Today was a mix of finishes and starts.

I saw a few dozen for the last time today as I won’t be teaching third year high schools next year. At the same time I picked up two more sets of exams from students I’ll have to see again very soon.

This situation makes this an especially odd time of year as I don’t get to enjoy the satisfaction that pass back classes usually bring as they are just harbingers of more work yet to come.

Granted, the good news was that apparently no one has failed which means I won’t have to write and mark a make up exam, but I do have only a few days to mark the exams I just got–or maybe I have all weekend to mark some of them. It’s all confusing, although the confusion is offset by the shocked looks on many of my high school students when they saw their low scores and realized they should have 1) paid attention in class 2) followed instructions and 3) memorized their speech contest speeches which would have helped them a lot on the exam.

I did get some marking done, but I’m actually doing it all backward: I’m starting with the class I might have the most time for. This will force me to finish all the exams by Friday, and that will give me the weekend off.

That’s the plan, anyway. Who knows what will actually happen.