Finals week can really bring out the "best of students/worst of students" experiences...on the one hand, I caught two students in outright lies/fabrications regarding presenting me with reasons they would not be able to take their exams at the scheduled time...on the other hand, I have had some truly wonderful, hard-working students who have struggled all semester (including through some very valid extenuating circumstances) but are giving it their all on an option I offered to earn back some of their earlier missed exam points by doing extra questions on the (proctored) final exam and who went to the trouble to individually thank me for making that option available when they had already just accepted that they might not be able to pass the course.

In reflecting on just how far I still am from my dreamed-of retirement escape from the current AI-induced dumpster fire that is my discipline, I am trying to focus on those wonderful students...