I entered class at 9.20 on Monday morning with a certain amount of trepidation. This was to be the first day back and it would be students’ first lesson of the year. Previous experience had taught me that attendance in the first week of lessons is extremely volatile and given that beginning the end of week 2, we would all have a week off, I felt certain that a large proportion of students wouldn’t bother coming to the first two weeks of lessons. Remember this was bright and early Monday morning. You can imagine my surprise therefore to find that by 9.30 there was only 1 out of 18 students absent. That’s about the best attendance I can expect at any time throughout the semester. Monday’s 12.30 lesson had a similarly impressive attendance. However…on Tuesday when I went to my elective class, my predictions were demonstrated to have been accurate – only 1 of the officially registered students turned up. As well as this one “official” student, there were also two others, who were graduates, wanting to audit the course. So, with just three students, I began the course and actually kept them for more than an hour and a half. They were all enthusiastic and didn’t resent having such a long lesson with such few students on their first day.
Based on past experience, I decided this semester to do, in the first week, little more than explain the syllabus and get to know students and allow them to get to know me. Normally I would try to get the diagnostic essay done and dusted, but as a result of all the frustrations in previous semesters, I decided I wouldn’t get started on any official course work until the second week. In retrospect this was a wise decision as there appears to have been a lot more movement of students than in previous semesters. Now that numbers have settled I feel somewhat guilty as a couple of my sections are rather sparsely populated. However, as this means less grading and an opportunity for more intense interaction, I am pleased overall.
I have nothing strange or exciting to report on my new batch of students. As is to be expected they were all rather quiet and “bright eyed and bushy tailed” as it were. It’s a new beginning and they all seem enthusiastic to a greater or lesser extent. Long may this enthusiasm last.
I don’t normally like to make an issue of the weather but I am beginning to realize how depressed it can make one feel. I tolerated a rather miserable month and a half in
