When I went in to my class this morning, where the students had already self-organized into their presentation planning groups, we made screwy wtf faces at the newly-missing glass on the window to our door. Some laughed a little as a late arrival peered in to the blank space that used to be glass. There are still shards hanging from the top, but that's it--it's not clear what happened, but an administrator walked by muttering about vandalism.
One student raised his hand to ask if the groups might be able to meet outside, and I looked at them all packed into the classroom, then at the bright outside and said "absolutely." But instead of packing up and heading for the door they all just kind of looked at me. I could tell they were thinking about what happened yesterday, and so I just said that it seemed like we were all feeling a little clingy after what happened at Virginia Tech--me included--and that's understandable. One outspoken student said she was scared to come to class, and I just nodded and said I knew. The students started looking around the classroom, at the walls and the windows, the room silent with imagining, and so I told them it's probably best to head outside. I've never so welcomed the zips and shuffles, students packing their things.
