======= Date Modified 20 Feb 2009 08:55:52 =======
I'm sorry you're having a bad time with the teaching, it can be stressful on top of research.

I think the things you're worried about are two different aspects of teaching, getting evaluated by students, and the level and content of what you're actually teaching them. One's more subjective than the other. How students feed back depends on whether they like you to some extent, your teaching style as well as what you give them in teaching materials, handouts, anything else like that. Some like you and give glowing evals, the odd one may not because they don't like you for whatever reason, but that's life!

Whether or not a test is 'too easy' is an academic issue, related to the curriculum of that course and how you interpret it. It's bigger than the relationship between you and the students, it's assessed in different ways within uni and ultimately HEFCE guidelines. Presumably you include material in your teaching you have to teach for that course, then interpret it as you think best. My students hate the Harvard system of referencing and often struggle with essays, but I'm not going to change all that in the hope that they give me better anonymous feedback. It's a uni requirement and moderated accordingly as part of academic standards. If you make an actual test too easy, will you be departing from your department's expected academic standards and not meeting the requirements of the job? Maybe you can just approach the same content differently and teach it in an alternative way if you think it's not quite right for your class?

People do teach in different ways though, so if your way is working maybe you should not worry so much and carry on as you are. If your students don't fail in droves, walk out of your classes en masse and you get asked back to teach again, you must be doing something right! I think it's partly trial and error actually, teaching's a self-reflexive process for me as I often make little changes each year, depending on what works and what doesn't, and I don't think there's anything wrong in that.

Yes, some bits are sh*tholes but are located really close to decent bits, which is quite weird from a housing cost perspective...

What about bits of south London, like East Dulwich? The buses are good and it's still in zone 2 - I lived there for a while and it was fine, getting quite an interesting mix of shops etc these days I believe. I sat next to an MP on a bus once and she wasn't wearing a bulletproof jacket like that one wandering around Peckham did a while back! Some bits of south London are dodgy but lots aren't, ask around from people who live there. People seem to get put off by the lack of tubes though I've never understood that myself, and have lots of friends in that area.

Places like Bromley are ok for the overall travelling time but it's not on the Oystercard system yet so it's more expensive to travel in (my mum lives near there).

What is an eight ball in your head??? I've never heard that term before.

Out of curiosity, what broad subject area/discipline are you studying?

I'd try really hard to prove them wrong as well, though as the others have said, overheard second-hand snippets of conversations aren't necessarily accurate and are out of context.

Your academic abilities should be judged separately from your appearance, even though they're obviously both you. When our external examiners read our theses, they don't get a full length photo and a run down of the contents of our wardrobes. It's the work that matters. If those staff for some reason regard being fashionable as an indication of being brainless or incapable of any academic achievement, that really is their problem and I think it's a bit sad actually. It reminds me of that film with Reese Witherspoon, Legally Blonde, where she proved she could be girly and fashionable and also an effective lawyer.

I can't remember the reference now, but a while back there was an article in the Times Higher about the dreadful state of UK academics dress, who were actually being sent on expensive workshops by their unis in an attempt to improve their appearances. There is no logical reason why an interest in fashion and being academically successful should be mutually exclusive - what's wrong with doing both? Try to forget those comments, concentrate all your energy on doing really well in your PhD and show them how wrong they were to have such shallow views of your capabilities.

Hello there!

Lara, it sounds like you've got the right balance between studying in different places and having a life, there'll be no stopping you now!!:-)

Heifer, I hope you managed to get what you wanted off to your supervisors yesterday. It's curious how computer things go wrong just when you really need them to work properly. It made me do a major backup of my work after reading your post, so thanks for that!

I'm still doing that chapter 4. I started writing it up properly yesterday at long last but got hungry, had dinner and fell asleep, so ended up having a really early night. I seem to be sleeping more at the moment, I never used to fall asleep after dinner, and I do sleep for about 8hrs a night I think. I keep waking up in the night though, and think I have anxious dreams that I don't normally have, so maybe it's just the stress and that's why I sleep more. Someone I emailed got back to me last night which is great, and I found a ref yesterday, so didn't need to email someone else either - one less thing to chase up. Whoopppeeee! It all helps.

Today I really have to get that chapter done, even if I think it's not great - it's too late for faffing about. See you later.(up)

======= Date Modified 18 Feb 2009 14:45:34 =======
oooh, it's 4 hours since I posted on here last...

What have I done then???

Ummm, I've made a lot of notes for restructuring that annoying chapter, which is all good I think. It is creeping towards a decent bit of writing at last. I've had lunch, so now I am sleepy... I've weighed myself to find out why I can't get into some of my skirts without almost busting the zips. It seems that I've put on over half a stone since December, which is a lot when you're short, but luckily my width does not nearly match my height, so I'm not a completely round ball of fat yet.* It'll go when I've handed this thesis in, I know it will.

And I've done odd domestic stuff too, but now I feel a bit guilty so I'd better get off this forum and back to work. :-s

* I was thinking I didn't want to end up looking like a weeble, those toys shaped like rotund people that were around when I was young - they wobble but they don't fall down. Apparently. It's not very likely though!! *phew*

I felt a bit weird when my examiners were confirmed, as it was a big definite step towards the very end of the whole process. When the forms were sent off to the committee with my abstract, it confirmed the wheels were in motion and everything was slowly moving forwards. I think it was the way these things made everything official, I felt like there was no turning back and there really was an end in sight. I didn't cry, but I thought oooh blimey, it's really happening... this thing I've been working towards for SO long.... goodness me!

Though I'm vaguely embarrassed to admit that my conceptual framework did reduce me to tears of frustration recently! :-)

Hello, morning all.

Lara and Armendaf, thanks for your support. :-) I know it's still near enough to your submissions for you both to remember the horror and that means a lot to me, as you 'get' the whole situation. My mum's great, but she always wants to know what I've finished when I speak to her for the daily update on my progress. It depresses me a bit, as I'm all over the place with it and it's just not straightforward at this stage. Armendaf, you are so right that of anywhere, this forum is the place where people have had the same problems and know what you're going through.

Lara, is your new notebook helping, and has your BL change of scenery helped at all....?

Heifer, I get paralysed into inactivity too sometimes when the realisation of the workload hits me - it's so horrible, and you know it's totally counterproductive, but maybe we have to go through these little phases to get us working again.... who knows! I don't think you should be too hard on yourself though, you did have a completely non-PhD related weekend, so maybe it's taking a bit longer.

So what do I think I'm going to do today then??????
1. I've knocked off a couple more emails for extra info from odd people. I've got 3 more to do and after that if I get no response then I'll have to just write around these gaps in my research. Annoying, but necessary at this stage.
2. Finish this chapter 4 rewrite and send to my sup. Today.

That'll do for now - if I miraculously get all that finished then I can do pics and check figs and refs for chapter 2.

See you later. Hope everyone has a productive day (including me!!!)

I don't think it sounds like a huge dilemma. The jobs you get in the future and any teaching you get while you're doing your PhD will depend largely on your PhD topic. What exactly is your topic going to be? If it's English, presumably you'll have supervisors with the appropriate expertise who should be able to offer you teaching in your subject, even if the actual departmental affiliation at the uni might not seem logical. Not everyone is attached to a dept that exactly matches their subject, and several on this forum, including me, cross several disciplines and departments in our choice of PhD topic. Though I have been aware recently of needing to align myself with certain depts more than others, so it's more obvious on paper where I 'fit in' when applying for future jobs....

Hi Armendaf,

Well, they all sound like good plans of action to me! Umm yes and I can believe that you've got loads of copies of the same chapters strewn about the place, sometimes I find ones from years ago so presumably I'm not good at chucking stuff out.

I'm so envious of you right now, actually preparing for the viva.... sigh.... I never realised how vile the pre-submission stage was going to be, but it's UTTERLY HELLISH - there are no other words for it at the moment. But I bet you know that anyway lol! I've almost given up on posting on here, it's too depressing when I don't do what I intended to do at the start of the day and keep chopping and changing my plans... it makes me feel downright flaky sometimes, but there you go, that's my problem. So I'll just *sigh* again and sign off with a heavy heart, back into my bleak hellhole.... oooh, there's nothing like moaning out loud is there, even if no one reads it lol. Oh yes, it gets it out of your system, if nothing else! I've been doing the first sections, you know the official bits, acknowledgements etc as I stopped thinking usefully after lunch. It all helps in the end though, does it not.

Oh well, I'd better get back to 'it', it won't get itself ready for submission unfortunately and it may be a long night ahead .....:-s:-s:-s

How's anyone else doing????

Heifer, is accountability working for you, or is it a bit annoying or pointless in practice? :-)

Morning Heifer!

You've prodded me into posting again hehe. Glad you had a good weekend, maybe you'll have to ease yourself back into work gently. :-)

I'm on leave now from work to finish my thesis, but got a bit freaked out at the weekend about how much I have to do still. I tried to make a proper timetable for the days left but it didn't work very well, so I did a different one with all the various sections, what needs doing and how much time they should take (in days/half days etc) but not which actual days to do them as that seems too rigid at the moment. I woke up really early (5.30am!!) and feel a bit sick now, I don't know if it's the last coffee I had or a mental thing about my workload. Maybe both! I can't believe I'm still rewriting significant chunks of a certain chapter, but it has to be done.... I dislike that chapter almost as much as the methodology one, which is probably why I've left it so long....:$ Funny how you have favourite sections (or not.)

I think my aims are going to be a bit all over the place for the next week, as I keep swopping around depending on how mentally perky I'm feeling.
So today: I think I'll 'whack' another paragraph into the methodology chapter as advised by my sup, which will finally knock that off my to-do list FOR EVER. By lunchtime.
Then ring my sup about the other problem chapter 4.
Then either get writing that chapter, OR finish off Ch. 9 properly (as in submittable version, another one crossed off forever).

Well folks, good luck with today's work - see you later!
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