As far as I know, I’m going to be a college professor for years to come, but I suspect that I will never get completely comfortable with the idea of being officially evaluated by my students. It has to happen, I know- It should happen, I know. But it feels so weird to suddenly be the one being graded rather than the one handing out the grades.
And I’m a fairly popular professor, too. That is, my classes tend to be fairly fun and fairly interesting (or so I’m told) so it stands to reason that those professors who are a bit more by-the-book in their approach or maybe more demanding would be even more prone to negative evaluations and would be more fearful of receiving them. But no, it’s just the opposite, as far as I can tell. The professors I’ve described are a hard-nosed bunch, by and large, and are much more concerned about upholding their own standards of integrity and excellence than in securing popular ratings. And quite a few of those demanding teachers in fact tend to get high marks from students, or at least higher than you might think, which says something about our students and their standards. I think it’s professors like me who pride themselves on relating well to students on a personal level and genuinely want their classes to be enjoyed who feel savagely harpooned when a student writes a negative evaluation. I guess I’m confessing to having a thin skin. Always have- and always will. (Although it’s not as thin as it used to be.)
It felt funny to hand out evaluation forms to my Heritage class the other day, because it says in big bold letters in the instructions: I encourage you not to wait until the last week of class, when the students are apt to be under greater tension and pressure and may as a result offer more negative comments. Or words to that effect. So what did I do? I waited until the last week of class, so I went ahead and read those instructions out loud as I passed out the forms.
I know there will be students who, quite justifiably, will lower the boom on me for not handing back their work in more timely or orderly manner. That has always been a weak spot for me. I suspect that some students may wonder about a couple of things that we watched in class or why we didn’t get to certain things at all. Some might wish that there hadn’t been such emphasis on written tests. (I love giving big tests.) And I’m quite sure that more than one student will express their bewilderment that we didn’t stick more strictly to the syllabus. What I really hope is that there won’t be comments like “This was so boring” or “This class was a complete waste of time.” That’s where they get you where it hurts. My sense is that my Heritage class won’t be saying that kind of thing too much- because from where I stood, we had an interesting time talking about some interesting topics, reading some interesting books and essays, and watching some interesting films. Of course, my idea of what’s interesting may be just a hair off the mark from the typical 19-year-old. And the whole point of these student evaluation forms is exactly that- at long last- it’s time for the student to say what he or she thinks is interesting.
Turning the tables.
I hate it.
🙂
pictured: Paden Olmstead, one of the students in my Heritage class, turning in his evaluation form. I do not see any of these forms with my own eyes. They go to the heritage office in a sealed envelop where they are tabulated and I only see the results after they have been typed, so I have no chance of seeing what a given student has written.