high school freshmen? How odd.
I have the dream from the student's perspective quite frequently, even now, when my school-going days have long since passed. It's usually science or math, and I suddenly realize that I haven't been to class in months and it's time for the final exam and/or the final paper is due ...
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