Only three sets to do, and I realize that may be why I don't feel so burnt out and "done" as I did fall semester - teaching that one or two extra sections really can do a person in.
The only F was an 'earned' F in the sense of someone who quit coming to class. (Sometimes, because of crazy Financial Aid rules, it's actually preferable for a student to take an F than it is for them to drop the class and maybe drop below some cutoff number of credits. It's frustrating for everyone involved, and probably a waste of resources, but that's bureaucracy for you).
A few people with tenuous Cs, but, meh. I'm glad I won't have people coming in and begging BEGGING me to let them pass*. I still expect the people near a cutoff - like a 78% - to come in and plead their case for the next highest grade. What they don't know is that anyone on the bubble (like, a 79.2%) who had some kind of extenuating circumstances (they started out weak but worked hard and improved, they were always in class and participated, they went the extra mile) already got the bump. And yeah, once in a while I will get someone who did the barest of bare minima, who skipped from time to time, who wasn't exactly courteous to their classmates, and who earned a 67% coming to me going, "But please please please please won't you give me a C? I DESERVE a C, don't I?"
(And I admit, I find myself thinking, "Yeah, and I want a pony" in response to those. Oh, I smile ruefully and say, "Sorry, I can't do that" but I admit some frustration with someone believing they deserve "special consideration" when they have done nothing to suggest that consideration should be forthcoming. And I admit I can see the attraction of 'zero tolerance" policies here - you don't have to explain yourself, you just say "them's the rules." But yeah. The guy at a 79% who was always in class and handed in all the work and asked good questions but maybe derped badly on a test - he gets a bump. Or the woman who failed the first test but came in for help and steadily got better over the semester and wound up with a 79% - she gets it. But the person who fed me a string of excuses about why they couldn't be there, who came in wanting to hand stuff in late, who goofed off in class: nope. And I tend to think that's how it should be.)
I think I'm also less tired the end of this semester because, despite having a crew of gigglers in one class, I didn't have as many difficult personalities as last semester. I didn't *really* have anyone who thought they were Too Cool For School (as I did last semester). And I actually kind of think towards the end I may have won over the gigglers a little bit; they did serious up more towards the end of the term so either (a) someone else spoke to them and told them to knock it off or (b) they developed some (possibly grudging) respect for my knowledge and expertise. (Though one of them did make a horrible, unintended double-entendre about the exam ("It's SO THICK!!!!") when I handed it out, that set the others off.....I pretended not to hear it but I admit my inner 12 year old was laughing. Or it could have been one of the other meanings of "thick," like in terms of consistency, like a thick shake. Or just the way the person said it. But I kind of think it wasn't, I think it was the "urban dictionary" version that got people laughing.)
I do have a meeting in a bit with a few people - not students - that can be somewhat difficult. But once that's over I feel like I'm free for a while. Oh, I have research I want to work on and Stuff To Do (like making my summer syllabi, now that I've seen at least one of my classes "made" - they will let the other one go ahead, I am sure, even if I don't get the magic 10 people in it, because they don't like forcing faculty into part-time schedules for the summer)
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