Evaluations...

[hashslinger]

Oh yes, it's absolutely a long journey. And you don't want to think too much or obsess about it. Students are generally never going to like the person who's giving them grades--even if those grades are ostensibly fine. If your professor were the one giving the grades, then she would be on the receiving end of their complaints. One time I served as an assistant to a professor in a low-level class. I wasn't responsible for giving the grades--just a few lectures. Surprise, surprise--the students loved me and hated the professor. They saw me as an ally and wrote on their evaluations how much they wished I had taught the class instead. Lol.

 

Grade inflation is a huge issue these days, and fueled by a consumerist attitude toward higher education. As students are required to pay more and more for tuition, they have begun to see their instructors as people they have hired to work for them. They're also under a lot of pressure to maintain high grades--many of them think that high grades will get them a job. (That's usually not the case--employers are often indifferent to GPA--but try telling them that.) And as grades continue this huge upward swing, students feel more and more resentful of the lone instructor who won't just give them what they want, thereby "ruining" their GPA and any shot at a comfortable upper-middle-class life.

 

Further compounding our situation is the administrative obsession with student evaluations. Large public universities have a huge "administrative class"--people who are paid to ensure that students are happy tuition-payers. So, students get a lot of conflicting messages. From us they hear that they have to perform well to meet certain standards. From the administration they hear that their own satisfaction is paramount, and that they should fill out evaluation forms in order to weed out their difficult professors. My administration sends students email reminders to fill out evaluations with taglines like, "Now it's YOUR TURN to give the grades!" or "You may have already made comments about your professors on Facebook or Twitter; now put them where they count!" Basically, they feed into this consumerist mindset and further portray professors/TAs not as experts to be learned from but as employees to be disciplined or fired--or, even worse, to be slandered and gossiped about online.

 

I would actually modify one piece of advice I gave, though. Sometimes it's best to give your students more "honest" grades on their first assignment with feedback as to how to improve. When they then receive "gentler" grades later in the semester, they're inclined to feel like they've really earned that positive grade. I've had a lot of success with that approach and gotten evaluations about my "high standards" or "thorough feedback."

 

But really, nothing eliminates the bad evaluations from sour grapes. Even when the majority of my class is doing fine, there's always a segment that absolutely hates everything. And yeah, speaking of twitter--I try to avoid their accounts. One student last semester tweeted something like "Hashslinger is a cunt who deserves to die, worst TA ever." I found it by googling my own name. I had just given the student a C on a really terrible paper. So, yeah, you're always going to be the target of their own unprofessional, hateful behavior.

Edited February 7, 2014 by hashslinger

[cicoree]

My administration sends students email reminders to fill out evaluations with taglines like, "Now it's YOUR TURN to give the grades!" or "You may have already made comments about your professors on Facebook or Twitter; now put them where they count!" Basically, they feed into this consumerist mindset and further portray professors/TAs not as experts to be learned from but as employees to be disciplined or fired--or, even worse, to be slandered and gossiped about online.

 

 

Wow, that is just ridiculous! I don't think UMD takes it that far although they definitely encourage student feedback, and they have this system whereby if you don't do your evaluations then you can't access the data for other courses you might want to take in the future. Anyway, you are totally right about the consumer culture these kids have tranposed unto their college education... it's really sad to watch. I once left a few neutral-tone comments on a pretty low quality group video project and got this response (I quote):

 

 

My group and I are very confused about the grade we received and the comments you made. I don't think it is in any way fair to say anything negative about our video/audio quality, as many groups recorded this on cheap cameras or iPhones, as we were told we were allowed to. I also do not think it's fair to say that our lines sounded stiff and unrehearsed, as we also not actors and a lot of people are nervous while in front of the camera. My entire group contributed to the making of this video and we do not think a B- represents our work. If you could explain this further, that would be great.

 

I had to respond in several 300+ word emails to that one and in the end the student was pacified, but it really shows what kind of approach they have (one of my arguments was, you are not professional writers either, yet you get graded on writing, don't you?)... but very often I found this confrontational attitude and this idea that the grade I give is supposed to reflect what they think they deserve. It's paralyzing at times.

 

To look at it from a more relaxed (although scary) point of view, have you seen this mock piece on Harvard's grading rubric? http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/opinion/sunday/leaked-harvards-grading-rubric.html?_r=0 It's hilarious. And terrifying, because my students would think it is normal. The awful truth is that my professor also buys into this grade hyperinflation because she doesn't want them to suffer from this course more than others and because she doesn't want confrontation. It's pretty dismaying, really.

Edited February 8, 2014 by cicoree

[hashslinger]

My group and I are very confused about the grade we received and the comments you made. I don't think it is in any way fair to say anything negative about our video/audio quality, as many groups recorded this on cheap cameras or iPhones, as we were told we were allowed to. I also do not think it's fair to say that our lines sounded stiff and unrehearsed, as we also not actors and a lot of people are nervous while in front of the camera. My entire group contributed to the making of this video and we do not think a B- represents our work. If you could explain this further, that would be great.

 

This just makes me laugh. They record their video on an iphone and still want an A? I'm guessing that Anderson Cooper didn't use a cheap camera when he was at Yale. Even at my university we had the decency to rent our equipment from the library.

 

I get emails like this periodically. I usually just 1) redirect students to the assignment sheet or rubric, and 2) tell them that if they have specific concerns they can come to office hours to discuss how they might improve their work in the future. The "office hours" thing was a tip I picked up from Greg Semenza's book. He makes some good points about not getting into lengthy discussions with students over email. Email is their realm; confronting them there is like trying to do an exorcism in the nighttime on non-consecrated ground. By recommending that they bring grade "issues" to office hours, you send the message that the discussion is going to unfold on your terms. Then you steer the discussion away from a "debate" and instead make recommendations about what they might do better in the future. I nod when they complain, letting them have their little say. Then I point out some things that they could improve on. I conclude by once again emphasizing my availability--and hinting that they could have gotten a better grade if they'd just made the effort to meet with me BEFORE the due date. Sometimes I even say just that: "These are problems we could have headed off if you'd come to see me with a draft beforehand." This puts the responsibility back on them.

 

When I get emails like this, I also sometimes play the "rest of the class" card. "Many other students produced outstanding, high-quality work; their grades reflected their efforts. Your B- is not a bad grade; however, this class is highly competitive and the A grades went to those who produced truly noteworthy work."

 

That usually shuts them up.

[cicoree]

Okay, this is very helpful. In that case, I did eventually email her back saying exactly that - that of course their work isn't bad, and I just cannot give everybody As because there were several video groups that *did* find it in them to use high quality equipment on free rental from the library, that took the trouble to rehearse their dialogues properly, and also had a better script to begin with, and those people have to "stand out" by being given As because, well, they are outstanding.

 

Anyway, that is a very good tip about not getting into grade debates over email. You are totally right. I think I will stop doing that altogether and suggest they come to my office hours if they have an issue. Sometimes (like today) I feel like they write me about a point I took off somewhere kind of like someone would write to a vendor if the product they received in the mail wasn't exactly the one they ordered online (wrong color! zipper is broken! or another issue of the sort).

 

Case in point: this is an email I received this evening about a HALF POINT out of FIVE on one of many reading quizzes which ALTOGETHER amount to 10% of the grade. In other words, this person went to all this trouble for less than 0.5% of her grade:

 

 

Hi Joanna,

I just looked at the comment you left on the last question of my quiz. After reading page 498 of the passage, I grasped that Murrow believed in journalism that was "lodged somewhere in between the neutral and narrative traditions" which is why I explained my answer as I did. The video certainly exposes him taking one side which is why I wrote at the end of my answer that Murrow inserts his own ideas into the report. I feel that I deserve more than half credit on that answer. If you strongly disagree, than I understand however I did grasp the meaning of the video and Murrow's way of thinking. I was simply trying to combine what I gathered from the reading in addition to the video.
 

 

So this was my reply:

Dear X,  thank you for your question about the point on your reading quiz. I understand that you may have wanted to combine the information from the reading and the clip, but the question clearly began with "Based on this clip..." and the idea that you inserted into your answer, that Murrow wanted to remain "basically neutral", was quite far from the truth in this particular case. He was anything but neutral, and "inserting his own ideas" is very understated compared to what he did in this segment. So, I am sorry, but yes I do disagree and I actually would have given you 0/1 but I noticed that you articulated a very well thought-out answer based on what you read about Murrow in general. In general, I would recommend not to worry exceedingly about a point on a quiz like this, which is worth even less than half a percent of your grade. Instead, try to focus on what you can learn from each of these readings - what can you take away? Thank you for writing me, and I'll happily talk to you anytime during my office hours (which are Thursday after class) if you feel we need to talk further.

 

 

Do you think this was the right approach?

 

Thanks for all your help again -

 

J.

[hashslinger]

Wow, your response to the student is indeed gracious beyond all measure. You're much more generous with your time than I would have been, and you really go above and beyond the call of duty to explain thoroughly how the student's work wasn't quite up to par. It's quite a nice answer, and I think that the concluding part really drives home the fact that the whole discussion is a rather meaningless waste of the student's time and energy.

 

To be honest (and this is just my perspective, so everyone's mileage may vary), I wouldn't have given this student even half the time and effort. I probably would have just said something like, "I marked X points off because of Y; this was clearly explained in [whatever document or lecture or assignment]. If you want to discuss this further, I'd be happy to see you in office hours. My best." If I'm TAing in a large lecture, I might actually and visibly CC the response to the professor just to let the student know that I'm willing to stand by my answer in front of whatever authority (and, on a more practical level, to keep the professor informed of what's going on).

 

Your response is gracious, though. The only problem I can see is that undergrads tend not to appreciate this kind of generosity (at least not the type of undergrads wiling to write such an email in the first place). By replying with such patience, you sort of run the risk of seeming "too available." I personally try to let my students know that I'm very busy and that my time is very valuable; if they have a complaint, they need to pull it together and make it snappy. Again, these are things I picked up (or liberally distorted) from the Greg Semenza book.

 

The only thing I'd quibble about is your statement that you are sorry, and that you strongly disagree. First of all--I wouldn't apologize to a student for their fuck-up. (Resist the urge to apologize.) Second of all, you don't "strongly disagree" about the answer because the answer isn't a matter of opinion. This person got the answer wrong, end of story. This isn't a matter of "disagreement." I also teach a subject that students love to regard as a bunch of "opinions" and "feelings" (the humanities), so I always try to stress that my grades aren't a matter of "agreement" or "opinion" but of reasoning and evidence and how well they fulfilled the goals set out by the assignment.

 

But other than that ... if your students still think you're rude and condescending, then they're just delusional.

[vityaz]

Hi, Hashslinger, thank you for your kind words. You're right, I teach at UMD, and this is a 83 person course. The professor lectures and shows up at social events and field trips we organize, and they love her (you wouldn't believe the number of ecstatic comments about her in the evaluations), they see her as a fuzzy-cuddly awesome smart mother figure. I however set up all the assignments and grade them, and provide feedback, which they really don't like. I think you are right that a lot of this is due to the set up of the course (I am the bad cop by nature of what I do) and that there is a severe entitlement problem (like you said, there shouldn't be automatic A's anywhere in college). So I think I will take the first option you suggested and just continue to be myself, ie. take them and their work seriously and grade it fairly. The one thing I can improve on though is to treat them with respect and kindness - because I think I have let myself be a little sharp/condescending at times because of the way they approach me (Why did I get only an A-? I did everything that was in the prompt!, etc.) sometimes. I think this is where I have to improve.

 

Okay, this is very helpful. In that case, I did eventually email her back saying exactly that - that of course their work isn't bad, and I just cannot give everybody As because there were several video groups that *did* find it in them to use high quality equipment on free rental from the library, that took the trouble to rehearse their dialogues properly, and also had a better script to begin with, and those people have to "stand out" by being given As because, well, they are outstanding.

 

Anyway, that is a very good tip about not getting into grade debates over email. You are totally right. I think I will stop doing that altogether and suggest they come to my office hours if they have an issue. Sometimes (like today) I feel like they write me about a point I took off somewhere kind of like someone would write to a vendor if the product they received in the mail wasn't exactly the one they ordered online (wrong color! zipper is broken! or another issue of the sort).

 

Case in point: this is an email I received this evening about a HALF POINT out of FIVE on one of many reading quizzes which ALTOGETHER amount to 10% of the grade. In other words, this person went to all this trouble for less than 0.5% of her grade:

 

 

So this was my reply:

 

Do you think this was the right approach?

 

Thanks for all your help again -

 

J.

 

Arguing over a half point? That's just pathetic. I'm probably going to be TAing in the Fall and I really doubt I'd have the patience to answer as nicely as you did.

[St Andrews Lynx]

Do you think this was the right approach?

Short answer: no. 

 

You sound too apologetic for grading the student down. Their answer was wrong and you marked it accordingly - therefore you are in the right and the student is in the wrong. You don't even need to thank them for emailing/asking or spend all those sentences explaining that you thought the student did really well on other things, etc.

 

The message I took away from your email was that you felt apologetic and defensive about taking marks off the student. If they think that you regret subtracting those marks or that you want to avoid hurting their feelings, then they will see it as an opportunity to argue with you until you change their grade. 

 

A great phrase to deploy in such negotiations is "...And if you are still unhappy with your grade [after explanation of grading rubric] then I suggest you take it up with the course organiser, Professor __." Most students don't want to get caught up in an escalation like that. Professors certainly don't want to spend 30 minutes listening to a student grieve over 0.5 points, so they are most likely to just shrug their shoulders. Telling students to come to office hours also weeds out the opportunistic students who were wanting to claw back an easy handful of points. 

[cicoree]

Thank you vityaz and St. Andrews Lynx for your replies. I did tell them Tuesday that in the future if they really want to waste their energy and my time on arguing over something worth 0.5% of their grade, they should come and talk to me during office hours. So I am applying some of that advice

[hashslinger]

Professors certainly don't want to spend 30 minutes listening to a student grieve over 0.5 points, so they are most likely to just shrug their shoulders.

 

In a sane universe, yes. Problem is, some of my professors would probably just give the kid the half point so as not to spend 30 minutes listening to a student complain. Which is always great for a TA's authority.

 

Ah, it is what it is, I guess.

[PowderRiver]

I've found that there are always a few students each semester who will argue over half-points and little marks all semester, and I'm certain many do so because they've found that some TAs and professors will simply cave in to avoid a headache. This seems especially common in larger classes.

I try to respond with a short email stating why I graded them a certain way and remind them that my office hours are always open for students  to come talk about areas they may want more help with. There will always be one or two students who blast you on evaluations, but if the evaluations are positive overall, I take the negative evals with a grain of salt.

[cicoree]

Good to hear! I will apply that. I definitely don't want to just give them A's to avoid giving myself a headache. That would be cowardly at best.

[cicoree]

Case in point: here's how I handled someone's complaint about not having high enough grades this morning. Was this okay? I am discouraged by the fact that the first instinct they have when their grades are not up to their expectations is to blame the questions or the grader, rather than look at themselves and wonder how THEY can do better. I must be crazy...

 

His email:

 

Hello I am contacting you in concern to the grades ive been receiving on the homework quizzes. I notice i've been getting 3.5's when a lot of the questions are opinion related. I know I read all the excerpts and try to answer the questions to the best of my ability so I'm wondering why or what i can do so i receive full credit or close to it.

 

 

My answer:

Hi X I am glad you are concerned about your grade. However, the questions are not opinion-based. They usually ask for a specific point straight from the reading and they are designed simply to verify that you comprehend the material. If you would like to come to office hours on Thursday to talk about where you could do better, I'd be happy to talk!
In your last quiz, you lost a point on question 3 which was a true/false (not in any way opinion based - the author clearly stated the reasons why "balance" is not always a good thing). In the last question, you lost half a point because your answer didn't really "answer" anything - "speaking on certain issues" is very vague and doesn't show what Murrow wanted to do in his reporting. While there were many ways to answer this question, I was looking for some key words like "watchdog", "educator", or anything that would indicate that Murrow was acting as a conscience for the public and basically telling them how to think, based on what he believed. As for your first quiz, the problems were similar: the places where you lose points are because you did not fully answer the question (for example, question two specifically asks about the popularity of mass society theory between the years 1930-1960, so you needed to answer relating to what specifically happened during that time to make this theory more plausible).
In general I think you need to stay closer to the reading and make sure your answers are actually answering the question. But I guarantee you the grading has nothing to do with opinions. I'll be happy to show you various 5/5 quiz responses in office hours if you'd like, maybe that could help. Have a good weekend, X.

[PowderRiver]

I certainly agree with you that some students immediately question the grading without reviewing their own work, but I've also found that many students genuinely don't understand why vague answers might not get full credit (this is more common in lower-level courses). I'm not sure if they are used to easier grading, or teachers who don't like to tell them that they're wrong, or if the assignment instructions aren't clear to them, but if you establish early in the semester how detailed you want their answers to be, most adapt quickly and their scores go up. You do this in the last few sentences of your email.

I think you handled that very well. Some people may say that the elaborate explanation and quiz-by-quiz breakdown wasn't necessary, but I prefer to have all of my interactions on record and tend to respond with lengthy emails.

 

[cicoree]

Thanks, PowderRiver! Indeed here at Maryland we do seem to get a lot of kids who believe the 4.0 gpa they had in high school should automatically translate into the same in college. And yes, this is an entry level course (the student in this exchange of emails is a freshman). Anyway, it is possible that after this semester, I will not teach anymore, because my husband got into Stanford so we might move there in the Fall! And then I will just be a dutiful housewife/dissertation writer ) No more bad evaluations. Ever.

[PowderRiver]

I'd be surprised if I ever taught a course/recitation and didn't receive at least one negative review. I had my highest evals of my graduate career last semester, and there was a bad review. I know who it was from due to language use and grammar (they were a non-native speaker), and could have told you six weeks into the course that I would be receiving a bad evaluation for the exact reasons we've talked about here. I guess it will always come with the territory.

Best of luck with the move- I have a friend who works in administration at Stanford, and the campus and surrounding area is amazing!!

 

[respectyourheart]

Thank you to everyone who has offered such wonderful wisdom, tips from experience, and words of support here. I have been dealing with some angry students with regards to a recent assignment that was just handed back, and the insight offered here has made me feel worlds better.

 

Best of luck as we get into midterm season.

[cicoree]

Hi respectyourheart, hang in there! I believe that as long as you know you have held up your end of the bargain by being clear about what the expectations are and giving them the tools to do a good job, their issues and complaints are something you cannot control and stem from a grade inflation/everyone is special culture that they've grown up in.
So be honest with them and yourself and don't lower your standards for any fear of them. They are not customers.

[gr8pumpkin]

I read once a statistical claim on Chronicle of Higher Education (and I apologize that I don't feel up to digging the claim up as proof) that the two main things that make a difference regarding evaluations are (a) how well you did on your very first day (i.e., what first impression you make) and ( b ) what grade the student thinks he or she is going to get.  I think the lesson there is put a lot of eggs into the basket of the first day, and realize that if there is a near 1:1 correlation between bad grades and bad evals, you can disregard the bad evals as so much sour grapes.

 

I have taught my own courses in the past and designed them such that any student who actually turned in all his or her work would probably get nothing less than a B- (unless the work was just absolutely, utterly incompetent, which was quite a rare case).  The main reason anybody ever got lower than a B- in one of my courses was not doing the work.  Students don't do the work either because of laziness, conflicting priorities, or being intimidated by the work and not wanting to share what they think are results that put their stupidity on display.  A goodly amount of work not being turned in can be a canary in the coal mine for students who are going to ding you on evals.

Edited March 2, 2014 by gr8pumpkin

[wildviolet]

For some reason our university switched to electronic evaluations and only about 5 of my 25 students bothered to evaluate me at the end of the term. They were okay to great (not super). Every slightly negative evaluation hurt, especially since I do try my best as a TA. However, at some point, I realize that what they say usually reflects much more about their own perceptions of what they were expecting out of the class, etc., than the quality of my teaching. There's always room for improvement, of course, but I also know that I tried my hardest to be fair and gave multiple opportunities for students to improve their work.

Edited March 9, 2014 by wildviolet

[lifealive]

For some reason our university switched to electronic evaluations and only about 5 of my 25 students bothered to evaluate me at the end of the term. They were okay to great (not super). Every slightly negative evaluation hurt, especially since I do try my best as a TA. However, at some point, I realize that what they say usually reflects much more about their own perceptions of what they were expecting out of the class, etc., than the quality of my teaching. There's always room for improvement, of course, but I also know that I tried my hardest to be fair and gave multiple opportunities for students to improve their work.

 

I'm having the same exact problem. Ever since we switched to online teaching evaluations, my numbers have been all over the place. Routinely only about 8 students (out of a class of 45 or 50) bother to fill out evaluations. I feel that such a small sample should be disregarded, but the university feels that anything above 4 respondents (no matter how large the class) is sample enough to go in your file. Seriously, I have classes where 5 out of 45 students responded ... and that data is in my file.

 

What's worse is that the university has retained the "department averages" since before we switched to electronic evaluations. So the department average is always something like 4.5 or 4.8 out of 5 ... and mine, though okay, very rarely get to the 4.5+ range. But of course, you're expected to report where you fall in terms of department average in your teaching portfolio. Well, according to my spotty data, I'm solidly below average. However, considering that most of my "customers" haven't even bothered to respond, I'm guessing that they're basically satisfied. 

 

I can also clearly see the distribution of numbers. In every class, out of those 8 students who bother to respond, it's clear that a few think I'm great, a few think I'm average, and then one or two students give me one's down the line. I'm assuming that they're just angry about grades. If 40 or 42 students were responding, then I'm guessing those few ratings from disgruntled students would have a negligible effect on my entire average. But two people out of 7 or 8 respondents can tank your overall score!

 

My written evaluations are always basically fine ... except for that one person who thinks I'm an asshole (because of grades). However, in our number-hungry culture, quantitative data really matter. I'm wondering if anyone else has tips for listing this kind of "data" in your teaching portfolio? How do you address the fact that your numbers are spotty because your students haven't bothered to evaluate you?

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

Just to play devil's advocate. Why does a negative evaluation say that the student is lazy/bitter/incompetent and not that the TA sucks? I've had some god awful TAs in my life. I've also had some amazing ones. My best programming teacher, the one who helped me catch on so quickly, was a TA. But I've also had some TAs who were far worse than the worst professors I've ever had. 

[hashslinger]

Just to play devil's advocate. Why does a negative evaluation say that the student is lazy/bitter/incompetent and not that the TA sucks? I've had some god awful TAs in my life. I've also had some amazing ones. My best programming teacher, the one who helped me catch on so quickly, was a TA. But I've also had some TAs who were far worse than the worst professors I've ever had. 

 

I don't think that anyone automatically thinks that negative evaluations are totally groundless. But evaluations that say "the TA sucks" and leave it at that ... unhelpful. I toss them. It's a lazy person who writes "the TA sucks" on their evaluation; it's also a person I don't really care to think that much about. Even if they're right and I do indeed suck, oh well. Not losing sleep over it. Are you? And when you left feedback like this as a student, did you honestly think it would change the TA's instruction?

 

Moreover, I think that if you're getting only one or two or three negative evaluations each semester--and those evaluations come from the students who did most poorly in the class (usually obvious because of the woeful grammar and spelling on such evaluations)--you can just write them off. If your A students think you suck ... well, then you may indeed have some thinking to do. But a small handful of negative evaluations are nothing to fret over. I'd argue that they're pretty normal. If you're so upset about the stray negative evaluation ... then maybe you have some thinking to do about that as well. (Do you really want to be universally liked by your students?)

 

I also tend to disregard evaluations where the student's entitlement complex comes through loud and clear: "Hashslinger didn't like my paper on Percy Shelley being a drug dealer and gave it a B. I AM NOT A B STUDENT!!!111" or "Hashslinger's policy of allowing only three weeks of unexcused absences is ridiculous. I should be able to miss class whenever I want. I pay your salary goddamnit." Goes in the trash.

 

I also tend to disregard evaluations when students complain about things I can't control. Weirdly, I get evaluations that complain about the time of the day the class was scheduled, the temperature of the room, and the fact that the reading made them sleepy.

 

Now, if a student cares to offer more constructive criticism, I may weigh it more carefully. Often times I disagree with the constructive criticism, but it's helpful because it can allow me to see what I'm failing to clarify. If my students think my grading is too harsh, for instance, I can go back and assess whether or not my grading is indeed too harsh (usually it's not); more importantly, I can take the feedback as sign that I need to explain grading more, or clarify my expectations upfront. 

Edited March 10, 2014 by hashslinger

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

I don't think that anyone automatically thinks that negative evaluations are totally groundless. But evaluations that say "the TA sucks" and leave it at that ... unhelpful. I toss them. It's a lazy person who writes "the TA sucks" on their evaluation; it's also a person I don't really care to think that much about. Even if they're right and I do indeed suck, oh well. Not losing sleep over it. Are you? And when you left feedback like this as a student, did you honestly think it would change the TA's instruction?

I never said I wrote "The TA sucks" on an evaluation. But I'm saying I've had TAs who sucked incredibly. As a matter of fact, I would say most TAs don't realize how bad they are at teaching. There's nothing bad about that. They're new to teaching, maybe new to the material, maybe haven't gained a confidence or swagger yet. But it shows. Lots of the time. 

 

 

Moreover, I think that if you're getting only one or two or three negative evaluations each semester--and those evaluations come from the students who did most poorly in the class (usually obvious because of the woeful grammar and spelling on such evaluations)--you can just write them off. If your A students think you suck ... well, then you may indeed have some thinking to do. But a small handful of negative evaluations are nothing to fret over. I'd argue that they're pretty normal. If you're so upset about the stray negative evaluation ... then maybe you have some thinking to do about that as well. (Do you really want to be universally liked by your students?)

I don't see why being liked is a bad thing. This isn't punk rock. I would think most "great" teachers are likable people. Of course, you have to have a strong grasp of the material, but a delightful personality wouldn't hurt. It doesn't matter how smart you are if you're incredibly nervous, shy, awkward, or full of yourself. 

 

 

I also tend to disregard evaluations where the student's entitlement complex comes through loud and clear: "Hashslinger didn't like my paper on Percy Shelley being a drug dealer and gave it a B. I AM NOT A B STUDENT!!!111" or "Hashslinger's policy of allowing only three weeks of unexcused absences is ridiculous. I should be able to miss class whenever I want. I pay your salary goddamnit." Goes in the trash.

Sure. But you're making it too black-and-white. Every bad evaluation is not, "Waaaaa!!! I got a bad grade!!! I'm gonna tell my momma!!!" What about the legitimate criticisms, like "TA seems unapproachable, distant, reads verbatim off the PowerPoints, doesn't respond to e-mails", etc? 

 

 

I also tend to disregard evaluations when students complain about things I can't control. Weirdly, I get evaluations that complain about the time of the day the class was scheduled, the temperature of the room, and the fact that the reading made them sleepy.

I agree. But see my last comment. Apparently you've never gotten a legitimate negative criticism because your examples have been ridiculously simple. 

 

 

Now, if a student cares to offer more constructive criticism, I may weigh it more carefully. Often times I disagree with the constructive criticism, but it's helpful because it can allow me to see what I'm failing to clarify. If my students think my grading is too harsh, for instance, I can go back and assess whether or not my grading is indeed too harsh (usually it's not); more importantly, I can take the feedback as sign that I need to explain grading more, or clarify my expectations upfront. 

All I got from this part is, "You may have criticisms about me that appear legitimate on the surface, but none of them are true because I am perfect." You seem to have it all figured out. I find it insulting that the board would even consider giving you evaluations. 

[hashslinger]

Hmm, well, that was certainly an interesting response. You're of course free to take my posts with a grain of salt, as I hope you'd take any unkind and unsupported anonymous criticism from students on your evaluations. I definitely don't think I'm perfect or above criticisms from undergrads, and I certainly didn't mean to imply so. (Frankly, looking back over what I wrote, I don't think that I did.)

 

My post was in response to the question that was posed: how do you know if student gripes are from the lazy and entitled and not because of your actual teaching abilities? My answer was this: 1.If it's just one or two students who are complaining, and the rest think you're okay to good, then you're probably okay. 2. If the criticisms betray an obvious sense of entitlement or misaligned expectations, then you're probably okay. 3. If the criticisms are about things you can't control (the course content for a survey course, for instance), then you're probably okay. Obviously, if a large portion of your class is dissatisfied, then you probably need to regroup, enlist the help of a faculty member, and take some teaching workshops. But even if you're awesome, you're never going to win the hearts and minds of 100% of students 100% of the time. And why would you want to?

 

That was all I was saying, man. Don't take it so personally.

Edited March 11, 2014 by hashslinger

[i.am.me]

I found this thread to be extremely helpful! Thanks, y'all.

 

Some of these evaluations really stay with you no matter how ridiculous they are. I had a former student who took issue with studying with an Asian person ::shrugs:: ...in a literature review class... he suggested future classes be taught by a native speaker of standard English.