Teaching: They Love Me

Who’s the patron saint of lost causes? And who prayed to him on my behalf?

Not that I believe in all of that, but I did just thumb through my teaching evaluations for this spring. And things are good. Surprisingly good.

My other thought is that, as terrible as it is that I’m becoming my father, I’m also becoming my mother. My father groans audibly to express his moods, unwittingly tells lousy jokes, and sings/hums songs poorly. I groan more than he does (my housemates have tried to work out a vocabulary for my happy groans vs frustrated vs sleepy…), I generally refuse to tell jokes, and try hard not to sing around other people. My mother worries – about everything (I do exaggerate a bit) – incessantly…

Now perhaps I’ve just been doing the same regarding my teaching. I really thought at least one or two of them would have bottled up all kinds of their own frustration over the course and would unleash it on the evaluations. But no.

The harshest evaluation said I should make the intro to Buddhism course a prerequisite so we don’t have to re-cover that material early on; that I should ‘expect less’ [from the students], and that my grade as an instructor is B.

Others said things [about me] like:

Very knowledgeable, answers questions lucidly, genuine interest and appreciation for material.

Easily approachable, knowledgeable, competent.

Concise, well-organized, relaxed but enthusiastic.

[my favorite] Extreme amount of understanding.

Very intelligent, kind, interesting, understanding and available.

Clear speaker, available, willing to help.

And so on… Nothing like, “OMG he knows EVERYTHING!!!” but then that would have been wayyyyyy over the top, but I am utterly delighted by the consistent appreciation expressed by the students.

I suppose I can stop worrying and do some work.