Teacher's pet(s)

It's been a nearly six-year drought of possessing minions, but the rain has come again in the form of student lackeys. Oh, to have the days return of having a raptly attentive mini audience at my beck and call! How did I ever cope without this blessing?

For those who didn't know me as an undergraduate student, to help cover costs of living in college, I became a residence hall staff member, under the title of Academic Programmer. With my Academic Programming Committee, I would organize various academic- or career-related activities to benefit the hall. As a junior and senior at the time, I had some clout as an older budding academic. Whether it be my charming personality or my accepting exterior or my 'street cred' as a late-night DJ for Radio X, the freshmen were drawn to me - helping me with anything I asked of them: helping me to ask businesses for donations for programs, making food for me, stuffing mailboxes with flyers, etc. If I had a car at the time, I'd like to think they'd help me wash it. Life was pretty sweet until I tumbled into reality (i.e., life post BA). I was no longer the cream floating on top, but the coffee ground residue sifting at the bottom...until now.

What do you get when you combine 42 Arab boys -- who have never had a white female non-Muslim teacher before, who are experiencing life at a premiere university for the first time (and getting paid for it), and who haven't quite shed the over-achieving nature of a competitive high school environment to get into good universities -- with a younger white female non-Muslim teacher whom they feel they can relate to as a sister? Answer: a captive student audience, with each student wanting so badly to please his teacher.

The fruits of this phenomenon bear instances of:

1. students volunteering to erase the white board after class

2. students jockeying for the opportunity to assist in moving the overhead projector from the center of the room to the side of the room every day

3. students clamoring to answer questions or read aloud in class

4. a goofball student formally announcing to the class when their teacher has arrived, and asking the students to part like the Red Sea to make room for their "royal teacher" to make her way to the teacher's desk

5. offers to help me carry my bags and things to my car after class at the end of the school week (when they really need the extra time to get home to their families in their villages)

6. students coming to my office in fours "just to say hi"

7. me never having to staple or collate anything ever again. I need only to take out a stack of papers and a stapler, and students are ready to organize, staple, and pass out materials to classmates.

I'd ask someone to pinch me to do a spot-check on this bizzaro world that I'm living in, but I enjoy not having to stress so much about preparing the classroom and having students feel a part of classroom organization. Here's to pinky dreams of lackey longevity!