The mind works in strange ways....

The plan had been to sleep in this morning ..... at least that was the plan.

Didn't work out that way. 5:30 am, normal time to get up and go make the donuts, found my eyes popping open at the end of a troubling dream. There was a fire alarm at the school and I was running around like a ticked off guard dog trying to get my students moving and out of the building. Fire alarms are serious in a tech school.... we have stuff that could leave a nasty mark if handled wrong. Like... a smoking hole in the ground.

So... in my dream... it was not going well. I woke all in mid sub vocal yell. BING. We are awake now. Damn. At 5:30. Not the plan.

I ordered myself to go back to sleep, and since I was so tired I didn't argue with myself. It wasn't sleep I returned to, but merely a deep sense of relaxation while my mind dug away at what bothered me about the dream.

Laying there, physically comfortable and relaxed but mentally chugging away, I reviewed the dream and it's images. I came to focus on one student out of many and realized he was the center of a swirling pot of trouble. Not only not reacting to the alarm as he should, but actively causing problems to reduce the situation to chaos. Now, focused on the student in my dream, I could sit back and analyze what this was all about.

I realized the whole blasted dream thing was pointing out unsettled problems I'm having with this student, and highlighting that they are more important than I have given credit so far.

Taking advantage of the relaxed fugue state.... I reviewed and rehearsed responses, reactions, and outcomes in my mind. Do this, don't do that, and didn't you read the blasted sign?

By 6 am I had a plan in my head for Monday. How to approach him, how to talk with him, what to say, his possible responses, and possible outcomes on the discussion. I know what I'm going to do and what the next moves will be.

Teachers brains don't leave the job. It's always there, ticking away in the background even when we are off, even when we are sleeping.

Wish the darn coffee would get done brewing......