Skip to main content
MathOverflow

You are not logged in. Your edit will be placed in a queue until it is peer reviewed.

We welcome edits that make the post easier to understand and more valuable for readers. Because community members review edits, please try to make the post substantially better than how you found it, for example, by fixing grammar or adding additional resources and hyperlinks.

4
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for your response! While you're right, students aren't qualified to judge my teaching skills, I doubt if the professors for whom I've TA'd would be qualified to do this either, simply because they have no experience of my teaching, how I deal with problem students, etc. Could a reference letter from a fellow TA/PhD student be appropriate? $\endgroup$
    – Amit Kumar Gupta
    Commented Jul 9, 2011 at 17:56
  • $\begingroup$ "students not qualified to judge" is half-true, because after all, if they did not end up learning from the course, it is at least 50% a problem on the teacher's part. But otherwise, I agree with whatever else you have said above. $\endgroup$
    – Suvrit
    Commented Jul 9, 2011 at 18:44
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ If you only have one, it should be from someone who would have suffered paperwork if a student had complained about you, and it should also be from somebody who has attended one of your classes, and it should also be from somebody who cares deeply about teaching. If there isn't somebody fitting all of that, you should create such a person. It's fair game to ask someone to attend a class and give you feedback, with the hidden agenda of later asking this person to write a letter. $\endgroup$
    – Kevin O'Bryant
    Commented Jul 9, 2011 at 19:37
  • $\begingroup$ @Kevin, thanks, that sounds like a great suggestion! $\endgroup$
    – Amit Kumar Gupta
    Commented Jul 10, 2011 at 18:24