Getting those bad reviews on Rate My Professor

I know those bad reviews on Rate My Professor will get added to in the wake of this semester. Comments may come specifically from two students who expressed their intense displeasure at their grades. One was a particularly interesting case: all semester he's been getting B's and C's, and upon receiving a solid B for the semester, was offended, considered it a slap in the face, that he hadn't gotten an A. He wanted me to bump him up to at least a B+--but his overall grade was an 82.4. The minimum for a B+ is an 85. That may seem like "only" three points, but since a B is anything from an 80 to an 84, three points is actually quite a bit. (And to get those three points, he'd have to have something like an extra 30 in the assignments, given the way things get averaged.) Well, he was slapped in the face, but not by me. He may never realize that the slap was administered by reality.

Another woman--who knew that her final paper was an ungodly mess (and it was, on every level, including the fact that there were absolutely no citations in it, anywhere) and who had been struggling to get anything higher than a D all semester was similarly shocked and amazed that she got (drum roll please) a D for her final grade. She made a point of writing me an e-mail to tell me that, thanks to me, she hates English even more than she did before. And that I'm too hard.

I'll just let the logic of that sit there for a while.

I know there will be more fussing from students via e-mail over the coming weeks, despite my attempts to head that off at the pass (I told people that after this afternoon, complaining will make no difference, as once the grades have been submitted, that's it). But I am about to put the automated message on my office e-mail that says I will be away until spring semester and that I won't be checking e-mail. In truth, I will be checking e-mail--even that e-mail, just to keep the in-box from silting up while I'm away--but I'm sure not responding to anything from students.

And the amazing thing is, I'm able to sit here and blog for a few minutes because I'M DONE! Stick a fork in me, I am DONE!! All the papers have been read, all the numbers crunched, the final grade sheets produced and put on the door for students to pick up. I've even submitted the paper grade record forms and have put all my grades up on Banner. (Shhhh, don't tell: I even submitted the grades for the classes that officially end tomorrow, even though I'm not supposed to do that until tomorrow. The system let me do it, and I figure if students can make end runs around the "rules" because the system doesn't stop them, so can I.)

Of course I still don't quite feel like I can breathe, but at least I can run one or two more errands this evening and still get home in time to pack before midnight. And I don't have to take anything at all relating to this semester with me on my trip. I'll take stuff so I can work on next semester's syllabi--if there's an easy opportunity (I'm not going to worry about it over much). And I'm leaving the office a little bit of a wreck: I can tidy up files and so on once I'm back--and know whether my lit courses are going to run. (The numbers haven't budged in the past few days. I'm working to remain sanguine.)

But now, my faithful readers, I will say that it's very likely you won't hear a peep from me again until after January 9. I wish all of you a wonderful holiday season (and those of you who are with me in the trenches a peaceful and relaxing break). May the new year bring us all that is best and brightest.