A good day!
Today was a good day.
For one, I got my teaching eval comments back. Unfortunately, no stats have come in. When we do get stats, they are for all courses compiled rather than individual courses, so they are not very helpful. I have been told that it’s possible to get all the stats and I’m going to check into that at some point.
Anyway, my written comments were all wonderful. They made me very happy. For the first time at BRCC I didn’t get any negative written comments. The negative comments I’ve received in the past are complaints that I am too difficult and I make them work too much. Those comments are depressing because I do believe that I should teach at BRCC to the same standards and requirements that I followed at other four-year institutions. I refuse to “dumb down” my courses. Consequently, my evals go down and my annual review, which is dependent on those evals, is not as strong as it could be. So I get a lot of “too strict” type comments and bitching about my strict attendance policy. I did get a couple of those this time around too, but the students who made those comments also included positive statements.
One troublesome comment I got last fall was that I was “too stoic.” Given the way students at BRCC toss around malaprops left and right, I’m not quite sure if the student meant what was written. Nonetheless, I took it to heart and tried to work on being less formal and more engaging. I’m not certain why I’m so formal and “professional” in class now compared to how I was at four-year schools. I have no real explanation for that change. When I went to Florida this summer and I visited a couple of former students/friends of mine, it made me reflect on how serious and stern I’ve become as a teacher. Teaching barefoot, shooting the shit, hanging out with students after class… I don’t do any of that anymore. Part of this is the age difference, I’m sure. I’m older now and so I don’t relate as well to the traditional aged students in my classes. As my former students pointed out during our visit, they are now the age I was when I taught them and Willow is now the age they were when they had my classes. That was a moment of freaking out, for me at least. So somehow I’ve just gotten a stick up my ass. I am making a concerted effort to change that, to go back to a more relaxed approach. Except for the attendance policy, of course.
I did have one bothersome comment which basically said that, since students are paying for the course, they shouldn’t be required to come to class or to participate as long as they give their speeches. I recognize that students have jobs and families, even moreso at BRCC than at four-year schools. Nonetheless, if you’re going to college, you have to make it a priority. I also do work with students who have difficulties, as long as they come talk to me in the very beginning of the semester and let me know what’s going on and they make up for their absences in other ways. Most students don’t bother to do that, though. They hear the attendance policy, they hear me tell them to take another teacher or take the class another semester, they choose to stay in the class, then they miss class and they are surprised and annoyed by my attendance policy. Ok, I’m just ranting here and I’m not saying anything that any prof hasn’t said or heard before.
The other good thing that happened today is that I finally got everything set up work-wise. I can come in, do my grading, paperwork, and whatever bean-counting bullshit I have to do, and bail. Blackboard’s set up, my attendance spreadsheets are set up, my guest speakers are scheduled, my calendar is set up, my annual review portfolio is set up. Everything from here on out is routine. I’m good to go.
Also, I believe I already know every student’s name, too.
Alright. I’m done. But before I hit publish, here’s my obligatory link:
Extreme Makeover: The Toddler Edition (How young is too young for plastic surgery?)
And, three gratitudes:
1. I am grateful for the IT folk at BRCC because they do always help me when I need it. (I brought them cookies of gratitude today.)
2. I am grateful to Disability Services for finding me an ESL interpreter to come to my classes and talk about deaf culture.
3. I’m grateful that my heart stress test and all the other cardio tests I took came back negative.
Three things I’m excited about:
1. Rome over Christmas! This is where we’re staying.
2. Heroes starting Monday!
3. My lecture .mp3s for my classes have been downloaded 33 times by students!
