It was a strange day. In my "Intro to Physical Science" course, all of the students whose last names began with "S" were absent. No others were gone, just the "S"s.

An abnormal number of my students were in pain today. Not just sick, but in physical pain. There was the young woman who called to say she couldn't come to lab because she was diagnosed with a condition that has left her in pain for several days. There was the student whose wrist hurt so much he left class early so that he could medicate himself. There was another student who hurt his back at lunch, and had to come to a later lab after he'd been given muscle relaxants. He also changed his clothes before he came back to school - he thinks that his back problems were somehow related to his Denver Broncos jersey that he wore to his earlier class with me to flaunt their win over the 49ers yesterday.

Four weeks into the semester, and the students are finally learning my powers.

Discuss Student distress