Going To School In My Panties
I’m a kid all over again.
I had that dream where I went to school wearing my underwear. Except, I wasn’t one of the students, I was back with the fourth graders I taught last year. And the school wasn’t even the one I taught at, it was a bastardized version of the Catholic school I attended for 8 years as a child.
The clock was rapidly ticking toward the morning bell. The looming inevitability of 30 raucous prepubescent 9-and-10-year-olds left me in a panic as I scrambled through the papers on my desk to find that day’s lesson plans.
Then I realized that it was the first day back from winter vacation, and I had neglected to put together a lesson plan for the day. Kind of a teacher’s worst nightmare. Like, holy crap, what am I going to do with these kids all day? How on earth am I going to fake it if my principal drops in to do an observation?
Oh, and the place was filthy. I was scrambling to smash the cockroaches that just kept appearing out of nowhere in between my half-hearted attempt to throw together a somewhat cohesive plan for the day. I was screwed if my principal came in, and my kids were going to be a nightmare without the strict schedule that was a necessary piece of how I kept them from driving me absolutelyfreakinginsane.
Suddenly, the bell rang, and my classroom filled up with obnoxious monsters. The kids looked odd to me, and to my horror, their names had slipped my memory over the winter break. They were out of control- running around, moving desks everywhere, yelling loudly. And all of a sudden, I heard the most horrible question imaginable.
“Ms. Hood? Why are you in your underwear?”
Oh. My. Gawd. Someone shoot me. I glanced down and my eyes nearly popped out of my head as I noticed that I was a pair of pants short of a full outfit. Shirt? Check. Sweater? Check. Shoes? Check. Lacy, racy panties? Check. Something to cover those trashy undergarments… *crickets chirping*.
I was standing in front of my kids wearing my underwear, and everyone was pointing and laughing.
*******************
A year later, and I think I’m still a little traumatized from my first year of teaching. I whipped those kids into shape, worked with them incredibly well, and received a whole slew of hugs and ‘thanks yous’ from my students and their parents. It was the job that no first-year teacher should ever have to endure, but I made it out with extremely good class test scores to prove how hard I worked.
Will I go back to teaching?
Possibly. Sometimes I miss the classroom, the structure, and working outside of the home. Other times, I wonder if life will ever lead me back in that direction.
I have learned time and time again that every time I try to make plans related to career choices, life happens and shakes its head with laughter as it smacks those plans into reality.
I hope I always design websites and teach dance independently on a very part-time basis. I love the creativity of web design and the social outlet of working with my dance students.
However, there is one dream that I still haven’t achieved, and that is the opportunity to work as either a writer, editor, or layout designer (or geez, all three at some point would be nice!) for a magazine. Something about it appeals to me, and I’d love to give it a try one of these days.
In the meantime, though, I’m going to work on making sure I am always wearing a pair of pants in public.
That’s one dream that I hope never becomes a reality.
Current Mood:
Surprised
Tags: Dreams
May 17th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
hmmmm…anxious much? that’s one dream i’ve had the pleasure of never actually having. i’ll share my dream blog with you someday, if you’re ever interested, though. it’s…interesting.