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.

6
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ Thanks Deane. Unfortunately, { people who know about my teaching skills } $\cap$ { people who are experienced teachers } = $\emptyset$ $\endgroup$
    – Amit Kumar Gupta
    Commented Jul 9, 2011 at 18:01
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ You're a graduate student at Berkeley, and none of your professors can be bothered to observe you and evaluate your teaching skills? To be honest, I consider that to be a fundamental responsibility of a tenured faculty member. If you will be doing any more teaching before you apply for jobs, I encourage you to seek out an appropriate faculty member to observe and evaluate your teaching. Also, as I mentioned in my answer, you should definitely provide the results of student evaluations. $\endgroup$
    – Deane Yang
    Commented Jul 9, 2011 at 21:09
  • 5
    $\begingroup$ Having just visited Berkeley for a semester, I can report that faculty there with TAs in their class are supposed to sit in on all of their TAs discussion sections at least once. In any event, I agree completely with Deane that it is a terrible idea to use a student's letter as your teaching letter for jobs. If you were applying for some teaching award, then a student's letter wouldn't look unusual, but in an academic job application-- at least for research department jobs -- it would be considered bizarre, almost like having a classmate write a research letter for you. $\endgroup$
    – KConrad
    Commented Jul 9, 2011 at 21:50
  • $\begingroup$ I agree with this strong statement. Another way to put it a bit simplified: If you are applying for a research job, then the teaching part of your application can only cost you a job, not gain you a job. Doing s.th. unusual there is pointless at best and risky at worst. If you are applying for a teaching job, then it is REALLY important that the information about your teaching is professional and informative. $\endgroup$
    – Arend Bayer
    Commented Jul 10, 2011 at 14:48
  • $\begingroup$ @KConrad, it's interesting you say that faculty are supposed to do this, in my four years of being a TA here I've only had one professor sit in once, and that was because it was my first semester teaching. @ABayer, it's not a research job, just a teaching job. @Deane, I don't think anyone said that faculty can't be bothered to observe me, but I'd have to ask someone to do it, it isn't something faculty would otherwise do. $\endgroup$
    – Amit Kumar Gupta
    Commented Jul 10, 2011 at 18:22