Teaching Reality

New day, new year...but an old dream with a new twist.  One recurring teaching dream that seems to find me now and again popped up on a cold, fairly quiet (until the firecrackers started) New Year's Eve concerns the last class of the day.  The recurring part is that I have a class in a room that is not my own and, of course I have forgotten to prepare adequately for it.  It's always a challenge for me to find the exact room because I have to walk across a big campus that offers me only a vague sense of where I am.  The class is reminiscent of one I had many years ago because it has a large group of hyperactive, low-skilled 9th graders who have very little buy-in to the whole notion of school and reading.  Even with no lesson plan I am not at a loss because these kids are mostly the ones that have given up and been given up on.  I want to establish some reading and writing routines and am willing to try all manner of strategies.  But, in the dream I enter the room and have to make some decisions quickly because I always arrive right when the tardy bell rings having had difficulty finding the classroom.

I should say at this point that yesterday I heard on our local public radio station an interview with a friend of mine who teaches at the local city college.  She was describing her students as those who want a college experience, but haven't enjoyed much success because they come from severely disadvantaged backgrounds or are vets with PTSD, or have learning disabilities. Many of these first year college students have never read an entire book, and that is a goal of her course...a novel of their own choosing.
Back to my dream:  My classroom appears very different when I begin to take role and I notice there are many nooks and small rooms attached like coves in a large lake.  So in walking around the room taking roll, I notice small groups of students sitting together and many seem to know each other.  This geography could be an advantage, I think.
I scramble around looking for a class set of books I believe is in one of the cupboards.  I want to do some reading with this group so I can assess their reading and interest levels.  No books.  From out of the blue I get an idea and pass out some 8x11 sheets of blank paper and ask the class to fold their papers into small squares by folding the paper in half again and again.  From there I ask each student to place their response to a question in each square...about 16 squares in all.  Somehow, the questions calling for a response just keep coming and I realize by connecting the squares in any order each student will have a story to tell, or even a series of stories to tell.  This is somewhat reminiscent of a mind-map strategy I've used before but never as a writing strategy in an English class.
When I awake I have a strong sense of accomplishment, but realize that this class for this group of students needs to be planned out carefully for the year and I need to get some books in the room
pronto!
I'm also reminded that, on occasion, some of the best lessons are those that arise out of immediate need and can't quite be planned out.  That's the reality of teaching.