"Hide and Seek:" My teaching dream

Lately at work I have been conscious of the need to constantly return to the real purpose of teaching, not to be swept away by all the bullshit that comes along with "school" as we know it. I'm finding myself needing ongoing reminders about letting go and just being with kids. Here is a dream I had the night of February 25, that I wanted to share with fellow teacher people.


I'm at a co-worker's farm where many of us teachers have spent the night. We were on some kind of weekend retreat, camping and preparing ourselves for the week ahead. I suddenly realize that my alarm on my cell phone didn't go off and I'm already late for work. I try to get on my cell phone to call in, let them know I'm on my way. I can't get a signal, and every time I try to call back something goes wrong. I am stressed out because I have a big important meeting on this day and it's already started and I'm not there. For some reason missing this particular meeting in the dream means I will be in big trouble.

So I scramble to get ready despite the fact that I wasn't able to contact the people at work. I don't know how I got to this farm or why I came here. I am looking for my lunch in the fridge and other teachers are also getting their stuff together. Looks like I'm not the only one who overslept. I walk out the door to try to find where I parked.

The is a long dirt pathway with kids of all ages, races, nationalities going to school. They also seem to be from many different time periods. Some of them are walking with no shoes, some of them are riding scooters, some of them are on bikes, some of them are carrying each other in a wheelbarrow. All kinds of kids all around me. I am pulled by them, energetically, I can't separate myself from these kids, even though I think that I'm heading to my place of work, they insist that I'm supposed to be with them. We're all going to school they tell me. So I follow them.

We crouch down at the bottom of a big hill. We are supposed to be watching, witnessing. At the top of the hill we watch an elder Native American chief (Sioux I believe) with a long feathered headdress, circling around a large pillar of wood. Branches have been woven together and a made into pyre, only it is not burning. The chief sings and shakes something that makes a rattling noise around the structure. The children are very excited that he is blessing the wood and that the sky is open and accepting this offering.
http://www.art.com/gallery/id--a4494/edward-s-curtis-posters.htm
It now becomes clear to me that I'm supposed to stop stressing about being in trouble or missing the meeting. I put my phone away. I am here to witness this teaching, this beauty. The kids are showing me something, and they want me to help them. So I go with them, now that the ritual is done, inside a museum. These kids seem to have school at the museum. It has many different exhibits from different periods of time. The theme seems to be Native American and African American history. I am to understand that many generations of kids have been at this school and many of their ancestors were slaves. There are native guides showing the kids what school used to mean- there are books, photos, artifacts. The guide shows us how "back in the day" they used to play a game where you hide yourself. It was like reverse hide and seek because the hiders were looking for the seeker. This school had lots of great hiding spots. The hide and seek game had to do with revealing yourself when you were ready and surprising or sneaking up on the "seeker". Quite the metaphor.

The kids started to play the game and got quite rowdy. Other school with their groups of kids showed up with their teachers. I was given looks by the guides for not keeping my kids in line. So I looked over at my fellow team teachers (who were suddenly there with me) and we joined hands. We smiled at the kids and we got them quieted down without shaming them or yelling. We all understood that our team work was good for them and that we were showing them love, which they needed.


Then my principal showed up and she was smiling at the kids too- we thought maybe she was pleased with this unexpected field trip. Suddenly everyone was gone except for me and the principal. She yelled at me and criticized me for missing that meeting, saying that my job and reputation could suffer. She left me crying on a bench, where I wailed like a little kid, angry that she didn't understand the real teaching that was going on. I ran out the door of the museum back to the dirt path where all the kids had led me.

When I woke up I understood that this dream is me, telling myself: Teaching is about the kids. They have something to show you, and it's your job to lead them and guide them. The "hide and seek" game is the important part of the job. We are revealing ourselves to ourselves and to each other. We are on a journey together- exploring and discovering. Play with the kids, make them laugh, smile and hold hands. Hug them. Follow them and lead them.

This "school" environment that we're in of policies created to avoid liability, punishing teachers and kids for their wants and needs, conformity, imprisonment, indoctrination, etc. All that is crap. I can still be a teacher and reject the bullshit parade of do's and don'ts. I usually play by the rules, but that doesn't mean I can't be myself with the kids. The dream really told me that the kids will lead the way. Follow the leader. Hide and seek. Take turns.