That time of the semester

Even with fairly good classes this semester, this is the point where I'm just ready to be DONE.

I have three weeks of classes left, then exams, then I have to quickly embark on some pilot research for what will hopefully develop into a larger project. Then I have summer classes. (The money is too good to pass up, and also, one of the classes is a "service" to the department, as it's one that often fills up during the regular semester.)

But. I have a few people I'm getting tired of dealing with - the person who ALWAYS walks in late, and thus, never gets the announcements I make unless I make them again at the end. The person who is being followed around by Winnie-the-Pooh's little black stormcloud (Seriously - they just come in and flash the doctor's note of the week at me, any more. I have so much back-work for this person - we're supposed to take stuff late with a valid excuse - and I just can't get to grading it because I have the current grading for my classes. And this is the kind of person who goes all trembly-lipped over stuff, and a lot of the time these days, I have no energy for that). One guy who thinks he's God's gift to humor - I can mostly deal with it but sometimes it gets on my nerves.

I've also had a few people come through wanting to drop my Intro class. I am not relishing my DFW percentage for this one....though the people who are sticking with it are mostly passing, which is actually unusual for this class. (And also: I don't think Withdrawals should necessarily be taken as evidence that the professor is a "bad" professor - in a 14 person class, two of my drops were over big medical issues.)

But I'm just ready to be done and move on. I may run out of material in one class which means I'll have to explore and make lectures for a chapter I previously never got to...ugh. I really don't have time to new-prep anything right now but if I cancelled class for a week or more I know it would be a scandal, so I will have to figure something out. I do have a video I COULD show....that would take one class period - I will have to see. I normally don't like using movies as a "professor had no time to prepare" crutch, but this one is pretty relevant and it presents things from a different perspective.