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Originally Posted by Martian
You're allowed to ramble. 
Here I go with another one of those hard truths. I hate it when I have to come up with these, but it happens. |
It's cool.
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So, yeah. You obviously can't treat them like they're in middle school, but you can't be too soft with them either. Having a reputation as soft or as someone who fails a lot of students is worse than having a reputation as a hard ass, if you ask me.
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Sure. I think I'd prefer some middle ground, but ejecting someone from class the first day and dropping a dozen students involuntarily after they didn't show up the first week hasn't exactly moved me away from the "hardass" end of the spectrum.
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Further, if you do get that rep as someone who doesn't (pardon the expression) dick around in class, you'll probably find that the students who do sign up for your class will consist largely of those who want to learn the material. The ones who just want an easy credit will move on to something (or someone) who will give them that.
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Oh, I have no problem with keeping class focused and on task. It's much more difficult with middle schoolers than with these mostly 18 and 19-year-olds. I just didn't think there would be clowns and whiners and show-offs at this level. I don't remember them from my undergraduate classes.
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The part that I think you're still learning is there are times when it's good to be nice and there are other times where it's necessary to be firm and stick to your guns. You need to set clear deadlines and have firm consequences for not meeting them.
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Yep. Nice sure didn't work with this one. It just took me by surprise that she could get to this level and not be a trustworthy, reliable person.
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In specific regard to the TA, you've done well so far. But the fact of the matter is, she's pushed it to this point. Whatever the reasoning, she's not getting her work done and that's just not acceptable. You're right; she has put you in this position. You're not responsible for it. Why, then, should you feel bad for her having to suffer the consequences of her own actions?
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She's a nice person in a difficult situation with a lot of demands on her time and energy. I understand that, I sympathize, and wanted to make allowances for it and give her as much of an opportunity to correct her own behavior as possible. I like her. I want to see her succeed, not fail, so I did as much as a could to give her that chance.
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On the other hand, if you do end up canning her, how do you think your future TA's will behave? What do you think their reaction will be when they find out that you sacked the first TA ever assigned to you because she wasn't working hard enough?
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Hmm. They'll probably be hesitant to work with me out of fear that I'm a difficult supervisor. This is why I wanted to avoid this situation.
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It's not that you want them to fear you and it's not that you have to be a complete bitch. It's a simple matter of making it clear that if they don't do the work assigned there will be negative consequences. At this point if you don't get rid of her, you may gain a reputation as a 'soft' teacher, one who hesitates to do what's necessary. That's only going to attract more people looking for a free ride. Long term, you're better off getting rid of her and saving you both a lot of aggravation down the road. After all, once she gets out in the world, I can guarantee that any future employers will not hesitate on account of her reputation. If she doesn't do the tasks assigned to her, she will lose her job and that's that. She needs that wake up call and you can give it to her. It would be unkind not to do it, really.
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After talking to Grace, I've decided to ask for her to be reassigned due to personality conflicts.
You know what sucks the most about this? I have a research grant proposal sitting on my desk, but I need an assistant/partner to share the work with me. This would have been a plum opportunity to get her name on a research grant and the paper that'll be published at the end, and I've had to put it off because the extra work I'm doing hasn't left me with the time to polish it up and find a partner. I hope it doesn't sound like bragging, but this is practically a guaranteed publication. And she just went and pissed the opportunity away without even knowing it.
Thank you for the advice and support. I'm good with the class management; I've never had a problem with that. I taught high school in Los Angeles my first year. I hated, hated, hated it, but I had control of my class and a reputatiion among those students not in my classes as a heartless bitch, but the students who were there learned, and everything after that has been a cakewalk in terms of keeping things in order.
I guess the difference is that those were kids, and this was an accomplished adult, and I expected competence as a given.
Gilda