Disorganized prof

[2much]

I am lead TA for a big class (over 120). This means I organize field trips. Prof wants field trips every week. Prof is really good at getting people in charge of venues to accept a class this size, but when it comes to scheduling, folks at the venues are not happy and say "this is not what we discussed".

Prof is also terrible at remembering stuff and interferes with my duties.

Examples:

- when students were enrolling into tutorials, Prof went in and deleted all data. I had to do the enrollment by hand. Prof then blamed IT for this all. 

- as enrollment kept going up, we discussed repeatedly (including by email) that we need more tutorials. first week of tutorials: Prof is super-surprised and says we never discussed this.

- one Tuesday tutorial got moved to Friday, the others were as scheduled. lo and behold: Tuesday morning Prof emails all students that all Tuesday tutorials have been cancelled. Prof took care of the upcoming overflow of students but expected me to do it Thursday at 10PM (guess what, I don't always check my emails at night).

- Prof said they will substitute for this one Friday tutorial; a few days before, they be like: "would you like me to substitute, or you are taking care of this?" 

Needless to say, emails come in at all times of the day and all days of the week. I admire that they dedicate so much of their time to their course but I have other things I must attend to. At this point, I don't care if students give me poor evals because they feel like I failed at organizing stuff. I just want to continue as lead TA so that I can keep that on my CV. 

I delegate to other TAs as much as possible. I tell myself not to freak out over this all, as I did in the first weeks of the semester, and just be chill. I manage to be chill and minimize my duties but there is still so much to do, I spend all my waking hours thinking about this. I don't have a problem with organizing this all, I am just sick of cleaning up after that Prof's f--k-ups.

Now, Prof wants to meet and discuss expectations about my position. I would appreciate feedback on the following plan of action:

- take notes of what is said and not agree to anything on that day (remember, Prof has a mesmerizing effect on people)

- review notes, decline whatever seems unreasonable and return notes to Prof by email for approval

Should I cc my admin?

Is writing such a good idea? Should I just mirror their game and pretend at my convenience that what was said never happened?

Even if I get them to approve a list of duties and how we separate things, I am 100% certain that Prof will still interfere and mess up. What's with that??

 

Note: Prof is a visiting prof. They do not have tenure at our school and are not likely to be coming back to stay. Other TAs were all hired by the Prof and are not from my school. (They are not pulling their weight but I don't care). I am the only person involved in this class who is a Ph.D. student at my school. This is why I am lead TA. This is why I had no idea what kind of person Prof is and accepted to be lead TA.

Edited February 23, 2018 by 2much

[geologyninja13]

Since they're a visiting professor, I would recommend that you bring in an admin (under the guise of "let's make it easy to answer questions!") and a tenured or tenured-track professor (defendable along the lines of "Let's make sure your (Mx. Prof's) expectations are in line with this institution's"). I'm so sorry you have to put up with this, I'd be tearing my hair out. And yeah, take all the notes! Maybe even ask to record the session on your phone so you have review and make sure you didn't miss anything. It sounds like Prof has ghastly time management habits, and you can't be expected to reply at all hours. You're not being unreasonable.

Best of luck!

[2much]

41 minutes ago, geologyninja13 said:

You're not being unreasonable.

Thank you for this and for the advice! That is actually a fantastic idea to bring in extra people. I will not do it this time (too short notice for them all) but if it because an issue again, I will.

[dr. t]

Is there someone in your department whom you trust - your adviser, for example? If so, tell them what you've said here, and see how they suggest you proceed. They'll have a much better sense of the topographies of power than we will.

[fuzzylogician]

On 2/23/2018 at 4:30 AM, 2much said:

Now, Prof wants to meet and discuss expectations about my position. I would appreciate feedback on the following plan of action:

- take notes of what is said and not agree to anything on that day (remember, Prof has a mesmerizing effect on people)

- review notes, decline whatever seems unreasonable and return notes to Prof by email for approval

Should I cc my admin?

Is writing such a good idea? Should I just mirror their game and pretend at my convenience that what was said never happened?

Even if I get them to approve a list of duties and how we separate things, I am 100% certain that Prof will still interfere and mess up. What's with that??

• Getting things in writing is always wise, especially when you anticipate trouble. 
• Pretending things didn't happen is easier said than done when you're not the one in the position of power, but you can try it and see what happens. 
• Involving someone else seems wise at this point. An admin, an advisor, someone who can serve as a third-party witness. People don't pull this crap (as often) when others are watching whose opinions they care about. 
• Is there a union or some way to limit your responsibilities? Have you documented how much time you are spending on this? You have the right not to get over-involved beyond what is reasonable given what you are getting paid for. 
• Sadly, students in these large classes don't understand how much time goes into admin work, nor do they care who is actually responsible for what. Don't spend too much time trying to make everyone happy, that's not even possible in these large classes. But maybe there are subtle ways of conveying to students (verbally, without leaving a written trail) who is actually responsible for f*ckups. At the end of the day, the buck should stop with the prof, not you.