San Dimas High School - El Santo Yearbook (San Dimas, CA)

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The Nightmare Becomes ReaUty Good grief! It ' s the first day of school, and I ' m not ready to f eac i Finding one- self with no lesson plans or asleep are examples of the phenomenon known as the teacher ' s nightmare. Most people, when think- ing about teachers, visualize some faceless half-human who lives only in the class- room and appears only to teach. But that ' s not true — they eat, drink, and sleep just as the rest of us do. They even dream! Yikes! I ' m naked! Only one teacher reports having such a dream: Mr. Givens. He once dreamt he came to school impeccably dressed — but minus a pair of pants. The other 55 varieties. Miss Blackman once dreamt she came to school and looked down to discover that she ' d worn her slippers. In another nightmare, she went to Mt. SAC to teach her body conditioning class and found that someone had moved all the buildings. She looked and looked for hers until an hour had passed. Then (thank goodness!) she woke up. Ms. Miller ' s worst teach- er ' s nightmare ever was when she dreamt that the yearbook arrived, shaped like a Read- er ' s Digest. It was real little and real floppy! she said. It was awful. As bad as nightmares are, at least they don ' t last — they always do end with waking up. But what about the teach- er who does come to school wearing no pants? No one has come to school un- dressed, but several men re- ported finding their flys open while teaching. Mr. Wolfe was once play- ing with his band, really straining to hit the high notes, and he strained a little bit too much. When he passed out, he hit the floor straight, smashing his trum- pet flat. He had an excuse, though: Well ... I was pret- ty sick before that. Mr. Ray, while teaching elementary school, got his finger stuck in a window latch. He also sat down a lit- tle too hard on a glass-topped desk in front of his class, breaking it with a loud snap. Miss Blackman broke a key off in her door lock. It ' s em- barassing, she said. You just stand there What can you do? Teaching really isn ' t easy. There ' s stress coming from everywhere: fear that the stu- dents will dislike the teacher or the class, fear that the stu- dents won ' t learn anything, and most, fear that one of those terrible nightmares will come true. Jacquelin Johnson English as a Second Language Eugene Jovin Electronics Dean Karnoski Social Sciences Faculty 123

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122 Faculty

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Only In Their Dreams Typically, Mrs. Thompson concentrates on correcting papers pen in mouth. It may be hard to imagine teachers doing anything but teaching, but not all of them have always wanted to be the students ' mentors. If given the chance, many teachers might choose another occu- pation. Mr. Leonard and Mr. Wil- liamson could be making big bucks as realtors; Mrs. Wiese might have been a Spanish- speaking stewardess. Mr. Hawkins, if given another chance, might just have been a feared and revered criminal lawyer. The next visit to the family doctor might have been an appointment with Mrs. Mat- thew. Mrs. Bierbaum might have been a journalist, Mr. Godbey a writer, Mr. Givens a commercial artist, Mr. Ly- man a hunting and fishing guide, and Mr. Wolfe a friendly neighborhood musi- cal therapist. But to the advantage of hundreds of students these people have become teachers for the sheer pleasure of be- ing around kids and teach- ing what they know best. Katie Miller English, Yearbook 124 Faculty