Back-to-School Nightmare

It doesn’t matter what

the role in education,

whether teacher or coach

or media specialist or

administrator: one truth

holds true. I learned it

in the 1990s from my

partner teachers. The

back-to-school

nightmares hit hard

and on time. The world

of dreams mysteriously

knows that school for

students starts here

Monday, so last night

I was walking a class

down a hall of a

school I’d never seen

and lost them all

on the first day.

They were second

graders. I haven’t

taught a classroom

of second graders

since 2003, but

here I was in my

nightmare, losing

every one of them,

wandering the halls

and calling for them,

knowing I’d be fired

when their mothers

showed up, but

finally discovering they

had all gone to the

library. I stepped

into the murky

haze of the dream

to find they were

all reading books,

scattered all

across the floor

in their own quiet

spaces, not one

saying a word.

And I realized:

my nightmare

had become my

best back-to-school

dream ever.

I chose a book

and collapsed into

the library couch to

read, too

I learned this last night:

when you’re having

a night terror, look for

the library. It turns

nightmares into dreams.