Help! I Can’t Find The Classroom!

The themes are varied but all involve missing an important event. Teachers forget where their class meets for the first time, or can’t find the room, or don’t remember when the class starts. Sometimes they sit around BS-ing or doing something else and suddenly remember a class they had an hour ago. Sometimes they are assigned to teach a class that is completely out of field. I am sure the list is longer.
These are dream scenarios that most of my colleagues and teacher friends over the years have had play out a few days before school starts. The damn dreams seem so real that sometimes they wake up and still worry. In my student days I had the same kind of dreams only they usually involved a math class I registered for but never attended until I had to take the final. Anxiety produces these modest night mares, and after the term starts mostly they go away, until next term. Longevity is no protection, nor is subject matter competence.
Friends in other professions have told me that they, too, have these dreams. Bankers dream of missing money; realtors dream of not being able to find a house for a “sure bet” client; auto sales people suddenly can’t remember where the dealership is or maybe how to drive. Same phenomenon.
So all you teachers, new and old, who are among my friends take heart. You are not crazy and you are not alone. And I can tell you from personal experience that the dreams never stop completely. They abate sometimes, but don’t go away forever. Last night I had an “A&P” dream. And if I remember the time, place and content, I may make it to class sometime somewhere this week.
Image: flickr.com/photos/egalloway/1296924920/