Evaluation Time...

[mandarin.orange]

A friend of mine is a young professor and sent me the following link:

Professor Deeply Hurt By Student Evaluation

[atmaero]

A friend of mine is a young professor and sent me the following link:

Professor Deeply Hurt By Student Evaluation

WTH??

what strikes me is the absolute disrespect with which the student treats the Professor , even in spite of his efforts to correct himself.He may be boring, but Professors of his credentials deserve to be given more dignity.

[qbtacoma]

WTH??

what strikes me is the absolute disrespect with which the student treats the Professor , even in spite of his efforts to correct himself.He may be boring, but Professors of his credentials deserve to be given more dignity.

The Onion is a joke newspaper. The particular incident isn't real, but it is funny in part because it closely resembles stuff people actually go through.

[hopelesslypostmodern]

The Onion is a joke newspaper. The particular incident isn't real, but it is funny in part because it closely resembles stuff people actually go through.

There is an entire tumblr dedicated to people who believe that the Onion's stories are real. I'm not sure whether its funny or just plain sad...

[qbtacoma]

Here is a real life example of the kind of student mocked in The Onion. I had to share.

[mandarin.orange]

Here is a real life example of the kind of student mocked in The Onion. I had to share.

Wow...amazing specimen. I probably would've stopped reading after the first 2-3 sentences.

As a teacher at a private HS, I've had some humdingers over the years from parents. One of the more memorable emails accused me of being unfair for taking -2 off a test where the kid hadn't put his name on it, since name/no name didn't address the content of the chapter I was assessing.

Edited June 5, 2011 by mandarin.orange

[AKJen]

Just got back my very first set of evaluations. They were middling for the most part, which is about what I expected from my first semester teaching. But I did get one student (I hope it was one!) who thought I was awful and wrote a nasty comment about my "lack of mastery" of course materials, since I had to look up answers during our final review session.

Yes, myself and the other TA did look up answers during the final review session (which was held during our "free" time for their benefit), but it was mostly so we could be sure to give them accurate information since the prof has a completely different approach and emphasis from our own. Grr. And it was from the smaller section that seemed to go so well...

[raise cain]

1st year undergrads can be so vicious. I think many of them feel that TA's are *just* students that stand in the way of their brilliance, and that the professor would never ever give them a bad grade because they would understand what a genius they are.

[pondersaizi]

If you can switch without stepping on too many toes, by all means do. Do you have any faculty members that you have a close enough relationship with to perhaps discuss this with them? Frame it in the best light possible (don't say anything bad about your current prof), just hint at the difficulties you are having, and if she really does have this situation this faculty member should know what you mean, and see what they think you should do. She may have a reputation for being rude, but she is still a faculty member there and thus you want to deal with the situation carefully so that it doesn't reflect poorly on you.

[Sigaba]

FWIW, when I worked as a teaching assistant, I handed out an evaluation form at the end of every weekly section. (The form was cribbed from a similar document that a professor in the school of education used with his students.)

I cannot say for certain how giving undergraduates a weekly opportunity to provide feedback impacted their final evaluation of my work. I can say that the weekly feedback--as sporadic as it was--allowed me to make adjustments during the semester and to have a better sense of what materials merited additional discussion/clarification.

@jennyb I appreciate the effort you made to 'get it right.' As an undergraduate, one of the most unnerving experiences I had was when I attended a study session for a midterm in cultural anthropology. Two anthropology graduate students hosted the session for their sections. The session basically fell apart when the two of them started to argue the correct answer for a potential identification question. Rather than getting it right, the two sought to win the argument. If they don't know, what hope do we have? was my thought.