Topic: Bang Your Head on Your Desk - the thread of teaching despair!

[arcturus]

I received a report of student evaluations of my teaching today. Sadly, they retain the good/bad split of prior reports. I am both the best and worse teacher they have ever had. I respond promptly and helpfully to emails and also take a very long time to respond and the response is not helpful. The LMS pages are both very well organized and the least favorite thing about the course. The assignments are both clearly described and very confusing. The regular schedule for assignments was helpful to keeping up with the material while it was also overwhelming to have work due every week. In sum, some students enjoyed the class and got something out of it, while others hated it and everything associated with it. Frankly, it is not clear from any of these comments how I could/should improve the course given these diametrically opposite evaluations of various components of the class. Thus, my plan to improve this course is only going to be based on my own evaluation as to whether specific activities appear to be achieving the specified learning outcomes based on the work submitted, not based on the students' evaluation of their experience in the course. On the positive side, I am pretty pleased with the course organization in the LMS and at least one student approved. So that's a win.

[dismalist]

When were the evaluations submitted? After students knew midterm and/or assignment grades?

If yes, that's the answer key.

[Charlotte]

I received a report of student evaluations of my teaching today. Sadly, they retain the good/bad split of prior reports. I am both the best and worse teacher they have ever had. I respond promptly and helpfully to emails and also take a very long time to respond and the response is not helpful. The LMS pages are both very well organized and the least favorite thing about the course. The assignments are both clearly described and very confusing. The regular schedule for assignments was helpful to keeping up with the material while it was also overwhelming to have work due every week. In sum, some students enjoyed the class and got something out of it, while others hated it and everything associated with it. Frankly, it is not clear from any of these comments how I could/should improve the course given these diametrically opposite evaluations of various components of the class. Thus, my plan to improve this course is only going to be based on my own evaluation as to whether specific activities appear to be achieving the specified learning outcomes based on the work submitted, not based on the students' evaluation of their experience in the course. On the positive side, I am pretty pleased with the course organization in the LMS and at least one student approved. So that's a win.

Just came from reading my course evaluations and experienced the same. In particular there was one student who said I was rude, unprofessional, and took points off for no reason. They said the evaluation should go to someone high up because I need to be fired. First semester teaching here so a little concerned but also upset because I worked really hard to be kind and helpful. I provided specific feedback, went above and beyond to find resources to help students, generous with grades, responded quickly to questions, and yet this one student apparently hates me.

I know I shouldn't take it personally, but I am. First semester teaching and I thought I did better... or at least taught in such a way that no students would hate me!

[bacardiandlime]

I know I shouldn't take it personally, but I am. First semester teaching and I thought I did better... or at least taught in such a way that no students would hate me!

There's a non-zero chance that this is a mostly disengaged student who has mixed you up with another instructor! (This has happened to me more than once, not just being confused with other women profs, but even being emailed assignments intended for male colleagues - our names are nothing alike - so nothing is outside the realm of possibility when it comes to student confusion).

[marshwiggle]

I know I shouldn't take it personally, but I am. First semester teaching and I thought I did better... or at least taught in such a way that no students would hate me!

There's a non-zero chance that this is a mostly disengaged student who has mixed you up with another instructor! (This has happened to me more than once, not just being confused with other women profs, but even being emailed assignments intended for male colleagues - our names are nothing alike - so nothing is outside the realm of possibility when it comes to student confusion).

So you expect that by the end of the course all of the students should know your name? That's a pretty high bar for some.

(I had an end-of-term lab survey given out in multiple sections. One question was: Who was your TA? M/C "Bob - Alice -I don't know" There were people who picked "I don't know".)
Science labs are for teaching people to be keen observers.

[Zeus Bird]

Professors whose institutions place undue weight on student evaluations should examine this website: https://benschmidt.org/profGender/#

[Harlow2]

I received a report of student evaluations of my teaching today. Sadly, they retain the good/bad split of prior reports. I am both the best and worse teacher they have ever had. I respond promptly and helpfully to emails and also take a very long time to respond and the response is not helpful. The LMS pages are both very well organized and the least favorite thing about the course. The assignments are both clearly described and very confusing. The regular schedule for assignments was helpful to keeping up with the material while it was also overwhelming to have work due every week. In sum, some students enjoyed the class and got something out of it, while others hated it and everything associated with it. Frankly, it is not clear from any of these comments how I could/should improve the course given these diametrically opposite evaluations of various components of the class. Thus, my plan to improve this course is only going to be based on my own evaluation as to whether specific activities appear to be achieving the specified learning outcomes based on the work submitted, not based on the students' evaluation of their experience in the course. On the positive side, I am pretty pleased with the course organization in the LMS and at least one student approved. So that's a win.

Just came from reading my course evaluations and experienced the same. In particular there was one student who said I was rude, unprofessional, and took points off for no reason. They said the evaluation should go to someone high up because I need to be fired. First semester teaching here so a little concerned but also upset because I worked really hard to be kind and helpful. I provided specific feedback, went above and beyond to find resources to help students, generous with grades, responded quickly to questions, and yet this one student apparently hates me.

I know I shouldn't take it personally, but I am. First semester teaching and I thought I did better... or at least taught in such a way that no students would hate me!

I got this kind of response a few times my first year. Some students were under the impression that the course I was teaching required no work. I discovered later that some previous instructors in fact were teaching it at a 9th grade level. Once I got a reputation the students who registered for my sections were more serious.  But since this is a one-off I would ignore it.

[AmLitHist]

Just came from reading my course evaluations and experienced the same. In particular there was one student who said I was rude, unprofessional, and took points off for no reason. They said the evaluation should go to someone high up because I need to be fired. First semester teaching here so a little concerned but also upset because I worked really hard to be kind and helpful. I provided specific feedback, went above and beyond to find resources to help students, generous with grades, responded quickly to questions, and yet this one student apparently hates me.

I know I shouldn't take it personally, but I am. First semester teaching and I thought I did better... or at least taught in such a way that no students would hate me!

It's long been a running joke that if I don't get either an evaluation or a nasty email to the chair/dean like the bolded, I'm clearly not doing my job.  Don't sweat it--you'll be fine (and congrats on making it through your first semester!).

[OneMoreYear]

Just came from reading my course evaluations and experienced the same. In particular there was one student who said I was rude, unprofessional, and took points off for no reason. They said the evaluation should go to someone high up because I need to be fired. First semester teaching here so a little concerned but also upset because I worked really hard to be kind and helpful. I provided specific feedback, went above and beyond to find resources to help students, generous with grades, responded quickly to questions, and yet this one student apparently hates me.

I know I shouldn't take it personally, but I am. First semester teaching and I thought I did better... or at least taught in such a way that no students would hate me!

It's long been a running joke that if I don't get either an evaluation or a nasty email to the chair/dean like the bolded, I'm clearly not doing my job.  Don't sweat it--you'll be fine (and congrats on making it through your first semester!).

Welcome to the club, Charlotte! My first semester of teaching, I received an evaluation that stated I was the worst professor they had ever had, and I should be immediately fired. In my case, it was not unexpected, as I had a student who challenged my teaching and policies from Day 1. That student had disagreed with one of my syllabus policies, and emailed my chair to insist that the chair make me change the policy (chair told me it was my discretion).  So, I was prepared for the eval. I'm sorry yours came as a shock. As AmLitHist says, don't sweat it, it happens. Celebrate the end of the semester with a beverage (and/or cookies) of your choice.  Once you've had a break, take a look at the evals as a whole and see if there is anything you'd like to try adjust next time. Remember, this semester is an outlier for so many reasons and will likely not be reflective of your teaching career.

[fishbrains]

Yes. Ignore the one complainer. 

If used seriously at all, multiple evals should be viewed over multiple semesters and only then be used to address patterns in the complaints. For example, if the evals repeatedly suggest an instructor's grading is unclear, then it's worth looking into and seeing what could be improved in that one area. But if it's just a few students who are whining about how their grade doesn't match the image they have of themselves, then no.

And it's very unusual for a student to hate you on a personal level because they don't really know you. They may hate some concept or idea or process that they think you represent, but it's not really you on a personal level. And you really can't change this hostility housed in a few students, no matter what you see in the movies.

You survived your first semester of teaching. You win!

[cathwen]

Another Welcome to the Club, Charlotte.  Evaluations like that can really hurt.  Even if there are a bunch of good ones, it's the bad one that sticks with you.  Back when I was a graduate TA, I had one student who wrote, in teeny-tiny writing, an entire essay on why I was such a horrible teacher.  She even criticized the way I dressed!  Ironically, I had gone out of my way to help her, as she was having a hard time.  Office hours, extra hours, etc. 

And I know who it was, because in those days, the instructor just collected the forms, took them home and read them, and then turned them in to the office the next day.  I recognized the handwriting. This is the only evaluation that I have ever destroyed.  I crumpled it up and tossed it into the wood stove.

[RatGuy]

My annual review meeting will be interesting in light of my evals. Response rates were much lower than normal. The eval scores weren't much lower than other terms, but there were more negative comments. Most of them were the "he takes a gen-ed class too seriously" and "he's too hard for a lower level class." One comment was long and incoherent (much like that student's essay submissions). Yet this class had more misconduct cases than the past 3 years, and the bifurcated final grades show a high number of both As and low Fs. The big picture really helps contextualize some of the nastiness. So, to the OP: as others have said, a few more terms will help you develop a bigger picture.

[Juvenal]

Chacun a son gout.

Some loved me: "Best ever;" some--well, words can hardly express the hate.

What do eighteen-year-olds really know?  What they like; what they do not?  Sure!  But are their criteria "informed"?  OK, OK--let them say what they think.  Maybe they are more percipient than not.

They are gone next semester; you remain. And yet...

[nonsensical]

I know I shouldn't take it personally, but I am. First semester teaching and I thought I did better... or at least taught in such a way that no students would hate me!

Just to re-iterate what everyone else said, I get how this feels sucky, but it is not a reflection of you at all. Everyone gets negative evaluations like this, and negative comments stand out more than positive ones even if there is only one negative evaluation and many that say all kinds of nice things (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negativity_bias). I'm impressed that it was just the one student during your first year of teaching!

Also, it can actually be helpful to have negative evaluations during the first year, because that makes it easier to show improvement over time. That's preferable to doing fabulously your first year and then getting worse evaluations after that.

[Diogenes]

What do eighteen-year-olds really know?  What they like; what they do not?  Sure!  But are their criteria "informed"?  OK, OK--let them say what they think.  Maybe they are more percipient than not.

They are gone next semester; you remain. And yet...

I would like to see student evaluations that are not written until the end of the following semester. After emotions cooled and they saw whether or not it better prepared them for the next step.