Being Evaluated
So I’m almost at the end of the semester. It’s rather nice to be nearly done with a year of teaching and at a point where I’ll be able to put more focus on my research for a while. I’ve enjoyed the teaching for the most part this year, though there have been some instances that certainly make it seem less rewarding than it could be; namely being told that I suck and that I’m a disgrace.
Of course, those comments weren’t made to my face, nor in any formal evaluation (yet), they were posted anonymously on Ratemyprofessors.com I keep an eye on the site because I think it can be insightful, and I’m kind of curious to see what comments come up. But I have to admit that I wasn’t expecting to see the three very negative ones that were posted Friday. Now I’ve been tempted to respond to the comments, but it’s not worth it, we all know the joke about arguing on the internet. But since I have my own forum here I feel like taking a moment to make to some general points.
1. If you are going to complain that things are too hard in your course, regardless of the subject matter, your case is best made with full sentences, proper grammar and punctuation. Incidentally, capitalize the first word in all sentences, not just the first one in a paragraph.
2. Yes, I do make up the homework and exam questions. I’m not the first person to ever do this, all professors do it! If this is the first time in your life this has ever happened I suggest you demand a refund for all prior courses you attended, clearly they did not try to teach you.
3. Yes, I do have a Ph.D. but I do not believe that you have miraculously skipped years of college to reach my level of understand of analytical chemistry. I do however wonder how you have managed to skip all chemistry classes since high school to reach my class, because you still cannot deal with the basics of my class, the same material I learned at your level, about 7 years before I got my Ph.D.
4. You should also learn to recognize the difference between difficult subject matter and a poor professor. I do not claim to be a great professor, but if your only basis for calling me a disgrace is your inability to understand the subject matter I have to say that this is some rather specious reasoning. Now if I were picking my nose all class, or came in without pants, then I could agree with you that I was a disgrace.
5. I guess it’s only fair that you make fun of me, I’ve been making fun of you since I graded your first assignments and realized I know high school students who can do this work better than you can. I guess were even, unless you are dense enough to ask me for a letter of recommendation.
Finally one word of advice. I may be a bit older than you, but I’m part of the internet generation. I’ve know of ratemyprofessors.com almost since its beginning. Posting very negative comments about me four days before the final exam is not very wise; particularly in light of the fact that I told all of you that had yet to finish writing the final.
Now I will end this post with the concession that I recognize that the few ratings of me are likely from the same individual, I know that there are always some who will dislike my teaching style. And perhaps it is true that I am a very poor teacher, though official evaluations have yet to indicate that. Finally I will not make the exam harder because of the comments, I’m not making the course hard to punish the students, I’m pushing them to learn and think, some will, some won’t, that’s just life, suck it up.
posted by Christopher Robin at 9:12 a.m.
4 Comments:
Don't take it too hard man, this is just the cost of being a semi-public figure. There are always going to be people who don't like you, no matter what you do.
To use a cliche: There's no pleasing everyone.
Also, students who conflate poor grades with poor instructors have no doubt been around since the time of Socrates. Though I think the problem is especially bad these days; kids come out of high school thinking "teacher" is just gonna pour information into their uninterested heads, and if that doesn't seem to have happened by the time the final rolls around, obviously the prof is just bad at his job.
You can also assume that anyone who rates you poorly but cannot provide a concrete criticism ("he mumbles", "his notes are disorganize", etc.) is someone who doesn't know what they are talking about.
As someone who has known you for some time now, I think I can confidently assert that, whatever ups and downs you might have had in your first year as a prof, you are assuredly NOT a disgrace!
The fact that you even care what your students think of your teaching abilities puts you a step above many university profs I've known!
12:34 a.m.
Evaluations are cruel. Even when most aren't negative, the couple that are are cutting. I hate them. I hate giving them, and I hate reading them. That being said, they're the only feedback I get about my teaching and, by extension, my best tool for improving my teaching. Just bear in mind that some people are just dramatic by nature, and some people are crazy (hoo boy, have I ever had my share of crazies). And then learn from the rest.
7:29 p.m.
Thanks for the comments and support guys. I've always known that there will be negative comments for evaluation, it's just life. A good rule of thumb is to ignore the two best and two worst comments and that will be more representative of the reality.
This post was just a way of letting off some of the steam moving past the comments. Because no matter how much I say I don't care what is said it's hard not to take some of it personally. But after having posted my "rebuttal" I really no longer care.
9:03 a.m.
Chris, Teaching is a lot like parenting: you know you've done your job when someone is pissed at you.
12:56 p.m.
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