Sad, but true...

In the past two weeks I have had 3, count them THREE, nightmares about school-related things.
So I blogged awhile back about fire drills.  Ohhh fire drills...well, my school must be under pressure from either the fire department or the district to smooth out our fire drill protocol and decrease the time it takes us to evacuate the building.  Over the past month or so little reminders to make sure we have updated class lists, clear directions for subs in case of fire, etc. "just in case."  Also, the administration has mentioned a few times how it is of GREAT importance to have class lists for every segment of the day.  For example, 3 of my students leave the room for math, so I should have a math class list in my emergency folder.  In the afternoon during Interventions, I have a hodge-podge group of kiddos milling around my room, so I should have a list for those guys too.

Now let me tell you, last year I had NOTHING of the kind.  In fact, with move-ins and move-outs I'm pretty positive I didn't even have an updated class list in the emergency folder by the end of the year.  This year, with these little "hints" being dropped, I am literally PARANOID that I will be the one to screw up a fire drill, lose a child, or worse, have a child "taken" from my line by the principal as a test to see how long it takes me to notice (I'm not kidding, this really happens this year!!), and be THAT TEACHER who ruined the whole fire drill and can't keep track of her kids.

Oh, and also, there have been hints that "an exit may be blocked" at the next drill, so we should "have an alternate route in mind."  Not joking.

Okay, I know this is all really no big deal, but these little not-so-subtle reminders have led to me having 2 fire drill related nightmares in the past week.  Seriously.  In one, I forgot to grab the emergency backpack (not a joke...we actually have this.  it even has an orange vest inside), which isn't such a stretch of the imagination because I really did forget it in the last drill...but in the dream I was trying to get back into the room to get it and just couldn't make it.  In the other dream, our exit was blocked (by a BARRICADE of teachers who all had their arms outstretched in front of it) and we frantically had to find a different way out.  Now, in neither of these dreams was their an ACTUAL fire.  How sad is it that I have more anxiety over the DRILLS themselves than the actual prospect of our school catching on fire and the safety of my students?

Oh school...you are making me positively unglued...is it Thanksgiving yet???


BTW:  When I arrived at school this morning after my 2-day absence, I found out a new student showed up while I was home sick!  Surprise!!  Nothing like giving a sub a challenge immediately!  Anyways, don't worry, I promptly added her to the emergency list. :)  The good news is she seems like a sweetheart.  Phew.