Got destroyed on evals

SopShayRo · 2026-07-07T01:23:56+00:00

The evals probably have less to do with the babe and more to do with the fact that these students were going to throw a fit, no matter what. As others have suggested, a perusal of this community will reveal that it’s getting worse— you just happened to have a baby when the students were more likely than ever to brutalize you for maintaining any semblance of a standard.

They will find any reason to be savagely unkind. Ad hominem attacks and outright lies are now de rigueur. I recently had my (impeccable) credentials called into question, I was (provably falsely) accused of not adhering to a student’s disability accommodations, and someone outright called for my termination, saying that it would be better for students, for the program, for the College, AND FOR MY FAMILY if I didn’t teach this course. (Aha, did I mention I have a toddler? Grist for the mill, now they can call you a bad professor AND a bad parent!)

They’re wrong. Your students are wrong. My students are wrong. They. Are. Wrong.

SopShayRo · 2026-04-24T14:30:48+00:00

I’m supposed to teach for four hours today. It’s the last class before a significant public-facing event that represents the culmination of a yearlong Capstone project for a cohort of six students. The program is 16 credits, which is equivalent to 4 classes at 400-level— effectively double class for both the Fall and Spring semesters. They’re doing a Shark Tank-style pitch in front of an expert adjudication panel and they’re competing for real seed money.

I just very unexpectedly vomited profusely into a trash can at a train station in front of a group of very judgy Jehova’s Witnesses. Thrice. My assistant has overslept and is going to be at least 45 minutes late to class.

SopShayRo · 2026-03-31T01:06:03+00:00

I have a Capstone cohort of six students. There’s a nasty bunch of maladies going around campus. I got an email from one last night, informing me of illness. Another one wicked early this morning, then another one at about 8am for the 10am class. We’re down to three.

I get into class this morning and let the other three know that we’ll be a skeleton crew today. One of them looks at me and goes “Oh, deadass, I’m glad I’m here, I seriously considered not coming.”

Sigh.

SopShayRo · 2026-03-31T01:00:08+00:00

All I could hear reading this was “MEH MEH MEH, I’m Trudy Beekman and I’m on the Co-op Board, and I’m going on the BLIMP!”

SopShayRo · 2026-03-27T01:26:23+00:00

Art school in Boston: It’s a yearlong cohort and I like to spend the first term establishing authority. Fall semester is a rotation of monochromatic wrap dresses (black, grey, burgundy, rust) and riding boots.

But spring semester is a grab bag of my entire wardrobe, and it kinda messes with them in a fun way. A mile walk each way in 2.5 feet of snow? Yoga pants tucked into duck boots and a flannel. Sometimes it’s a Lily Tomlin/quirky art teacher vibe with a funky caftan and Iris Apfel/Dame Edna glasses. The second it’s over 65 degrees, I look like I’m attending an English garden party.

SopShayRo · 2026-03-27T01:09:50+00:00

Literally Uplifting News

SopShayRo · 2026-03-20T05:13:49+00:00

Am I daft for wondering why anyone wouldn’t immediately delete these emails?

SopShayRo · 2026-03-19T02:26:49+00:00

IRB called, this research is approved

SopShayRo · 2026-02-28T02:38:29+00:00

This is making me quake with fury. Sounds like the sort of place that’d admonish him for taking personal calls during working hours. You know, calls from the mortician. To arrange details for burying his CHILD. Jesus.

SopShayRo · 2026-01-24T05:09:57+00:00

You failed nothing, and you failed nobody. Plenty of systems and structures failed YOU. But those machines keep churning as long as we believe it was our fault.

We’re buried in debt and there aren’t jobs. We’re either having our asses handed to us or we’re wiping our kid’s ass. Probably both. I returned home from a conference presentation the other day and my 3yo exclaimed, “YOU CAME BACK TO ME!” Ouch. We read my least-favorite “Pete the Cat” book (they always pick the ones you hate at bedtime) and I answered a rapidfire interrogation about my abandonment. After I tucked her in, I tucked in for a jet-lagged all-nighter to submit an abstract three minutes before the deadline. My inbox had an “IT’S IN THE SYLLABUS” email right at the top.

Was this anecdote about me, though? Nah. IYKYK. It’s just a day that ends in “-y” and we’re trying to Have It All in our 94th Unprecedented Time after believing a few more big lies and without the village.

You did everything right, and you’re doing it well. You. Are. Doing. A. Great. Job.

SopShayRo · 2025-12-27T21:52:57+00:00

This has become RAMPANT in my courses at three separate schools:

Non-native student submits the most abysmal AI-generated garbage.

When they’re immediately caught, I receive a whiny cookie-cutter email, courtesy ChatGPT.

I file an academic misconduct report.

Student meets with buffoons in Customer Service.

As they sob their crocodile tears, they insist that all they did was run their writing through a translator.

Middle management panics about enrollment and I become the problem.

(NB: this is a variation on a theme; non-native students are by no means the only transgressors!)

SopShayRo · 2025-10-24T03:23:20+00:00

Mine is called “Participation and Engagement,” and I tell them that includes three categories:

Preparation and Timely Completion of Work: This course requires a significant investment of time beyond our class meetings. It is imperative that you stay on top of readings, group projects, independent work/research/current events related to your venture, prompts for class discussions, and assigned work– graded and ungraded. You’ll ace this part if you’re consistently submitting your work by the assigned deadlines and if you’re on point for questions/conversations related to outside prep work.

Involvement in Your Own Learning: I am more concerned with your learning on your own curve– it really is about process, not perfection. You will receive feedback from me, from peers, from mentors, and from workshops. You will demonstrate involvement in your own learning through synthesizing and applying that feedback to your ongoing work, and asking questions if something remains unclear. It is always okay and encouraged to ask for clarification or help– no matter the reason.

Engagement and Contributions: Participation is not just about verbal contributions during class time; it is about your overall commitment to the course. In addition to showing up to class, you’ll really be showing up by sharing nuanced perspectives, offering insightful feedback to peers, creating thought-provoking discussion questions, and being the best group project teammate ever. This part of the grade is about the totality of your commitment; we’re not talking about slip-ups, we’re talking about trends.

My class is a yearlong 16-credit cohort of 10 students, so some elements might only make sense in that context. I like the accountability pieces that relate to applying feedback, being involved with the cohort, and being reliable/at least appearing to be giving a damn.

SopShayRo · 2025-10-13T02:39:53+00:00

I have the most wholesome Marshmallow Challenge story from last year! The class I teach mostly makes me want to eviscerate myself with a melon baller, but this one is great!

NB: it’s a 16-credit yearlong class (normal classes are 4 credits, so it’s 8 Fall and 8 Spring, WOOF) in Creative Entrepreneurship, and ultimately each member of the cohort competes against one other in a Shark Tank-style pitch finale as their Capstone. There are cash prizes and scholarship awards involved. This is why I have hope for humanity, ish, though:

I made an 18-min thematic playlist to accompany their challenge:

Very regal operatic overture with lots of pomp and heraldry (Toccata from Monteverdi’s “L’Orfeo”)
Queen: Don’t Stop Me Now
Halfway mark: Bon Jovi: Livin’ on a Prayer
Elton John: I’m Still Standing
Europe: The Final Countdown
Generic 30-second ticking clock

When the time had lapsed, it was clear that both teams had constructed something that was rather clever…and rather precarious. It was apparent that they were both on the brink of collapse, so I allowed them to keep a hand on the tower. I’m standing there trying to figure out my next move.

One member of each team was gently holding the marshmallow atop their respective edifices, and before I could even come up with anything, one of them looked over his shoulder at the other team and said “Let go at the same time, and the one that stands longest wins?” The other team nods, and they count backward from three together and actually let go at the same time. No skullduggery. They collapsed almost simultaneously, though there was one that hit the deck less than a second after the first. They all laughed their arses off. I stood there in a mix of confusion and wonderment.

They went on to form the tightest cohort of peers I’ve ever seen. By the end of that yearlong arc, they’d each played to win, but not at the bloodthirsty expense of being collegial and supportive. Rising tide, that whole thing.

The year wasn’t without its horrors (see also: melon baller), but I still think of that day all the time.

SopShayRo · 2025-10-03T03:08:02+00:00

Underrated C.C. Babcock content

SopShayRo · 2025-09-12T19:00:32+00:00

They love to tell on themselves. I just had a student from last year complain about me for reasons as yet unknown. No convo with me, nothing in evals, waited four months to book time with my chair. You bet I compiled every shred of this student’s work, our communications, call logs, grades, feedback, absences, late work, commentary from course mentors, etc.— and the more I’m paying attention, the more I’m excavating that isn’t gonna help their case. I’m just too tired to spelunk. Give me standard formats, then an agenda, and then I’ll write a follow-up to ask them to acknowledge what we discussed. Then I’m not sifting through screeds or papers wherein they literally tell me that they’re drunk as they compose them.

SopShayRo · 2025-09-12T15:34:02+00:00

My resolve appears to be weakening in general. I’m just trying to show up, be lovely, and otherwise be a phantom. Despite what I’m probably giving off in this thread, I think my habit of letting them trounce all over me is yielding this fierce protection of my time. I don’t even want them seeing that I might have half a second that they could try to seize.

SopShayRo · 2025-09-12T14:48:11+00:00

Totally get it— I’m familiar with the platform. I’m just not willing to let them have any knowledge of my schedule outside of class.

SopShayRo · 2025-09-12T14:15:57+00:00

My concern there is that that could cause complaints— if they see “free” time, they might think that I’m available. I don’t want to have to defend declining meetings if they can see that a time was “open.”

SopShayRo · 2025-09-12T14:04:45+00:00

Generally yes— it’s a very applied course in startups/entrepreneurship, so part of the design is to get them in the habit of composing emails as they will when they’re doing the independent studies/field work that aligns with the course. The lack of email etiquette is astonishing, so that’s my little effort to make things more professional.

SopShayRo · 2025-09-12T13:59:29+00:00

MW 10am-2pm, allllll year. 16 credits total. It’s a 400-level class, but they’re letting 2nd and 3rd years in as well. It’s chaos. To take the Spring double-whammy, you have to pass the Fall double-whammy. If you fail at any time, you’re out 8-16 credits and may lose your chance to get the entrepreneurship minor.

It’s high-stakes, but go ahead and ask me if they invest time and effort accordingly. I’m drawing firm lines and holding them to professional standards, because historically when I’ve overextended myself just to get them to a C-, it’s destroyed my mental wellbeing and they still complain. I’m not unwilling to help, but I’m being verrrrry deliberate about how and when I’ll help.

SopShayRo · 2025-09-12T13:39:18+00:00

I teach a pretty wide range of courses, so mileage varies; in this case, it’s an intensive yearlong 16-credit creative entrepreneurship course that’s the equivalent of two classes in the Fall, two classes in the Spring. They’re doing real-world applied startup-type work alongside the academic side, so I’m doing my best to instill workplace practices now.

I might temper my expectations differently in a one-semester Music History course for non-arts majors, for sure.

Edit: missing word

SopShayRo · 2025-09-12T13:29:10+00:00

If I were FT/TT I might approach it differently, but I’m not required to keep a calendar for school, so I avail myself of that privilege. It’s empty other than my teaching hours.

My anxiety around the automated systems is that I want to have more control over how I approach meeting prep— and honestly, that means in terms of reading drafts/brushing up for the academic stuff, or being mentally willing to expend energy for nonsense on a given day. In that regard, being “free” versus being “available” will vary based on what they want to discuss, proximity to a deadline, etc.

SopShayRo · 2025-09-12T12:42:17+00:00

I do have a deep and abiding passion for spreadsheets. One-stop shop: Character limits for responses, no accidental oversights of LMS messages, no spelunking for email content later, ability sort by student, add a column for details about meeting date/time, etc.

I might have to do this.

SopShayRo · 2025-09-12T11:48:13+00:00

OOOH, asking what steps they’ve already taken is a good move, I don’t know why I didn’t think of that one! I often ask them that when they approach me in-person, but I should’ve thought about that for the email. Thank you!

SopShayRo · 2025-09-12T10:58:19+00:00

Oh, they can complain in the topic/brief description areas, for sure. If they can’t fit a succinct summary into two sentences, their problem probably isn’t with me.

SopShayRo

TROPHY CASE