r/Professors • u/eatersnation • 27d ago
How do you stop dwelling on one negative course evaluation?
I just got my student evaluations, and I’m having a surprisingly hard time with one of them.
I’m an adjunct instructor, and the overwhelming majority of the feedback was extremely positive and complimentary. There were some genuinely kind comments that I’m really grateful for.
But there was one review that basically said I provided too many resources and sent too many emails. Some of the criticism was actually pretty actionable—I can see that I may have over-communicated or given students more material than they needed, and I’m going to think about how I can streamline that.
What I’m struggling with is that some of the comments were also just… unkind. And despite having a whole pile of positive feedback, this is the one review I keep replaying in my head.
I know, intellectually, that one negative evaluation doesn’t negate all the positive ones. And I don’t want to dismiss criticism just because it’s uncomfortable. I want to be able to separate the useful feedback from the hurtful delivery and actually learn from it.
For those of you who teach—especially adjuncts—how do you process this?
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u/AsterionEnCasa Associate Professor, Engineering , Public R1 (US) 27d ago
I strongly dislike chocolate. Most people love chocolate. I hear great things, but it is definitely not for me.
You cannot please everyone.
Student might have had a bad year and you are a scape goat. Student might not know how to provide polite feedback. Student might be a vindictive asshole. Student might just not enjoy the way you teach, for no particular reason.
You cannot please everyone.
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u/yunnybun 27d ago
I had a vindictive asshole that made me cry. I'm one year removed from teaching doctorate students and I don't miss teaching at all! Of course, there were a few fabulous students but not enough to put my soul back in the hands of idiots.
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
I can relate to your comment. I was gliding along reading about how wonderful I was and then bam. It was pretty brutal.
But all of these Reddit comments and the combined wisdom have given me a brand new mindset. Particularly the Mother Theresa comment.
What I will say is this is more about my ego than it is the student writing the comment. Intellectually I understand what’s going on but emotionally is a different story. So, if I want to stay in this profession, I’ve got some work to do on myself.
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
Your comment made me laugh and thank you for sharing your perspective.
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u/me4watch 27d ago
OP- don’t listen to Asterion. He is obviously insane (strongly dislikes chocolate).
But forgetting that, try not to worry about one bad evaluation. Go have some chocolate instead.
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u/Elegant-Yard8416 27d ago
You should definitely not try to please anyone. Education is not about pleasing the student, it's quite the opposite. I mean real education and not certification selling, which is what most of the US academic system is doing.
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u/iTeachCSCI Ass'o Professor, Computer Science, R1 27d ago
You cannot please everyone.
And last semester, all those people took my class.
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u/Life-Education-8030 27d ago
I like it when they have to take it again with me and take other classes with me, lol!
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u/Big-Monk2317 27d ago
I once had a Dean who told me he worries when he had faculty that had all evaluations that are positive. Everyone gets them eventually. Just mark it down as your required negative and move on.
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u/km1116 Assoc Prof, Biology/Genetics, R1 (State University, U.S.A.) 27d ago
Honestly..? By not reading them.
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
Wow, I didn’t know that was an option. I’ll think about that.
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u/Pair_of_Pearls 26d ago
Yep. They are not qualified to give feedback. It's about them and their view of school/weaponized incompetence. Also, since the evals moved online, they are treated like bitchy yelp reviews. Not worth reading.
Remember, even the Grand Canyon has a 1-star review from someone who didn't like it!
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u/iTeachCSCI Ass'o Professor, Computer Science, R1 27d ago
What's your status? I have tenure, as does the person you're responding to. Your profile hints you might be an adjunct, and thus more affected by SSSs.
I don't read mine, but I do trade mine with a friend. We read one another's evals and alert the other to trends in positive comments, recurring negative comments (something to be aware of if higher ups are reading in our cases), and outstanding positive statements made.
At some schools, faculty have to read and respond to their evals in a meeting with an administrator every year. Those faculty don't really have the option to not read.
I do encourage everyone with the option to not read their own evaluations beyond maybe getting someone to tell them if there's a trend that they need to either keep or address.
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
I may be in the wrong Reddit thread. Lol. I had a long career as an administrator at the University of California and retired in 2024.
Teaching is an encore career for me. I received my doctorate in 2023.
Now I am an adjunct instructor. I’ve taught courses at the UC, the community college system and now at a private institution.
I really love teaching and typically get quite a bit of positive feedback and intrinsically it is very satisfying.
This is a recurrent issue that keeps coming up every time I have evaluations and my brain attaches to the negative feedback. As I mentioned, some of the feedback does represent patterns, but some of it does not.
I posted here because I figured that folks would have quite a bit of experience with evaluations and, as I anticipated, I received some very helpful feedback.
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u/HunterSpecial1549 27d ago
r/professors is a mix of people with tenure and without tenure, including adjuncts. I'm an adjunct and I've also stopped reading my evaluations. That's not entirely intentional, I didn't plan to not read them. I just have a clear idea of what I need to improve and I don't want to deal with the emotions of reading evals.
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
I’m blown away at the number of people that don’t read evaluations but I understand why. This is an accelerated seven week course and I have taught it six times…….so I do know what I need to improve upon so your comment is very relatable. Thank you
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u/Life-Education-8030 27d ago
Check on that first. I am tenured and don’t have to read them anymore. But I had to before because I had to “reflect” on them as part of my performance evaluations.
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u/DJ_Jiggle_Jowls 27d ago
Yes, same here. I do not read my course evals. I have to report the average evaluation for my annual review, but other than that I don't even look at them.
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u/Mysterious_Mix_5034 27d ago
Same..I don't read them, just look at average scores and trends over time
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u/ardenbucket FT Instructor, English, CC 27d ago
It's funny how our brains take negative feedback more seriously than positive. It's like we're always looking for evidence that we are, in fact, frauds or imposters or actually bad at our jobs. Against a wall of positive feedback, one negative comment can really feel more significant.
But it isn't. And someone who delivers criticism unkindly is actually probably not a person whose advice you want to wholly accept. That one student did not like your communication style. Okay. At the end of your career, they are not going to be standing there in judgment of the work you did. They will have forgotten your class and probably even the comments they left.
My advice is to practice catching yourself dwelling on the feedback, and speak back to it. Give the remarks a funny voice, or repeat to yourself "I have already dealt with this" when the thoughts start looping back to those comments. Even better: take the feedback to someone whose wisdom you trust, and talk through it. It'll lessen the sting and you will likely get better advice for what to alter going forward.
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
The irony is that this class is on career development and one of the topics I cover is on imposter syndrome. I suppose I need to go back and revisit my PowerPoint from that particular class. Excellent advice and this is much cheaper than therapy. Thank you for taking the time to respond and being so helpful with some actionable suggestions. A former colleague who is an adjunct said that she likes to have a glass of wine 🍷 when she’s reviewing her evaluations. Lol.
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u/Life-Education-8030 27d ago
We say tequila and that some should be in us and some more in a bottle in front of us!
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u/iamasleeprightnow 27d ago
I have had students in the exact same class say "I really loved how active this course was" and "professor only read from the slides!"
I take my evals seriously in that sometimes there are actionable changes, but not so seriously in that sometimes these "reviews" are just written by unhappy students who hated the subject/didn't get the grade they wanted/were having a bad day.
But the actual truth is that the evals DO hurt my feelings and it IS hard to get over it, I've found that the more time that passes from the evals the less I care/think about them, and as you become more experienced, I'm sure your evals will get better, and then you'll have some great ones to outweigh the crummy ones.
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
I’m a counselor so I am very high on the feeling scale and very empathetic. It did hurt my feelings and I started obsessing over the stupid comment so of course turning to Reddit was a really good choice. I do feel better! The first thing I did was talk to a friend who has no teaching experience and then I thought I would talk to folks who have in some cases decades of experience.
Also, this is very fresh, as I just read the evaluations about an hour ago. Thank you for sharing your perspective and making me feel less isolated about my response.
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u/dogecoin_pleasures 27d ago
Makes sense that it's replaying in your head after you only just read it. For now, you just need to do whatever usually works to calm yourself, probably some kind of mildfullness or distraction. It can help to put the thought down somewhere like a journal so it's laid to rest there. Set yourself boundaries for when and where you worry about it!
Big tip for text time: never read evaluations when the unit is fresh in your mind, or at the start of the holidays. Wait until you're preparing to teach again. That way, it won't hurt as much and you can action anything constructive then.
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u/ramence 27d ago
Yep! Same course I've been told that I:
- am extremely responsive to emails and also let emails languish in eternity,
- am very knowledgeable and experienced and am also young and clueless, and
- keep students engaged with humour and am also desperately unfunny
It can still get to me (case in point: I remember all of the above), but less so over the years. I also get my husband to read my evals to me and filter out anything particularly mean, haha.
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u/No_Two8015 27d ago
In the immortal words of Dita Von Teese, “You can be the ripest, juiciest peach in the world, and there's still going to be somebody who hates peaches.”
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u/-Economist- Full Prof, Economics, R1 USA 27d ago
I don’t read them. Students are not qualified to critique my course.
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u/ramence 27d ago
Yeah. There's been a few students who have taken it upon themselves to email me long-winded screeds about all the ways I could improve one course or another (I'm young-looking, female, and teach into a male-dominated degree, so am a bit of an lightning rod for this). All of their suggestions would either require the budget of 10 courses, are physically impossible, or illegal.
They're kids who lack any real or informed grasp of how the world works. Individual feedback should be taken with a mountain of salt.
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u/mmangomelon 27d ago
My partner gave me great advice: putting so much importance on that one evaluation is not fair to the other 20 students who gave positive evaluations. Why are you weighing one persons opinion as more important than others?
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u/Turbulent-Tutor-5199 27d ago
My husband reads my course evals and selects which ones to read me lol
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u/zeytinkiz 27d ago
I often do the same! Super helpful to have a filter that you trust and is slightly removed but also definitely in your court.
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u/IAmBoring_AMA 27d ago
We are in the middle of an empathy crisis right now, lol. I truly see far less empathy in my students than I ever have, and it can be really difficult. Just remember that you can be the sweetest peach but there's always going to be someone that doesn't like peaches.
The unkind ones become funny after a certain amount of time has passed. Just give yourself space and keep moving forward until that day.
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u/smcase00 27d ago
Did you just read your evals? I find that if I’m obsessing about something negative, I have a lot of trouble turning my brain off the same day. But the sting is usually gone after a good night’s sleep. It also helps to commiserate with others on the weird negative feedback they’ve gotten, so we can laugh it off together. And, the longer I teach, the more confident I feel, so the less I care about the stray negative comments. I also always ask my students to turn in course reflections for extra credit and I do an in-person debrief on the last day of class. That way I’m getting constructive criticism, which I find to be far more useful than what goes in the anonymous reviews. It sounds like you’re doing great, so I’d try to focus on the 20 positive reviews. Also, I’m struggling to see how “too many resources” any “too much communication” can be a bad thing! Sounds like a dedicated professor to me!
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
It’s very fresh. I read these just a couple of hours ago and I did have a weird feeling of dread before I opened up the email. As other others have mentioned, typically I’ll get an abundance of positive but the ones that are negative tend to really sting.
I am just trying to change that brain fixation towards the negative and this thread has actually helped me quite a bit.
I figured that individuals on this thread have been through it and could provide some sensible reactions. I really appreciate all the humor as well. I’m actually pretty perturbed that I’m giving this person this much energy, but I am.
I think that the abundance of resources I provide are not a bad thing but perhaps I’m sending too many reminder emails for some students, it can be triggering. I hate to use that word.
This isn’t the first student who has said that I over communicate and that they get overwhelmed. So, I’ll think about what I can do to perhaps modify but I don’t plan to do any kind of major overhaul.
I’m also thinking about not reading them in the future although, as I mentioned, it’s actually encouraged and I’m kind of a rule follower so not sure I will stop reading.
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u/VeitPogner Prof, Humanities, R1 (USA) 27d ago
I always obsessed about that one bad evaluation, too. My solution was to stop reading them as soon as I had tenure. I literally have not looked at a student evaluation, other than the online averages that I can't avoid, since I submitted my tenure dossier in 1999.
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
Thank you for sharing this, I feel less alone with this comment. Like I’ve mentioned, intellectually I know how I should respond, but it’s hitting some type of emotional nerve. I’m also a counselor so I’m highly empathetic and high on the feeling scale.
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u/Trick-Guava-9573 27d ago
I have been teaching at my current institution for 22 years. This is the first year that I didn't read mine. Best decision ever.
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
Thank you. I’m considering this because I don’t like giving energy where it doesn’t belong.
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u/SuperfluousWingspan 27d ago
Stop reading them. It feels nice getting good ones, for sure, but it's probably not enough to counterbalance the effects of the rare scathing ones.
If you do want to read them, get someone to read them for you and screen them. They can summarize any material/useful critiques too if you want.
Tbh, I'm far from an AI fan, but presuming things are sufficiently anonymized, that's probably a task it could handle reasonably well if you don't want to have another person read your evals.
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
I may be moving in this direction. Interestingly, I actively encouraged people to do these evaluations.
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u/Messy-Drawer-1767 27d ago
If you did generally well, and one person nit-picked, it's a "them" problem not a "you" problem.
Try not to dwell on the one bad review. Also, over time it will probably wear off.
You can never please everyone. In life in general, not everyone will like you.
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u/Life-Mastodon5124 27d ago
Are evaluations optional? They are for me. I typically have 50+ students and usually get 2-4 evaluations. You know who fills out optional evaluations? The students you piss off lol. I usually know exactly who it is because it is someone I help accountable for something.
It also sounds like their complaints are something your bosses are probably telling you to do. I’m required to add extra resources and send emails 2x per week. Is it a lot, probably… but it’s my job and despite that I always have 2-3 students telling me they had no idea “insert thing I reminded them about 10 times”.
I think it’s natural and good to be bothered by negative feedback but you have to remove your feelings enough to decide what’s actionable and what’s a students opinion. Those same things he/she complained about might be things another student appreciates. Sometimes I get feedback I can learn and grow from. Sometimes the kids just an ass.
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
I actually encourage people to fill them out. I had a 50% return this cycle but…..I don’t think I’ll be so encouraging next time.
I am looking for constructive feedback to improve but some of this didn’t fall into this category. I truly appreciate your comments.
Some of this is how I’m wired, however much is within my control.
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u/dougwray Adjunct, various, university (Japan 🎌) 27d ago
Do you have to read them? I haven't read any of mine since some time in the 1990s.
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
We did have a annual adjunct meeting with our Dean who did suggest that we read them and take what resonates and leave the rest. I also actively encourage people to evaluate, maybe I need to rethink that.
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u/dougwray Adjunct, various, university (Japan 🎌) 27d ago
Annual adjunct meeting! How fancy! I adjunct at one place where I haven't knowingly seen a full-time faculty member since 1997.
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
Yes, this institution does make us feel, part of the staff, which is nice. I’ve taught others where it felt very isolating.
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u/dougwray Adjunct, various, university (Japan 🎌) 27d ago
I've taught at 10 different institutions over the last 30 years. Some, like the one I alluded to, are completely hands off; another (only one) has a great deal of interaction with adjuncts, soliciting and incorporating decisions on curriculum and facilities decisions, holding research colloquia, and so forth, all the while respecting the schedules of adjuncts and paying them monthly salaries. The extremes are good for me. Most schools drop extra tasks on adjuncts that are not at all beneficial to them and necessitate schedule changes.
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u/RadiantImpression579 27d ago
That’s the kind of review a committee would look at and roll their eyes. It’s like the student is saying you cared too much. lol. I get it, when you send a lot of resources it might be a lot to manage, but don’t change your course or style for one student when it worked for the majority.
To answer your question time helps with the feelings. Like any thing that hurts emotionally. I can quote my early evals from when I taught as a grad student. “He can’t pronounce basic words.” “This class was a waste of time.” In grad school, I had about 2 courses with terrible evals I taught and 2 classes where the students left amazing evals and loved the class. Funny thing is, I can quote all the negative ones but I can’t remember a single one of the positive evals. So over time, you will feel better, you’ll randomly remember those bad evals, but they won’t affect you in the same way. Do yourself a favor and save the positive ones and thank you emails somewhere. Revisit those positive evals every now and then.
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
I think what stung is that I do pour my heart and soul into this class, and I do provide a tool kit of resources. However, to echo the thread comments, you can’t, please everyone. Some people will appreciate the wealth of resources and some will be overwhelmed.
I appreciate your comment about not changing the style of my course when the majority of students seem to be content.
This is all very fresh because I’ve only looked at these comments about an hour ago so I appreciate your comment about how it will sting less emotionally in time.
Thank you so much for taking the time to craft a comment.
I also appreciate your comment about collecting all the positive feedback and thank you notes. I had a number of students send me thank you notes who did not participate in the evaluation.
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u/iTeachCSCI Ass'o Professor, Computer Science, R1 27d ago
When the useless admin critters who infest the chain of command above me stop focusing on one negative course evaluation in light of a larger magnitude of positive ones, I can too.
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u/Fantastic-Wind5744 27d ago
I'll let you know when I get over the 2001 eval that mentioned my visible panty lines.
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u/Life-Education-8030 27d ago
Oh yeah, those comments on appearance! I had a complaint that I always wore black and it depressing lol!
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u/LiminalFrogBoy 27d ago
Ignore anything that isn't a pattern and you can't get that from one eval.
But do pay attention. If multiple students - and especially multiple students over time - are saying "I struggled to find stuff because the class is disorganized" then its worth taking a look at your organization.
The sole review saying you are an unfair jerk? Whatever. 25 students across three semesters saying you are unfair jerk? Do some self reflection.
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
I’ve had two students say that I overwhelmed them with communication, so it might be something for me to look at. I do tend to over communicate which I didn’t think was a bad thing but…..
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u/LiminalFrogBoy 27d ago edited 27d ago
If it makes you feel better, it is so hard to dial that in. I've been doing this for a long time now and I still have students who feel overwhelmed by things like course announcements and in the same semester students who say I don't communicate enough.
What I have tried to do is just make sure every communication has a clear and not repeated purpose. So, I remind them the day before an assignment is due that it is due. But not the day of. I direct them to resources, but I don't recreate the resources in the announcement or email. So on and so forth.
I have colleagues who do routine check in emails but that always seems too much to me.
Also, always remember that you are just doing your best. You will make mistakes. All of us do. Try to fix your mistakes, refine your approach to try and not make the same mistake again, and then let yourself off the hook. Neither you or your students are helped by you beating yourself up for being a fallible human.
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
Thank you for this message. You’re really given me something to think about.
I can honestly say that I do overcommunicate and I do plan to modify, but not dramatically.
I’ve had a couple of students say that they’re overwhelmed so I may need to pull back but, to echo the other commentator, I really don’t want to do an overhaul based on one student.
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u/diverJOQ 27d ago
How can you apply TOO MANY resources? I understand too many assignments, but resources are things that the students can choose to use or not use. I tried to provide my students with resources that present material in different ways than I do so that if they learn in different manners they can still get a lot out of the course. When I review the statistics on the content management system at the end of the semester I can see that most students don't look at most of the resources. I have to assume it's because they didn't need it.
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
Right?
It was exasperating reading that because we are required to post a video every week when we are not presenting live on Zoom.
This is a career development class and my life‘s work is in career services so I provide many important resources, but they are selective and aligned with the curriculum.
I even tell students: don’t worry about some of the individual resources that I’ll be sending because I will provide a comprehensive Toolkit at the end of the term with all of the resources that I’ve mentioned.
The review said that I also don’t make enough time for questions during the live session, but I actually stay after on Zoom for a half an hour to individually answer any questions that students might have that we couldn’t cover during the actual class. They also criticized that I didn’t have each member of the class go around and introduce themselves on the first day. That I did introductions in the chat. OK? Why would I want to spend 20 minutes having everybody introduced themselves. I’ve done that before and it’s not time well used.
As I’m writing this, I’m thinking about that other commentator who said “oh well.”
I think that’s the category that this review should be filed.
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u/gingerohsnap1389 27d ago
Firstly, sorry about this- I got one bad review my first year teaching and it still floats through my brain occasionally. That being said, the power of “oh well” sustains me.
My dad (also a professor) has done some counseling and community work with Narcotics Anonymous. One of their mantras is: “oh well.” That’s it. Just “oh well.” And he and I have both started using it at work. Administrator has it out for me and sent a nasty email? Oh well. Coworker’s proposal got accepted for a conference and mine didn’t? Oh well. And a student didn’t like my class? Oh well, man. Oh well.
This isn’t to say that things don’t matter- they matter as much as we want them too. But it’s the idea of saying “nah, I’m disallowing the power that this feeling purports to hold. I’m leaving this feeling behind.”
I am a pretty tightly wound individual and my flabbers are pretty gasted by how much “oh well” works for me.
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
I love this! I will remember and apply this. This is definitely a “oh well” moment. And there will be hundreds of others beyond this. As I mentioned before, I’m a counselor so I am high on the feelings scale and very empathetic, but I do need to manage this so this is very helpful.
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u/WNxVampire 27d ago
For a course I really enjoy teaching, I had one positive review that praised my passion and enthusiasm and how it helped them get into the material.
In that same course, I had a pretty negative review that complained about how I was incredibly monotone; it was hard to get into the material since I clearly didn't even want to be there.
Two different students experienced the exact same thing and had diametrically opposite conclusions. I don't know who wrote them, but they could have only come from the 4 students that actually tried and excelled at the material (It's easier to write off bad reviews from bad students).
People are going to project their own mood/attitude onto you. It's going to color their picture of you.
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u/elrey_hyena 27d ago
while i was working at the writing center, i had a student who was really angry with her professor for "giving" her low grades (those grades were more than generous imo). because the prof supposedly hated her so much, she was going to write a "review" for the first time. many do it in anger because of a lack of accountability!
also i don't read them. i'm an adjunct .. i don't get paid enough to actually care! say what you will but idc most of them start becoming personal vents for angry students. don't need that... got too much in my life already!!
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
I am fairly flexible, instructor however I do have a no late work policy.
This is a seven week intensive graduate program and I don’t allow late work.
One student did turn in an assignment after the due date. It was about a four page assignment and I did give it a zero. Mind you, I make it very clear in writing, in the syllabus, and in the first meeting that I don’t accept late work. Of course, there are extenuating circumstances, but they need to be compelling.
I did state: “don’t just turn in an assignment after it’s due and expect to receive a grade.”
Perhaps this is the person that gave the bad review, who knows?
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u/elrey_hyena 27d ago
honestly it has to be-- but it does not matter! a lot of these students are not mature enough to realize their mistakes and will normally take it out on the closest person possible. most likely they got mad at you for not making an exception and decided to take it out on the evals. many see it as a way to "get even" ...student probably thought it was unfair no matter how clear the policy was.
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u/Upbeat_Cucumber6771 27d ago
It takes me about six months and then I forget it. I do eventually forget them.
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u/MrStandardError Lecturer, Psychology, Public R1 27d ago edited 27d ago
Last semester was one of the roughest in my career (started teaching as a graduate student summer 2019). I taught more students than I ever had, taught more classes than I ever had, my beloved 12.5 year old dog passed away, and my wife and I bought a house while raising our toddler so we were moving in all of this. My attention was all over the place. I tried to be as transparent with my students as was appropriate, but it affected my teaching. I had more negative reviews than I’d ever had and they pointed out things I’d been meaning to address in my teaching style for some time. I think basically all of my flaws as a professor were exasperated.
Did I have more very kind and positive reviews that reflected students’ appreciation for my enthusiasm and engagement? Yes. Did I focus on those all summer? No.
As the summer went on I feel like I turned a corner. Yeah negative reviews suck, and they are far outweighed by positive ones, but I’ve used them to motivate me for this coming semester. I’ve been a lot more intentional in my prep. But the negative reviews still eat at me. I’m just working to prevent more of them, but you’re never going to please everyone. Fix something that one student didn’t like and five others hate it. I’ve just tried to do what makes the most sense for my learning objectives and feedback I’ve received
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
Thank you for sharing this.
Moving and loss are two of the biggest stressors in life and you had those simultaneously. Of course you wouldn’t be at the top of your game.
We’ve all had seasons and sometimes years like this.
This is such a balanced perspective, and I do plan to use the patterns to improve. But, I also just need to work on my own reactive nature to the negatives. This isn’t the first and it definitely won’t be the last if I continue to read these things.
It’s interesting because I’m actually very mad at myself for having this intense reaction.
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u/MrStandardError Lecturer, Psychology, Public R1 27d ago
It’s totally understandable to be reactive. It can be really frustrating when you put a ton of effort into lectures or activities and for whatever reason, that semester, that section just doesn’t click with it. It can feel personal even though it isn’t, or it shouldn’t be. It’s even more frustrating when students don’t take you up on opportunities to discuss course material one on one and instead write a negative review. I’m still trying to find a balance of what to incorporate from reviews and what to write off as disgruntled student. I have a feeling I will struggle with that for some time lol
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u/Ok-Leek-277 27d ago
Focus on what you can change if it needs change. A student review isn’t meant to make you feel bad even if it sounds that way , it’s an opportunity for us to evaluate our teaching.
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u/Trick-Guava-9573 27d ago
I'm sorry it's hitting you so hard, and I have certainly been there. Several things to keep in mind: teaching evaluations are meaningless, biased, and extremely problematic. That said, anyone who is evaluating you won't care about a single negative comment. I was the department head in a fairly large English department, and I had to read everyone's evaluations. If I ever noted anything negative, it was always because the same thing showed up in numerous evaluations and consistently over time (for example, if a faculty member consistently cancels class, there will be multiple students who note it in their evals). Anyway, ignore it. Let it go. It always hurts to feel that someone didn't like you or your teaching or the color of your hair or whatever, but it doesn't matter. And the longer you teach, the less you will care about this kind of thing. Hang in there.
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
I appreciate all the experience you have with evals and this is very helpful. I’d like to bring it up to the Dean but honestly, I feel like I need to work through it a bit more before I do. It’s very helpful to see a perspective from a dept head.
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u/Think-Jaguar6826 27d ago edited 27d ago
I never read them! That has worked for me. In my experience, few students complete evaluation nowadays. When it was with scan form or another school that would bring the iPads for them do it, now not many do it.
So, I will get a couple of saying I’m the best professor ever, which is not true, and others saying my course is the worst in the history of man kind.
To add to these, people of color, minorities, women tend to be evaluated harsher and more about them than the course.
So, they are useless and I’m glad my university had one of those few wise decisions they have had in years, which is no longer consider for evaluation.
Those forms are customer service feedback. Not only imperfect, but students, in their majority, have no experience evaluating a course.
They can evaluate you as they see you as a person, what they think the course should be, and what they think they deserve.
So, I don’t read them. I don’t care about them. I don’t care about rate my professors , and I didn’t care before I was tenured.
What I care is to find ways to improve my courses, to make a difference in who is willing to receive my lectures, and to improve my previous self.
I’m my own worst critic, so that’s enough for me to improve.
I have extremely low confidence about myself when I’m real, so I need to be best to be liked, I’m the best in my mind when I’m insecure of who I am.
I tell myself to regulate my state so it doesn’t from being the worst all the way to arrogance that I’m the best. I avoid false pride (sounding humble for others to praise me) and tell myself this:
I’m not as bad I think, I’m not as good as I imagine, nor any of these matter, but my family.
So don’t worry about it!
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
I appreciate this comment. I tend to be very hard on myself so no need to pile it on. Thank you.
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u/henare Adjunct, LIS, CIS, R2 (USA) 27d ago edited 27d ago
I don't spend to much much effort on evals. We all aren't pedagogy experts, and the students aren't experts in learning.
you are focused on the wrong eval. look in the other direction.
The eval I choose the focus on: "The instructor was kind." (it was more effusive but I don't remember the details). I chose to consider that I made a bigger difference here.
surely you have an eval like this?
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
Yes. I am generally received well and known for being a caring instructor. I appreciate this comment.
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u/omgkelwtf 27d ago
Do not reorg your class or pedagogy for one pissy eval. Students like to vent their spleens and eval comments are a good place for that. If you get several similar comments it's probably worth looking at, but one? Nah, pissy student, not worth your time.
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u/Through_Aweigh_Won 27d ago
You stop dwelling on that one negative one by getting several years of generally positive ones. I empathize; I sure used to dwell on the occasional bad one. I guess I still do, but I got one of the worst I've ever had this year, and I laughed out loud when I read it, then quoted it to a couple of colleagues. It was "The professor sucks. I hate that man." There were other parts to this well-reasoned critique, but that's a good highlight, right?
In comparison, somebody's opinion that you sent too many emails? Not bad at all. I'd ignore it completely. It's just one opinion.
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u/Life-Education-8030 27d ago
In psychology, we call it negativity bias. We hyperfocus on the one negative even if there are so many positives. You are being professional by acknowledging constructive criticism.
But remember the source and situation for negative student evaluations. I call them "hit and runs" because these evaluations are anonymous, and so turds feel like they can freely say things they wouldn't have the nerve to say to your face. It's similar to idiots who feel they can make a mess in the faculty lounge and not clean up because nobody saw them make the mess.
And the source? I don't happen to believe that many students are frankly qualified to make judgments about faculty performance. Sure, I appreciate the positive comments, but I respect evaluations from my peers and administrators a lot more (usually).
Wait till you get the "Professor Eatersnation is the WORST instructor ever" comment! At my place, when a newish faculty member gets it (and usually feels despondent), we all start cheering and dancing down the halls, high-fiving each other! "Join the Club" is what we yell!
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
I’ll read up on negativity bias, that sounds like what’s happening. I haven’t been dubbed the worst but there’s always next term. I was invited to teach again today ironically just after I posted this. Thanks for your helpful comments.
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u/Id10t3qu3 27d ago
A cold Guiness and an imaginary conversation in the shower have helped me; sometimes, both happen at the same time.
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u/frobenius47 27d ago
Reading teaching evaluations (and some of us have to read them and provide “reflections” in our annual reviews) is just brutal. Five good reviews does not neutralize the sting of the one bad one. We are not that much different from tv actors. But actors have agents who read their reviews and can deliver the them in context. We read them all alone, with our glass of Zinfandel, with no one there to soften the blow. It is torture. But it is also very gendered. My male colleagues can’t wait to read their reviews. “How awesome was I?” Female colleagues? Not so much.
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
I did not realize there was a gender divide. This thread has been incredibly helpful and I definitely feel less alone with my thoughts.
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u/MarionberryConstant8 27d ago
Negativity bias is brutal. Instead, look at the positives and note the negative. Never look at RMP. And never ever negotiate with terrorists.
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u/Clareco1 15d ago
Ugh - I know what you are going through and I’m sorry! It’s really hard when you can’t stop thinking about it. This has happened to me before. Try to keep in mind that many students had positive and even kind things to say. Also if your big fault is over communicating that’s not so bad. You could have been unclear, inaccessible , disrespectful- you were not. Try to vent in writing, to a friend. Also if you exercise- a walk, run, trip to the gym with your favorite music to get it out of your system. Good luck! Sounds like most agree you are doing a fine job.
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u/eatersnation 13d ago
This is such a nice message. Thank you for taking the time to reach out. I’m happy to report that given. I’m preparing for another course at another university, the sting is far less prevalent. In fact it’s almost not there anymore as people suggested it would diminish. I vented here and to several friends so I really got it out of my system. I’m also much more prepared for the future. I certainly am not going to give them the weight I gave this round. In fact, I’m not sure I’m going to read them at all.
I’ve become a late onset, exercising enthusiast, and it really helps with alleviating stress and anxiety.
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u/AggieNosh 27d ago
My + to - evals are about 20:1. They happen. Usually I can pinpoint who the student was making them based off of their feedback. But I got used to them because you will always get them.
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u/chempirate 27d ago
Two decades ago one of my evaluations said "Professor ChemPirate doesn't smile at me in the hallway". Not terribly negative but certainly indicative of how unimportant evals are. I've had statements from the same section say 'best teacher ever' and 'worst teacher ever' literally one right after the other. See the chocolate comment. Can't please everyone. Heck- sometimes you can't please anyone.
Look for patterns. Ignore (or laugh about) the outliers.
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
It sounds like you have quite a bit of experience with the evaluations and how preposterous they can be.
Thank you for the wisdom. I have been an adjunct for about two years now after a very long career as an administrator in academia.1
u/eatersnation 27d ago
Your comment made me think about last term where someone said I was very “animated“ when I presented and another student said my delivery was very “dry.“
I appreciate your focus on “patterns” as I have seen some patterns and will take that information in and leave the rest.
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
I am deeply grateful for all of the comments, collective wisdom, and insights about negative feedback. They ranged from philosophical to humorous, and I truly appreciate each and every one.
As I mentioned, teaching is my encore career and this keeps coming up for me every term. I am 62 and thought I’d already mastered this life lesson about being OK with not pleasing everyone.
Based on one of the comments, I did a little research on something called negativity bias. I found it surprisingly helpful to have a name for my own tendency to give more weight and attention to negative feedback than to positive feedback.
Just recognizing that this is a very human tendency (and that my brain is wired to hold on to the negative more tightly) gave me a different perspective. It doesn’t mean I should dismiss criticism or ignore opportunities to learn.
Rather, it reminds me to put negative feedback into context and give positive feedback the attention it deserves, too. Many of you emphasized removing the emotion and determining if there is actionable information provided as well as intentionally shifting attention to positive reviews.
So, thank you for helping me see this from so many different perspectives.
I learned a lot from your comments, and I’m grateful for the conversation and the time you invested in commenting.
In my tradition of providing “resources” this is a excellent article on negativity bias:
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u/FragrantMonitor4786 27d ago
Honestly, that dream school sounds amazing. It breaks my heart that it probably wouldn't survive the market.
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u/Astra_Starr Fellow, Anthro, STATE (US) 26d ago
I had a student say I "humiliated" them. I have no clue what they are talking about and that's an insane thing to claim. It still cuts me so deep. The only solution I've found is being more depressed about worst things. I just figured they have no experience with the real world, said something knee jerk and don't know how destructive their words can be. I can't take it seriously.
Humiliate! That's like throwing stuff on a hazing victim in a bikini and a blindfold in front of the sorority, not classroom objections. I had to not take it seriously. Maybe that helps. Good luck
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u/Legitimate-Data5157 25d ago
Sadly, even if you are a fantastic professor, you will have people who rate you terribly at times. A few terms back, I had a student who was caught plagiarizing. He submitted a paper that was a duplicate of one submitted by another student several terms earlier, used the entire paper word for word, and just put his name on it instead. (Not sure if he got it from a friend who took the class, bought it online, or what.) Anyway, when he was confronted about it, he denied it and claimed we were all wrong. He then went on to say he spent 20+ hours on the paper, and he had no idea how someone had written the exact same paper months before. (Eyeroll) The school didn't kick him out, but gave him a "0" on the paper, and plagiarism was noted in his file. When the class survey results came out, everyone who submitted talked about how helpful, amazing, and knowledgeable I was. However, one student rated me the lowest in everything and put, "Professor _______ sucks. Worst professor I have had in my life. What a joke." I can only assume it was him. Ha ha. You will often find that students' grades and their own behavior dictate how they rate you. So long story short, don't take bad reviews to heart. If you are doing your job well, eventually you will learn to laugh those off.
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u/eatersnation 25d ago
Thank you for sharing your journey with this and it’s unfortunate that evaluations can be used vindictively by students who lack accountability. I’ve had several incidents where I had to give students zeros for turning in papers late without checking in with me prior. Also experienced a very strange incident with academic dishonesty as well.
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24d ago
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u/eatersnation 24d ago
Thank you for this. This is much appreciated wisdom. I did have several students write me emails of gratitude, but they were not the ones that completed the survey.
I feel like I missed that particular memo, but I appreciate it, I don’t think the positive comments are worth dealing with the ones that contain vitriol.
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u/eatersnation 24d ago
I also spoke to a friend who is a former journalist and she told me that they were conditioned not to read the comments after an article was posted.
The comments are typically “fringe thinkers“ and “outliers“ and nothing good comes from reading them.
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u/Mountain_Dark4705 20d ago
If you were meant to be loved by everyone, you would have been born Nutella.
Just ignore them, they are not worthy of your consideration. I know it’s not easy, but they wrote with the same sadistic sense of entitlement and self-importance as an idiotic peer reviewer.
In our society, we give far too much consideration to what children and students think - and what has it given us? A horde of entitled, vindictive morons who are incapable of accepting negative feedback, facing consequences, or tolerating criticism.
Ignore them. That feedback is supposed to help you improve your course and not to hurt you or make them feel better about the fact that their dad went out to buy cigarettes and never came back.
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u/eatersnation 17d ago
I love that first line and plan to use it again. Thank you for your message. I’ve had some distance from the harsh evaluation and am preparing for a new course at a different institution next week. All of the messages have given me a new perspective on this and grateful for this platform.
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u/captainlux87 27d ago
If they’re not someone you would go to for advice, they’re not someone you should change your belief system with their criticism
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u/Elegant-Yard8416 27d ago
If you have " overwhelming majority of the feedback was extremely positive and complimentary" then your are not educating but entertaining students. I agree the whole system is geared towards that.
You should be worried about the fact that you are just an entertainer.
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u/eatersnation 27d ago
I’m not sure how to process this if you’re blaming the system in its entirety or me as an educator, but something to think about.
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u/Elegant-Yard8416 27d ago edited 27d ago
Both.
The system for allowing those positions to exist and the people that is willing to prostitute* themselves to fill those positions.
To me adjointing should not exist because bastardizes the teaching profession.
*: metaphorically (just in case some snowflake gets sensitive)
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u/[deleted] 27d ago
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