Why I Love My Students

Confession: Last week I promised the after school debate club which I advise that I would bring snacks to our meetings in return for their attention and focus.  This was based on selfish reasons (in addition to the obvious one that I wanted their attention and focus).

I’m not a fan of cooking for myself; I like to have an audience for my food, even if they just taste it.  How could I resist a captive audience to try out my snacks and desserts?  So, the deal was struck.

I wasn’t feeling terribly creative on Sunday afternoon, plus I didn’t want to scare away any of the students  with a snack that was too different.  So I decided to bake up a box of brownies, with the assumption that even I could manage a box of brownies. Wrong.  When I cut them after cooking  they were kind of undercooked.  Oops.  So, feeling like a failure, I cut the brownies from around the edge of the pan and brought them to school, hoping the kids wouldn’t notice or care.

I presented the brownies to the students at the start of the meeting without comment regarding their degree of  “cookedness” and crossed my fingers.  Immediately, a couple girls commented “Oo, they stick together!”  “That’s a good thing?” I inquired.  “Yes!  Brownies should never be cooked all the way!  I always under cook them!”  No one voiced any opposition to this notion (and these are debate club kids–they live to argue.)

Whether or not you agree with the rationale (or safety) of sixteen year old girls is irrelevant.  They made my day.  Now its just a matter of coming up with something equally tasty for next week.