Thank you for the email. I received my evaluation. I feel that the evaluation system at this University places way too much emphasis on the discussion posts over everything else. Alas, it seems that no matter how many things I add (announcements, responding to every student during the initial week when they post information about themselves), it is never enough.  I don’t always post a question with every discussion post that I create, but I do on most. 

Now I see it is expected that we post six times in the discussion, not five, and that EVERY post must be more interactive. 

The other feedback I received was about grading. I post within each criterion to offer specific feedback on each area of the paper, yet again this wasn’t sufficient. They suggested I insert comments on each individual paper. The amount of time that would take… I have been an actual teacher in an actual classroom for 21 years, and I know how much time that would take. 

If the University would truly like to continuously increase their expectations for the adjunct professors without ever increasing their pay by even a dime, their expectations are unrealistic. I have been teaching here for fourteen and a half years and have pretty much never seen a pay increase. 

These are things I mentioned in my self-evaluation. 

I was offered the opportunity to evaluate myself, but what about student evaluations? As an educator in the public school system, 14% of my annual evaluation is based directly on student feedback. 

I wonder what my students would place emphasis on—how frequently I post in the discussions, or how frequently I respond to their messages, how tolerant I am of their tardy work, how accommodating I am to them by providing two stellar exemplars for each paper? 

Yet I will try my best to improve because that is who I am even though this job’s expectations and interactions with me are demoralizing at worst and mediocre at best. 

Thank you for your time.

sometimes markers win

when nothing else can save us

from Tuesday’s trauma

we created them
built on love; twenty-five years
and squeezing lemons

all three together 
rarer as our nest empties 
yet still so perfect 

for my youngest? boots
shoes, too, she’s so practical 
and so beautiful 

there will be no desk 
only the kitten’s kingdom 
over all that’s ours

sometimes life is just
this damn broken lawnmower 
instead of camping 

i couldn’t fix this
this eternal money pit
this hellhole of weeds

to them, it’s nothing 
just another Saturday 
painting overalls