He thanks me decorously for coming to the class as if it was his own invitation, and says he was glad to have met me.
History books, paperback novels, and a leather-bound copy of "Moby-Dick" in English — a prize he had won for coming first in his English class, in his senior year of high school.
He once finished as high as third over all; he took home the winner's trophy, however, for coming in first in his class.
It always drove me crazy that my students worked thirty hours a week or more for minimum wage, coming to class sleep-deprived.
The VC offer I had been hoping for came just 20 days before classes adjourned for the summer.
I announced, therefore, that I would consider our class as constituting a small seminar in which I expected each student to take responsibility for their learning by coming to class having read the required materials, to join into study groups outside class with other students to share understandings of the concepts.
"Freshers' week was one of the most isolating weeks of my life, mostly consisting of coming to class for a few days a week and returning straight home," she says.
Another afternoon, Amanda was reading a book assigned to her for her coming seventh-grade class at Mott Hall, a school in upper Manhattan for gifted children.
Their responses include: "Since you are not going to go over your PowerPoints in depth in class, and because you post them online, there's no reason for me to come to class"; "I learn better on my own, and I only come to classes when it is required"; "The tests usually only cover the textbook and the PowerPoints, so I don't need to attend the classes".
For weeks, he came to class wearing a head scarf, and was often mistaken for a Muslim girl.
