Course Evals, Part Deux: Summer Session
I feel that I have had quite the epiphany over the last two weeks, and while in some ways, it's depressing as hell, in others, it's quite freeing. Ready?
I have absolutely no control over what my students write on their evals. I have no control over anything, really.
And you're thinking, "It took her 36 years to figure this out?"
Exhibit A:
I had a non-traditional student this summer who fawned over me. It actually made me very uncomfortable. She brought me an apple - which would have been cute, had she done it one time - every, single class. And I never ate them because I loathe, loathe, loathe red apples. And I'm still not a big enough, brave enough girl to say, "That's so sweet of you, really, but I'm allergic to apples." I have them do enough in class writing activities that I recognized her handwriting - very distinctive - quite well.
And the only thing she wrote on the course evaluation? Check it out:
It is not fair of Teacher Lady to include grammar, spelling, typos and that kind of thing in the criteria for grading our papers. She should grade on content only.
Two weeks ago? That would have sent me into a tizzy. Now I just shrug and say, "Oh, well. Can't please everybody."
I have absolutely no control over what my students write on their evals. I have no control over anything, really.
And you're thinking, "It took her 36 years to figure this out?"
Exhibit A:
I had a non-traditional student this summer who fawned over me. It actually made me very uncomfortable. She brought me an apple - which would have been cute, had she done it one time - every, single class. And I never ate them because I loathe, loathe, loathe red apples. And I'm still not a big enough, brave enough girl to say, "That's so sweet of you, really, but I'm allergic to apples." I have them do enough in class writing activities that I recognized her handwriting - very distinctive - quite well.
And the only thing she wrote on the course evaluation? Check it out:
It is not fair of Teacher Lady to include grammar, spelling, typos and that kind of thing in the criteria for grading our papers. She should grade on content only.
Two weeks ago? That would have sent me into a tizzy. Now I just shrug and say, "Oh, well. Can't please everybody."
posted by Teacher lady | 8:34 PM
11 Comments:
I recently read a funny anecdote somewhere about how preadolescent children think the definition of "unfair" is "affects me adversely." That seems to be the definition that your student is using.
Seriously, Zoloft has cured me of wanting praise from people I feel it's my Gob given right to get it from. My attitude now is "whatever." And it makes me feel so much better. That and crack.
Good for you for shrugging off her comment, but do NOT stop evaluating grammar & spelling. What am I saying? Of course you won't. I know you better than that. ;)
I often talk with my 8th grade students about what the word "unfair" means. At first they pretty much always say that I would be fair if I treated everyone exactly the same. Then I ask them if they are all the same as their classmates. Do they have the same strengths and weaknesses? Do they have the same situations at home and outside of school? Do they all learn the same way? At that point, I ask them, if they are all different, do they really all need exactly the same thing from me, their teacher? Most students will agree that they do not. I end the conversation with asking if they still think it is "fair" to treat them all exactly the same.
Professordog, you hit it on the head. Of course a paper that is handed in should be graded on grammar, spelling, typos. It's important!
I'm glad you were able to shrug off the apple-wielding non-trad woman's comments. She sounds kind of creepy anyway. Do you think she maybe poisoned those apples?
It feels good to be able to say "eff 'em", sometimes, doesn't it? This still does not make me any less afraid of course evals, though. Ridiculous/innane comments like this one, of course, are easier to shrug off than "doesn't know what the hell she's talking about". This is my fear!
Indeed, this is an important realization. We have no control over their evals, period. I had a student last term who basically thought that we worked for him. He enlisted me as a second supervisor on a paper of his (for another prof), sending me drafts 12 hours before they were due, then asking if I'd been able to make any comments. He met with me constantly, borrowing books & asking for feedback, looking for bibliographies. I did this for him because I was really interested in his topic, because he actually liked intellectual conversations about the work, and because he's from an underrepresented group. You've already guessed the end, right? Nowhere in his eval did it say anything about the out-of-class lengths I went to for him. Nope. I guess all that extra work is just what we get paid for, right? On a lighter note, I have gotten evals (when I was younger) that were ridiculous - 'you know, long sweaters make a nice change from blazers all the time' or 'she thinks she's so smart - I'm tired of it.' On the latter, I thought, 'wow - she wanted a stupid professor I guess?' The main thing with evals is the preponderance of the evidence - the patterns and bulk and size of comments. The negative outliers simply have to be ignored. And one way to address students who want their horrific papers (but with good content, of course) to be fully counted is to clarify - on the syllabus and before each paper is due - what your criteria are. I also use a template that I staple to each paper, making it clear that there are objective standards and thus, making it clear where any one paper falls on a range of criteria.
Thanks, everybody for all your supportive comments. Socprof - believe me, I have a VERY detailed rubric on my syllabus: Don't staple your paper? Instantly lose 5 points. Out of 50 points total, I count 10 of those points for proper grammar. The glut of egregiously bad writers even made me put something about not expecting a "perfect score" if you didn't follow all the criteria "perfectly." Of course, I've also run into LOADS of students who also choose not to read the syllabus, so maybe I should do the paper-stapling thing.
How dare you grade on spelling and grammar? What do you think this is, like, COLLEGE or somethin'?
Oh. Wait...
Your students are expressing their OPINIONS... and you know the old cliche about opinions...
I've given up on giving a hoot about my student's SIRs (evals).
They don't like me, that's fine. They keep renewing my contract. :)
Oh, and thank you for your blog. I'm glad I'm not the only one that runs into these wonders of the educational system. And then blogs about them.
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