Dreams of a "retired" teacher

This is the first fall of many that I've not been in the classroom teaching. This fall I'm a student of agriculture and local geography, shifting from my identity as a classroom teacher to that of a small farmer. I love every day of this physical work, and I revel in the wonderment of a child as I watch geese bathe and drink, find chicken eggs for the first time, and learn to converse with little goats.

Even so, I still have the occasional teacher dream. After awaking from a classroom management nightmare (monitoring a study hall of students with whom I was unfamiliar and being assaulted by one--he managed to pick me up and spin me around on the soles of his feet while I watched the hard desk corners and such circle below me), it took me several moments to remember the high point of the dream.

Riding on a school bus, again with students unknown to me, and listening to some students banter with the long-haired bus driver, when the content of one exchange surprised me.

"Remember, Kevin," enthused an adolescent girl, "the time you stopped at the library so we could get books for the ride? That was so cool!"

"Yeah, yeah," the driver replied, and chuckled.

I was left thinking, wait a sec, he solved the chaos of a long school bus ride with reading books? Wow! Upon looking more closely at this unfamiliar driver, his features became suddenly recognizable.

"Er," said I, eloquently, "you were a student of mine, weren't you."

"Yeah," he agreed, smiling the boyish smile I recognized clearly as that of a former eighth grader, one I recall as being a reluctant reader. I saw his eighth grade visage emerge, nearly obscured by maturity, that freckled face and impish smile, and felt that thrill of recognition of former students-all-grown-up.

It took some moments to process: here was the embodiment of successful teaching. Sometime after I'd had him as a student, the requirement of carrying a free choice reading book with him at all times translated into the lesson that books provide desirable entertainment...and became a lesson that he passed on to others as a fun way to beat the boredom of long bus rides. Whoo hoo!

As I remembered this kernel of my dream, the nightmare that had woken me faded and I was suffused with that glow of success felt well beyond any Ah ha! moments (rewards in and of themselves) to that of a lesson taken to heart by an unlikely candidate and carried forward into his life where he passed it along to others.

My pride in this dream-driver's accomplishments was so great that I've stumbled up to my computer instead of returning to bed for the last minutes before heeding the crow of yon rooster.

Cockadoodledo! There's PrettyBoy now, calling me to feed his hens and loose the fowl from the night's captivity to roam upon their barnyard for the duration of daylight hours. Ta ta, I must be off as duty calls!

Please note: image acquired from www.mikelynchcartoons.blogspot.com