First Class

Well, last quarter I tried something new in my classes: I didn't read my syllabus aloud the first day. Instead, I threatened them with a quiz on it and then just had them sign a note that said that they had read it. Big mistake. I got questions about the syllabus all quarter.

Yesterday, I went over the entire syllabus after kicking out people on the wait list who couldn't fit into the class. I made some jokes. Then I had the students cluster and guess at the answers to three questions:

• Why is Huck teaching this class?
• What gives her the "right" to teach this class?
• How old is she?

That gave me a chance to introduce myself and also talk about decision-making and power relationships. We laughed about the age conundrum. (Guesses ranged from 41 to 59.) Nevertheless, I think I'll change the assignment a bit for tonight's class and give them a chance to work individually first.