I am so honoured and grateful after reviewing my student feedback surveys for the Fall 2021 semester. Last semester I saw an alarming increase in mental health self-disclosures from students and many of my colleagues echoed this concern. The pandemic has been very tough on education and many students, who are already under tremendous pressure, feel overwhelmed and helpless. Making a positive impact in my students’ lives is personally important to me; if a student fails a class, I consider it a personal failure. If somebody doesn’t ever attend a class or hand anything in that is one thing, but if they are attending class and completing assignments, there is no reason they should have trouble passing my intro writing classes. If they did, that would, in my opinion, be on me.
Frankly, last semester was hard on me:
I had some really difficult things in my personal life right at the end of term and was having trouble with the pandemic like everyone else. I was completing the last seminar of my PhD coursework, co-coordinating the department’s theory sessions, teaching three college courses and TAing one at the University (worrying a lot for students in crisis), all while still trying to find time for my personal writing and music.
All that said, getting a 4.9/5 overall mean score from my students really makes it worthwhile.
Since these courses were delivered online, the students never really saw me or met me outside of zoom (where they rarely saw my face because I was almost always screen-sharing course content). As a result, this feedback feels like it is solely based on the merits of my course material and my written feedback/communication. I am so happy with this result; it motivates me to continue pursuing a career in academia.
Chris Austin Music 