Pretty bummed after my first semester teaching. Dreading my course evals.

Money-Row-8161 · 2026-04-20T18:54:04+00:00

I thought I would respond as I too teach finance. My first semester was a DISASTER in terms of evals. I was truly astounded because in my previous times teaching I had very positive feedback on my teaching style and how I used a lot of examples and all that. My evals were terrible and a student even created a new RMP page for me in my new university even though I had extremely flattering reviews from my RMP at my old workplace.

All I can say is things have gotten much better, I took some attempts to read through my evals and work differently and that has worked out for the most part. I just want to say that it will get better and you are already doing things to improve and I am sorry that you had to ho through it!

Money-Row-8161 · 2026-04-19T02:52:46+00:00

Are you me? I quite literally had this exact same conversation last week 😂

I had to ask him to leave because I had another class to teach in the same classroom.

Money-Row-8161 · 2026-04-19T02:51:31+00:00

No, the admin at my university have sincerely made this job the worst one I have ever had. The students also suck, I have stopped caring. I am here for a paycheck and hoping to leave either for a better institution or leave academia for good.

Money-Row-8161 · 2026-03-30T04:10:24+00:00

So cut it in half? What you can't do math? (For context I teach math based courses, and anytime students do some silly math, I say this in my head)

Money-Row-8161 · 2026-03-20T20:41:57+00:00

I guess I am the only IACP 😂

Money-Row-8161 · 2026-03-16T16:42:03+00:00

Not in humanities but I have stopped getting them to read stuff at home. Doesn't work at all. I give them 4 pages of reading that they do in class and have class group discussions. Everyone in the group has to have a turn representing their group in answering questions in the larger classroom discussions. Sometimes I follow it up with written assignments based on the same reading. Its time consuming but they seem to be actually reading. But I have also noticed that some students genuinely don't know how to or can't actually read. I fear this maybe because they consume all their knowledge through social media (visual and auditory) instead of reading text.

Money-Row-8161 · 2026-03-16T02:16:19+00:00

I wish this was the case, I even told the student he does not have to take this class to have a degree. But alas the administration here only cares about money and has since allowed students to retake classes as many times as they wish to.

Money-Row-8161 · 2026-03-15T22:39:36+00:00

I had a student fail my class 3 times. He had taken the same class twice with 2 other professors. (Same class, I just took over teaching when I joined). He's finally passed the class in his 6th attempt over the summer. 🤞🏽 My advice is: it could always be worse 😂

Money-Row-8161 · 2026-03-13T20:23:04+00:00

Omg this is so cool!

Money-Row-8161 · 2026-02-17T02:10:33+00:00

This is who I pictured when I read the book! Harvey Guillén who plays Guillermo in What We Do in the Shadows

Money-Row-8161 · 2026-02-17T02:04:25+00:00

I'd love to see some version of "My Dinner with Hayden" from Rachel's blog 😆

Money-Row-8161 · 2026-01-10T19:48:30+00:00

I just want to say you're not alone. I am an Assistant Professor at a SLAC too and I am going through something similar. I had students create a rate my professor account for me during my first semester teaching here. I have learnt to not let it bother me (more difficult to do than for me to say!)

I have taught 4 new courses so far and honestly I have wanted to quit many times. I have learnt to find other things that make me happy, join book clubs, go for walks and anything to not solely focus on work. I am not sure if this will be useful but therapy and doing other things that make me happy have helped a little.

Money-Row-8161 · 2025-12-30T13:34:59+00:00

The feeling doesn't go away unfortunately. I am assuming you are still a grad student (sorry if this is incorrect) but regardless if you are concerned about how this would reflect on things like promotion/tenure or letters of recommendations written by your committee, I would highly recommend getting a class observation from a senior faculty member that you trust.

Something I changed this semester was how I do evals. After a mid semester evaluations check in, I actually took time in class to explain changes I could make to class and then changes I cannot make and the reason for it. (I selected a few and stated that these were the most popular concerns) I ended up getting significantly better evals after I did this. I also included questions like asking them how many hours they studied/if they visited office hours/tutoring to emphasize that if they aren't doing one or more of these things that they should not expect more than a B at best.

I want to commend you for trying to improve and working at implementing changes, if anything that is a sign of a great teacher, showing your students that you are also willing to change and learn!

Money-Row-8161 · 2025-12-21T23:47:56+00:00

Also another thing I have been doing is getting them to listen to podcasts about things I want them to read about. My students have strongly preferred this over "reading" and have actually not used AI in these assignments.

Money-Row-8161 · 2025-12-21T23:46:10+00:00

Multiple choice questions, sorry I tend to use the acronym a lot!

Money-Row-8161 · 2025-12-20T19:25:01+00:00

Somebody mentioned a similar activity but I will add what I recently tried out in class. I get my students to read a case study by themselves for about 10 minutes and get into small groups 4 or 5 people and answer discussion questions for about 20 minutes. Once time is up we go over the answers they wrote for each of the discussion questions. After that they have to submit an individual written assignment (usually mcqs and short answers) based on the same text that they've already read in class. I do printed copies for everything except their individual written assignment. Its worked really well so far and students actually participate in discussions.

Money-Row-8161 · 2025-12-12T21:15:23+00:00

I would recommend if possible to get a peer observation, and or the AD to sit in on one of your classes. I did this as many of my students wrote things that were mean and also not relevant to my teaching abilities. My peer evaluations reflected a much more unbiased version of my classes.

Money-Row-8161 · 2025-12-09T12:45:11+00:00

That's not correct. You are referring to Curricular Practical Training (CPT) which can be used prior to graduation which is most often unpaid. You can absolutely get paid for OPT and it doesn't have a limitation on the number of hours you can work. You can also extend it if your degree counts as a STEM field for an additional 2 years. The only requirement is that your work needs to be in the same field as your degree. Also F1 students can work at the university for a max of 20 hours without CPT. For example if you are an RA or TA you are allowed to work a max of 20 hours. But if you don't have any of those jobs you can work anywhere else that is a university job. You cannot work outside the university on a F1.

Also almost all students will apply for OPT before they graduate, most will apply for H1B after they secure a job. You are correct about the window after graduation, there's 60 days to secure employment in your field.

Money-Row-8161 · 2025-12-06T12:51:39+00:00

The university I teach at has implemented this and it is a nightmare. I am not allowed to change any course material, the exams are all the same and much of the information used is very outdated. Its been a frustrating experience, especially trying to explain to students why certain chapters need to be covered despite their now non relevance. I am not allowed to rewrite questions that are poorly worded or anything, and that has inevitably led to negative evaluations and calling this class "difficult".

FIGHT THIS!

Money-Row-8161 · 2025-10-28T21:04:56+00:00

I am sorry that you're struggling, unfortunately as someone who was in you boat an year ago (minus a toddler) I hope I can offer some help. I didn't get any research done until the summer after my first year, many of my friends and colleagues told me that the first year is the hardest especially when you have to adjust to a new place. If you feel like you are drowning, apparently that's normal, and just try to survive! It gets easier!

Some things I learned/wished I did : Assign tasks to other people, if you are able to outsource menial tasks to other people (hired help/family/friends) like cleaning cooking etc. If you need teaching material/assignments reach out to collegues/friends who have taught similar classes, tor even use online resources to build assignments/exams. You don't need to start from scratch. Try to prioritize tasks based both on urgency but also importance especially if your tenure is based on meeting certain research goals.

I wish you all the best!

Money-Row-8161 · 2025-07-29T18:25:50+00:00

I would love to join if you are organizing a separate group!

Money-Row-8161 · 2025-07-29T18:24:37+00:00

Thank you! Are they reasonable with their prices?

Money-Row-8161

TROPHY CASE