the month of June

For all the anxiety that I had going into each of the three classrooms that I was assigned to teach in yesterday, my students seem — on the whole — to be quite an interesting, entertaining, friendly, thoughtful, and lovely bunch (and I mean none of that in a condescending way). I just finished reading through the three sections worth of questionnaires that I give them to fill out on the first day. Here are a few of the things I have learned:

• Favorite authors among college students (at a four-year, private (Catholic affiliated) liberal arts institution): Nicholas Sparks, Jodi Picoult, John Grisham, J.K. Rowling, Khaled Hosseini (a good number of my students have read or are reading The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns). One book mentioned by a student that caught my attention (having never heard of it) was This Present Darkness — apparently this falls into the genre of “Christian thriller”, which I also never knew existed.
• Approximately 94% of them have Facebook and/or Myspace accounts
• Many (I’d say about a third — maybe slightly more) transferred from community colleges and/or other colleges — mostly state schools
• The majority don’t blog (in fact, only 3% have ever blogged before, and none do currently) but have heard of or are familiar with them.
• Sports (playing) and hanging out with friends lead in the hobbies/activities department

All in all I am hoping to hold onto the magic and enthusiasm with which both students and instructor met the first day.