If you’re a teacher with students who might be interested in learning about the subject of dreams, we’ve written a book specifically for you. Phil King, Bernard Welt, and I are pleased to announce the May 2011 publication of Dreaming in the Classroom: Practices, Methods, and Resources in Dream Education, by the State University of New York Press. The book provides a guide for teaching students about dreams primarily in college- and graduate-level classes. It also looks at dream education in elementary and high schools and in alternative forms of community education. Psychology is the primary discipline of dream education in the modern West, and Phil King writes with authority and grace about the most effective practices in teaching college psychology students about dreams. Bernard Welt brings his vast knowledge of dreams in film and literature, along with his experience as a teacher of academic writing, to highlight several areas outside psychology where dream education has proven beneficial. Anthropology, philosophy, and religious studies are the disciplines which I took the lead in writing about, along with the chapter on elementary and secondary education. We all went through each chapter line by line, producing a truly collaborative work that draws not only on our experiences but on in-depth interviews we did with dozens of teachers across the academic and non-academic spectrum.
The road to publication has been long and full of twists, turns, and unexpected detours. I’m grateful to Phil and Bernard for their persistence, passion, and friendship in writing this book.