First day of class...

Yeah, yeah, I know, I said school started on Monday, and it did, but MY classes started today... Readings in Classical, Readings in Modern J and J Cuture through Film. We did nothing in Classical; I just handed out the assignment for next class. In Modern, after a warm-up what did you do over vacation--in Japanese--we read a short piece by Murakami Ryu on how beer is great to drink after rigorous activitiy--wind-surfing, tennis, swimming--on the south sea island of Saipan.

In the Film class, I showed the first half on Seven Samurai tonight. And as I do every year, I got real anal before the movie. I make them sign a contract promising they understand all the requirements in class and that they will not cheat. Don't laugh. I inevitably get students rolling their eyes, but despite all this, every year there are at least three (3) students who cheat by plagerizing from the Interenet. We're talking about a 1-2 page paper. Why would you want to plagerize!!!!! Anyway, I do this to give them the opportunity to understand that I am dead serious. Some profs will not say anything and them when s/he catches someone--Boom--suspension. I think its nice of me to give them fair warning that I actually do check to see if anyone is cheating. And the main point is that I'm not trying to catch anyone who's cheating just to catch someone. I do it to be fair to the students who do honest work. Can you imagine if you did your own hard work and got a B+ and the person next to you got an A by cheating? Wouldn't you be pissed? I would, and I don't want any of my studnets pissed because of what I neglet to do...

So am I too anal?

And when is beer the most delicious for you. For me, its at the end of the semester after grading a stack of finals. That first gulp is mighty refreshing!