I've said it a gajillion times: I have the best students on the planet.
Let me just say, my students continue to surprise and delight me in
their caring, strength, intelligence and wit. More on that later, when
things calm down.
Meh, I had an entire post written on language,
but I decided to save it for a later date. Instead, let me tell you
about our new discussion group. Over the years students have begged and
pleaded with me to start a discussion group outside of class. They tell
me they miss the class so much they want to be able to continue with
the discussions. I thought about it, meant to do it, never got around
to it. Finally, two students convinced me that I needed to do it on
Friday. I had a "voluntary" class on Friday for anyone who wanted to
come by for help with their papers; whenever I do this students tend
not to show up. I can't blame them, I wouldn't show up either. On
Friday, one of my former students was walking by and came in to say
hello and to thank me for giving him a book at the beginning of the
semester. A student who had not been there on Wednesday came in, not
knowing we didn't have class. As the three of us were talking the
conversation naturally turned to the class itself. The current student
told me that not long before the semester began his mother had died and
he had been having a hard time dealing with it. This young man is
thoughtful and quite bright and I was sad to hear about his mother's
death and his difficulty in processing his grief. The really amazing
thing was, he told me that my class had been like therapy for him and
that he had been able to understand his grief and move on to
acceptance. Needless to say, I was thrilled to hear that. My former
student told me that he had also found that his world view had been
substantially broadened. Really, you can't receive better compliments
from students.
After hearing these two young men talk about what
the class did for them and how the former student missed the
discussions, I decided, why not? I'll start a discussion group. I sent
an email to all of the current and former students whose email
addresses I still have (about three semester's worth) and to my friends
in the area. So far? 40 have responded with the desire to be a part of
the group. I am STUNNED. Oh! I just got an email from a student who had
someone take pictures of us today. So cute! Yeah, I am a huge cornball
when it comes to them. But look at how adorable they are! (I'm the red headed crip in the middle)
OK, I'll stop with the gushing now. Anyway, how exciting that we're
going to have a group outside of class? I am simply thrilled and I
can't wait to see my old students. We are going to have all kinds of
philosophical fun!
Picture credit
