%(^*& Evaluate This!

Well, I have now been teaching for more than half a semester at a local community college. I'm an adjunct instructor for an intro chem class created to fill a pre-nursing program requirement. The thing is, some of these students would be better off taking the standard two semester version. It moves at a slower pace. But, the college doesn't tell them about that advantage. So I have people in the class who don't have the math background, the time, or the interest to pass this class. Oh what fun. And they get to evaluate me...

If you are an adjunct, the students get to fill out evaluations half way through the course. Regular, full-time instructors do not have to do this. So, if I could dupe the college into hiring me, I don't get reviewed until the end of the semester. Um, yeah, okay. Good system. Riiiight. Oh, and I should mention, they didn't tell me that the students do the eval thing. Nope, not until after I was supposed to have handed them out. I get a call from the dept. secretary asking where they are. Um, WTF? I didn't know what she was talking about. She then explains (as if she can not BELIEVE I wouldn't notice them) that they were left to me in the lecture hall on the desk. My question then is this, "WTF??" I have a stupid mail box that I check every evening when I get there... why didn't they put the envelopes in that? An e-mail or note telling me I had to have the students do them (since it is the FIRST FUCKING SEMESTER I have been there). Oh, and I'm suppose to be regularly looking at the desk which has had papers piled on it since I started teaching to see if there is something there for me??? And lastly, there is a "main" desk which spans the front of the lecture area. Then, the desk where the evals were is off to the side. Un-Be-Liev-Able!!

So, suffice to say, my students did not fill them out when they were suppose to. They filled them out the day we got back from spring break. sigh.

And I just got the summaries Sunday when I got back from Chicago. (Side note: I will blog about Chi-Town later this week)

You might wonder... what do I have to say about the evals? Fuck those lazy-ass dumb shits.

I actually had people give me 1 out of 5 (the lowest grade) for organization!! Okay, if you know me at all then you are probably sitting there with your mouth ajar or laughing. Yeah, me, unorganized! What? Were they filling out evals for me or some other adjunct? Oh, and I had someone write in the comments section that if they had know that it was my first time teaching that they would have signed up for a different section. Okay stupid - I gave my background the first day of class and made it clear that this was the first time I had taught entirely on my own. You could sign up for a different section until the third week. What the fuck were you waiting for?!? I get paid if I have 50 students or 5. Be gone. Please.

I also had people give me 2 out of 5 for promptness with regards to grading. What is that shit? I post exam grades online the NEXT FUCKING DAY after an exam and they get lab reports in the next lab section. How much faster did you want them? Should I be able to just touch the paper and give you a grade? I hate some of them. I don't know who they are but I hate them. Some job application instructions tell you to send copies of eval summaries. And this is what I am going to have to send. That some people think I am disorganized and untimely. Greeeaaaat. I ... Hate ... Them!

I also got low grades for my ability to explain concepts. Okay, if you are lost and it's week two - it doesn't matter how I explain concepts in week eight - you ain't gettin' it! I was so upset that I was even considering calling in sick yesterday. I mean, just let me out of the contract and I am just going to work on the thesis and enjoy the nice weather (finally!). sigh. But my upbringing has ingrained the idea that you shouldn't walk away from something that you committed to doing.

But then... the most unexpected thing happened after lecture last night. A student, who has made it clear doesn't care for me or my teaching methods, came up after class and complimented me! She said that she had taking chem at a major university (EMU) and that O-chem had been completely confusing and she hadn't gotten any of it. Further, that my lecture was so good that now everything made sense. I was floored. It was enough to put me back into a positive frame of mind for the last six weeks of school. Although, I'll be honest, I can't wait to be done. This professor thing is exhausting.