• Maybe it's that proverbial "aha" moment when the student locks eyes with me and the smile comes from his/her heart because whatever we're studying suddenly makes sense. 
• Maybe it's the joy of watching the students that first day of the semester.  Some are terrified. Some are belligerent.  Some are simply lost.  Finally the last day of the semester arrives, and some leave confident, some still belligerent, not so many lost.
• Maybe it's classes where we laugh and as they file out of the room afterward, someone always says, "That was a lot of fun!" 
• And maybe it's those students who cry when they tell me it's the first time in a long time they haven't felt worthless.

Then again, there are weeks like this one.  We are nearing the end of the abbreviated term, so it's crunch time.

• Last night, I overloaded the students with so much work, they could only look at me with terrified, glazed expressions.  I know they wonder how they will get it all done before Monday.  I feel terrible about that.
• One student wrote an essay about her struggles throughout school.   I still see some of those struggles in her skills this semester and I hinted that I wondered if she had ever been tested for a learning disability.  She left the classroom in tears.
• I graded two sets of essays this week.  Approximately 8 hours per set, and as an adjunct, that's MY time -- not paid time.
• And then, there was the adult student who asked to speak to me after class.  It needed to be a private conversation.  He was obviously very nervous.  He wanted no one else in the room when we talked except for the very pretty co-ed who sits near him.  I was wary.  Classroom violence is commonplace now.  The more we were delayed in our conversation by other students who needed my ear, the more nervous he got.  He rocked back and forth.  He continually twisted his hat.  He never broke eye contact with me.  I was considering my options:  ask another student to remain in the room?  Suggest we conference at the Campus Safety office?  Ask that we meet another day when the building would have people in it?  I delayed and delayed and finally he couldn't take it any more.  This is what he had to say:

"I'm sorry, Dr. Caution, but I need to confess something.  I have had gas all night in your class and I need to apologize.   I mean, it was all night long, and that's a lot of gas."

Turning to the girl he had asked to stay, he inquired if the gas had been offensive.  She simply looked blank (not an unusual look.)

He took that as a good sign that his gas was not potent enough to upset her, bade us a good night, and left lighter than when he had arrived for class.