First day, so far so good...

Yesterday was my first day of classes.... and they went pretty well.

The logic students laughed at my jokes and one commented that it was nice to have an instructor with "personality" -- I hope I didn't scare them too much, but the class is really hard and they need to know that at the start. I'm also UBER bored with the first day stuff, so I go out of my way to have more "personality"-- whatever that means....

My Ethics students are kind of quiet. We'll do a lot of "stand up, stand there while you answer questions" kinds of stuff in class. The class is from 4:00-5:15 twice per week. Most of them come from work --while I'm generally getting my logic students at the end of their school day (2;15-3:30), I'm getting these students at the start of theirs (4:00-5:15), as they'll generally also take a night class that starts at 6:00. These folks usually work during the day, thus get up early to be finished working and in class by 4:00. I used to do almost exactly what they are doing -- and it was hard. Thank goodness this material is rather engating later in the semester..

My debate team is going to be a fun group. Swear Jar and Herbie are my returning debaters. They aren't exactly getting along after camp, so they won't be parters. I'll probably put Swear Jar with Pizza Girl (not sure on these nicknames yet... but she manages a pizza place) and I'll put Herbie with the Golfer.

That leaves me with a problem, tho -- the other two are dating. Dating and debating are generally a bad idea.... although, I'm not so sure it is a bad idea in this case. He's pretty laid back-- one of those bright kids without a fire lit under him. She's kind of quiet but very sharp and motivated. I'm thinking that he'll do his best work if she's his motivation.... and she knows what she's getting into. I'll have a talk with them about the perils of dating and debating and see what they think. I could put them with Herbie and Golfer, but I kind of think they'd be better and more competitive together...

So -- that is the start of my year... I'll meet the rest of my students today, I have a 7:45 class (aargh... sounded like a great idea last fall when we planned this fall.... not so good now!) and a 9:30 class -- and some office hours and then I'm home for the afternoon to work on dissertation stuff! I swear!!! no naps (or, maybe a short one... ).