So on Wednesday morning I posted about how Monday's class was a bummer and I hoped Wednesday's would be better because mentor prof would be there.

It was.

My students burst into spontaneous applause.

Twice.

Once was for their classmate, a quiet (doesn't say a peep in class) but smart (I know that, they don't) girl who read paragraph 14 of "Letter from Birmingham Jail"— the one with all the semicolons. No one volunteered (surprise!) so I picked her. I did it on purpose because I knew she would know all the big words and could read it with the proper emotion. Boy was I glad she did. I was so proud of them for clapping for their classmate. I was also proud of them for having a good discussion and answering all the questions correctly and puzzling out the arguments and what not. You know, like good college students.

The second time they clapped was for mentor prof, who always gives a spiel to 1A classes about the benefits of a liberal arts major or at the very least a liberal arts minor. He's an eloquent speaker. He asked questions, they answered them, and they clapped at the end. Good kids.