First Week

Ah, it must be the first week of the semester. I have a textbook, a syllabus, a class roster, and the first candy bar offered up by a student as a propitious sacrifice to the angry god for being late. I've obviously implemented the culture of intimidation already (inside joke). Anyone who knows me at Champlain knows that my rule is that you cannot come into class late without being publicly persecuted unless you bring me a cookie or a cupcake. The students here willingly and enthusiastically agreed to the stipulation and only had one question - store bought or home made. They have been absolutely wonderful so far and I'm really enjoying teaching them. One of my other traditions is handing out nicknames. If I have two students with the same name I give them nicknames to tell them apart, and the first step is always labelling one Evil "fill in the blank" or Good "fill in the blank." I told that story to my students here at Zayed, and it really struck me what a different place the Middle East is than we assume in the US when a student volunteered to be "Evil Fatima" to break the tie. Priceless.