A recent survey was carried out on the dreams of teachers. It appears that at the beginning of term a large number of teachers have the same dream. This is a dream where you arrive at school and they then realise they are woefully unprepared to do the job.

Although I gave up classroom teaching over five years ago, I still have this dream occasionally. It usually involves me losing my timetable so that I do not know where I should be. When I eventually get to the classroom, I do not remember what the lesson is about.

What teaching dreams do you have?

I had a good one two nights ago - It was the start of a new school year and I was taking on a new gcse class. About 40 of them turned up (boys and girls - I teach in a boys school) not wearing school uniform and we were at a fairground rather than in my classroom. The class were really disaffected and I had to work incredibly hard to get anyone to pay any attention to me rather than eat candy floss! I think I got there in the end, just.

The teaching dream I used to have regularly was one about the A-level German Literature exam. I would go into the exam room to have a look at the paper, only to find that it had no questions about any of the set books I had taught my students. I had taught them the wrong set books, those prescribed either for the previous year's exam session or the following year's. I could barely look my students in the eye and they glared accusingly back at me from their desks. This never happened to me in real life, but I still occasionally dream the same nightmare even though I last taught A-level back in 1990.

David Wilson
http://www.specialeducationalneeds.com/

I occassionally dream that no matter what I do I cannot win the attention of the class.
I have also been known to "teach" in my sleep. Several times I have been woken up to be told I had be droning on about the 1832 Great Reform Act or such like for a length of time .

Although term started back today I have not yet dreamt about school. I have however been preparing for a couple of big amateur golf tournaments. I have had several awful dreams about golf - one where I cannot take the club back from the tee because I have been forced to tee off from a narrow cubicle - another where I have to drive down a very narrow corridor, and another where I have to try and putt the ball out of a kitchen sink - my hopes of success aren't high but at least it has taken my mind off school

I once dreamt that after entering the classroom fully prepared for the lesson,
I realized that I was actually not a teacher but still a student.
What's worse was that (aside from the whole class laughing and making fun of me while I was
standing in front of the board) the headteacher came in and told me I failed the Maths test.

That was indeed a nightmare.