How to deal with bad TA evaluations?

[cpk2013]

I got assigned last quarter by my dept. to TA for a lab that's not exactly in my field but is a lower div GE course. I would spend a lot of time preparing for labs and making sure I understand how to do the labs each week and thought I even went above and beyond sometimes finding resources to help my students navigate the class and the university in general. Only a few students mentioned how sometimes it bothered them that I didn't know the material as well but one particular review has been hard to forget lately. The comments were pretty harsh and the student accused me of not caring *at all* about the labs, sending a fellow TA to a lab section one week in my place (that TA had actually requested that I switch with her for that week because of some scheduling issue she had) and for "cheaping out" on lab materials one week (which the professor had actually instructed us to use instead of what was written in the lab). 

I'm having trouble with this review primarily because:

1) I don't want my department to think that I was not putting in any effort at all (which the review made it sound like). Has your dept ever brought up bad TA reviews with you? I'm pretty embarrassed about this one, to be honest. Do depts generally anticipate a few anomalous, bad reviews of TAs?

2) I feel upset that I'm being wrongly accused of being a type of TA I really wasn't.  It's been a few days since I read this review and now whenever I think about TAing, I get this awful feeling in my stomach.  Any tips on how to move on from a bad review?

There were several reviews that highlighted great things about my labs (one even said I was his/her favorite TA) but I now have anxiety about TAing because of this particularly harsh one.

Any suggestions on how to deal with bad reviews would be nice! I really want to learn from this, move on and be able to focus on my work and also not worry about my upcoming TAships...

[GeoDUDE!]

You are always going to get harsh reviews, especially from students who think they deserve a higher grade.  It would be one thing if you got mostly average and bad reviews, but from the sound of it, you got a nice gaussian distribution. Forget about it and move on. 

[TakeruK]

You will never please everyone. Not as a TA, not as collaborator, not as a research assistant, not as a postdoc, not as an assistant professor, not as a tenured professor, not as the dept chair etc. No matter what you do, there will be people who think you are not doing a good job. Getting reviews is good but it's also important to be able to filter them and determine which voices to listen to and which voices to ignore. It is part of the job!

In your particular case, I think anyone reading this particular "bad review" will not fault you. The claims against you are ridiculous. TAs trade shifts with each other all the time so the claim that you "sent another TA in your place" is silly. In addition, everyone will know that the TA does not decide what lab materials to use. Honestly, what are you going to do with the "good stuff" ?? It's not like you're going to be going off and doing the lower division lab courses by yourself just for fun!! 

No one is going to get perfect reviews, even if they are the best TA ever. This is why reviews are collected in aggregate and averaged out. It's human nature for us to find the one bad review out of 20 and focus on that, but we're missing the other 19 reviews. You wouldn't do this in your teaching or your research--you wouldn't spend all of your energy on 5% of your research, so don't do this for your teaching evaluations! I know it's easier said than done--it's okay and human to feel upset about the mean reviews and then we move on  

[cpk2013]

Thank you for the advice. This is helpful. It hadn't cross my mind yet how inefficient it is to focus a lot of my energy thinking about this review. I suppose I'm still kinda in shock because all the students had acted nicely towards me and I was so pleased by how well they were doing in labs.

I realize that my desire to be on good terms with everyone (and pleasing them) is probably why this is bothering me so much. I will try to practice filtering out the non-constructive comments and not spend so much energy worrying about the few bad ones. Thanks again!

[mandarin.orange]

1) I don't want my department to think that I was not putting in any effort at all (which the review made it sound like). Has your dept ever brought up bad TA reviews with you? I'm pretty embarrassed about this one, to be honest. Do depts generally anticipate a few anomalous, bad reviews of TAs?

Yes, I anticipate bad ones, no matter how much effort I've put into the class...particularly with GE classes. In GEs, you get those students who just need one last class to graduate in the mix. They are already pretty checked out from day one, and can be a fun time with their constant questions and negotiations of how little they can do and still pass. 

2) I feel upset that I'm being wrongly accused of being a type of TA I really wasn't.  It's been a few days since I read this review and now whenever I think about TAing, I get this awful feeling in my stomach.  Any tips on how to move on from a bad review?

I've never had a conversation with any professor about my evals, and I would bet $ that no one in my department is even looking closely at them. When a class is truly bad and unfair, admins and profs get wind of it real-time, during the term. I think most seasoned administrators and professors will recognize one anomalously bad evaluation right away for what it really is: someone with a chip on their shoulder. 

You never know the full scope of what's going on in students' lives...perhaps they are struggling with something in their personal life, they are stressed out due to the opportune timing these evals are conducted (finals week, or just before), or they just have a shitty attitude and approach to life. I can only assume this is the case with those who are heavy on the negative superlatives ("OMG worst class of life" "never explained anything AT ALL") when I am confident in the knowledge that I consistently prepared, and strove to be a conscientious TA.  

When someone serves up a long, negative diatribe on an eval, I mostly feel sorry for the student. I'm available for office hours, receptive to feedback and can be flexible with deadlines (within reason), and checking in with students all the time...like, this is your first time you're going to unleash your wrath about my awful and unrealistic expectations? Why did you stay enrolled in a class that was such an affront to you personally? Maybe learn some better communication and coping skills?

Congrats on getting several nice and positive comments, too -- over time, you come to focus on those and the negative comments are like water off of a duck's back. Anytime you think back to that negative review and your stomach is in knots, visualize it with this warning label. 

Edited August 18, 2015 by mandarin.orange

[cpk2013]

 Thanks for sharing your thoughts mandarin.orange. I feel better knowing that this bad eval will not likely change my image in front of the admins (we are a small department). And I will recall this label next time when I'm about to read evals  Thanks!

[rainbowpink]

Your primary job is to be a graduate student. You got the TA position because someone wants to fund your  education, not because they specifically need people to teach (although grad students = cheap labor). It's up to the students to put in their own effort to learn; the TA can't control every aspect of the students' learning. 

That said, I'm still scared to look at evaluations. I was a TA for a really nice professor that was always on the TAs' side and knew what some undergrads tend to be like, so there wasn't anything external to worry about, but it's really difficult not to focus on the negative comments. I had 5-6 discussion sections to run per week the first year of my MA, and there were days when I had a few back to back with my own classes included, and the classrooms were on opposite sides of campus so sometimes it's just really difficult to put in 100% effort and stay after class to chat with students and all that. You have to realize that while you should obviously try your best at your TA job, there are so many factors that prevent you from being able to put in close to full effort (e.g., other academic priorities, shitty attitude from students, etc).

Edited August 29, 2015 by rainbowpink

[kaykaykay]

The harshest comments will come from students who got a bad grade because they never showed up. There is a chance he/she does not even know who you are.  A lot will also depend on the professor too. If they are strict they are bad and you are bad too. The department will know this.

Edited August 30, 2015 by kaykaykay