Dream students...

We actually got started here at Shepherd on the 18th, so we are in the middle of our second week of classes. So far, so good, although yesterday was a busy enough day that I wondered to myself how in the world I could be so far behind on only the second Monday of the semester. There will be plenty of time to write/complain/laugh about the bad students, but I thought I'd briefly list some of the impressive students I've met so far.

• The freshman girl in my ENG 204 class who has already emerged as one of the brightest and most vocal (in a non-annoying way) students in the class. She has already stayed after class a couple of times already with really smart questions and to get some reassurance that she's got what it takes for the class (because she's only a freshman). I want to clone her.
• Another student in my ENG 204 course who has already written his first paper and earned an A on it. (They can hand in their papers on any date, so long as they've handed in one by each deadline.) What pushes him into dream student land is an email he sent me while he was working on it, asking if he should cite the poems he was writing about by line number or page number. I am just amazed that a sophomore knows that we sometimes cite poems by line numbers. Most of the time, I am content if they put the darn periods in the right spot.
• The five students who've been in my classes all three semesters (including this one) that I've been teaching at Shepherd and who seem to get stronger and more confident from class to class. Yes, that's what they should do, but we don't often get the chance to see it. We started off here together--they were freshman and I was a new faculty member. I've also got about seven more who I've taught in previous semesters and have chosen me again (all general education courses). That's pretty good for the ego, too--especially if I tell myself it's all about me, and not about fitting into their schedules.
• The group of students in my ENG 346 class who--on the third day of class!--had a smart debate with each other about the heroine of The Coquette and if she is a proto-feminist. This is the kind of stuff that teachers savor.