Social Anxiety Support

WintersTale · 09-08-2009, 02:11 PM

I have this professor for an algebra class I'm taking. The first class was today, and she is extremely annoying to the point where I want to strangle her (and I've never felt that way about a teacher before.) She's in-your-face, abrasive, and just plain irritating.

She said today that she calls on the 'shy' people. "The shyer you are, the more I'm going to call on you." Umm okay, ($(%*$. I don't want to be called on that much, and odds are, she's going to pick up on that I'm quiet and shy, and make my life a living hell.

On the other hand, in order to switch to a different teacher, I have to have her sign the add/drop form, and that will pretty much clue her in on how much I dislike her. I want to avoid a confrontation, but I also know I can't get through 2 months of this, I'll go crazy.

What to do?

My next class isn't until Thursday, so I'll have to make a decision by then.

stewbert · 09-08-2009, 02:26 PM

I had a teacher like that once, and here's what I did. I would make a point of raising my hand to answer a question or to ask a question at the beginning of each class. That way, yeah, I had to talk, but it was on my terms. And since I was the very first one, it's like it would stick in her mind that 'oh, she's already spoken up,' and she would never call on me. That way I didn't have to sit there shaking like a leaf all class period worrying that she would call on me next. I had already gotten it over with. It also tricked her into thinking that I wasn't shy, since I spoke up before anyone else. I can honestly say she didn't pick on me nearly as much as the others.

rctriplefresh5 · 09-08-2009, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WintersTale

I have this professor for an algebra class I'm taking. The first class was today, and she is extremely annoying to the point where I want to strangle her (and I've never felt that way about a teacher before.) She's in-your-face, abrasive, and just plain irritating.

She said today that she calls on the 'shy' people. "The shyer you are, the more I'm going to call on you." Umm okay, ($(%*$. I don't want to be called on that much, and odds are, she's going to pick up on that I'm quiet and shy, and make my life a living hell.

On the other hand, in order to switch to a different teacher, I have to have her sign the add/drop form, and that will pretty much clue her in on how much I dislike her. I want to avoid a confrontation, but I also know I can't get through 2 months of this, I'll go crazy.

What to do?

My next class isn't until Thursday, so I'll have to make a decision by then.

i ALWAYS register for my classes well in advance, and i go on ratemyprofessors.com. i am the type of person who requires a teacher to stay after class with me for a half hour after class ends pretty much after every class because sometimes i dont catch on. all but one of my professors in my 1 year of college and 36 credits have been EXCEPTIONAL. i just got home from my bio lab and i talked to the teacher and another student girl for an hour after class(hey ive got nothing better to do and i needed some help on what we learned.

locsaf · 09-08-2009, 07:37 PM

I'm really surprised the common things I'm finding here but I guess this would be the sort of place to find them.

I had a teacher who sounded very similar. He seemed to me to be uninterested in teaching anyone and willing to force, ridicule or humiliate anyone who didn't learn immediately. He said that people had problems with him and with a gesture of daring, asked anyone to come up and ask to leave the class if they wanted, this was on the first day of the class.

If I was an ideal person and after I have had time to think about it, I would have wanted to stand straight up immediately and ask for exactly that, a transfer, and persist about it until it was done, and not care in the slightest about his attitude or whatever insulting remarks he had for me in return.

Instead what I did was return to the class once more, get even angrier when he did annoying things, learn little and then decide to not come back to the class without bothering to switch to another before the period that I could have. I still think at times of doing unmentionable things to him. Really I would want to do what I mentioned in the second paragraph though.

WintersTale · 09-08-2009, 08:18 PM

She did say that if I didn't like her personality, that I should probably leave the class right now.

Right now I'm on the fence about it. I've filled out an add-drop form to switch to a different class, but I have to have the teacher sign it. I'm going to go to that other class on Thursday, and see if I like it. If I do, I'll just drop the other class, and that'll be the end of it.

(I was mistaken that the current professor had to sign it, it has to be the professor of the class I'm switching to.)

Cerberus · 09-09-2009, 07:18 AM

That's odd that you guys have to go through all that effort to drop a course after just one or two classes. I was able to do that online without a problem. I dropped and added many courses at the beginning of the semester so that I could have professors I could tolerate.

It would be better to go through with the add/drop forms for a few minutes than deal with bullying professors all semester. However, I've had professors who seemed like jackasses on the first day of class, who later turned out to be alright and pretty laid back in a week or two. Professors get stressed out too, so their behavior may sometimes reflect that for the first few class periods. The beginning of a semester can be pretty stressful for everyone. That wasn't very helpful. lol

WintersTale · 09-09-2009, 09:41 AM

Well, I went on rateyourprofessor.com, and found 13 negative responses. It turns out that she's even worse than I imagined: arrives late to class every day, doesn't believe in calculators, assigns nicknames and makes fun of students, lectures for minutes at a time about her social life and other people's social lives, half the class will drop out by the time mid-semester rolls around. No thanks.

I'm switching to a different professor.

I also found the professor I was going to switch to, and she got a very high rating. So it looks like I'm going to switch to her; I'll go to that class, get my add/drop paper signed, and then after class I'll drop it in registration. I won't even have to go back to that horrible professor.

rctriplefresh5 · 09-09-2009, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rctriplefresh5

i ALWAYS register for my classes well in advance, and i go on ratemyprofessors.com. i am the type of person who requires a teacher to stay after class with me for a half hour after class ends pretty much after every class because sometimes i dont catch on. all but one of my professors in my 1 year of college and 36 credits have been EXCEPTIONAL. i just got home from my bio lab and i talked to the teacher and another student girl for an hour after class(hey ive got nothing better to do and i needed some help on what we learned.

Quote:

Originally Posted by WintersTale

Well, I went on rateyourprofessor.com, and found 13 negative responses. It turns out that she's even worse than I imagined: arrives late to class every day, doesn't believe in calculators, assigns nicknames and makes fun of students, lectures for minutes at a time about her social life and other people's social lives, half the class will drop out by the time mid-semester rolls around. No thanks.

I'm switching to a different professor.

I also found the professor I was going to switch to, and she got a very high rating. So it looks like I'm going to switch to her; I'll go to that class, get my add/drop paper signed, and then after class I'll drop it in registration. I won't even have to go back to that horrible professor.

good luck man. i am happy with all of my professors this semester. i had my first week this week and met all but one of them. the professor makes all of the difference. my math teacher stayed after with me today because i had concerns and told me to come visit her any time during her office hours.

WintersTale · 09-20-2009, 06:28 PM

Just wanted to say that the situation is resolved. Switched to a different professor a week ago, and I'm really happy with her. She's a great teacher.

I feel bad for all the people who had to suffer the other professor's wrath, though.

09-08-2009, 02:11 PM	#1 (permalink)
WintersTale Status: Falling into eternity Join Date: May 2007 Gender: Male Age: 27 Posts: 1,506	Dealing with a professor who's annoying I have this professor for an algebra class I'm taking. The first class was today, and she is extremely annoying to the point where I want to strangle her (and I've never felt that way about a teacher before.) She's in-your-face, abrasive, and just plain irritating. She said today that she calls on the 'shy' people. "The shyer you are, the more I'm going to call on you." Umm okay, ($(%$. I don'*t want to be called on that much, and odds are, she's going to pick up on that I'm quiet and shy, and make my life a living hell. On the other hand, in order to switch to a different teacher, I have to have her sign the add/drop form, and that will pretty much clue her in on how much I dislike her. I want to avoid a confrontation, but I also know I can't get through 2 months of this, I'll go crazy. What to do? My next class isn't until Thursday, so I'll have to make a decision by then. __________________ "Every moment of your life Is a chance to get it right Any moment you've been living in You could turn it on like a light All the weight of the years Has got me burstin' into tears Standin' here with nothin' I stand alone inside my fears." - Third Eye Blind

09-08-2009, 08:18 PM	#5 (permalink)
WintersTale Status: Falling into eternity Join Date: May 2007 Gender: Male Age: 27 Posts: 1,506	She did say that if I didn't like her personality, that I should probably leave the class right now. Right now I'm on the fence about it. I've filled out an add-drop form to switch to a different class, but I have to have the teacher sign it. I'm going to go to that other class on Thursday, and see if I like it. If I do, I'll just drop the other class, and that'll be the end of it. (I was mistaken that the current professor had to sign it, it has to be the professor of the class I'm switching to.) __________________ "Every moment of your life Is a chance to get it right Any moment you've been living in You could turn it on like a light All the weight of the years Has got me burstin' into tears Standin' here with nothin' I stand alone inside my fears." - Third Eye Blind

09-09-2009, 07:18 AM	#6 (permalink)
Cerberus Status: SAS Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Utah Posts: 5,721	That's odd that you guys have to go through all that effort to drop a course after just one or two classes. I was able to do that online without a problem. I dropped and added many courses at the beginning of the semester so that I could have professors I could tolerate. It would be better to go through with the add/drop forms for a few minutes than deal with bullying professors all semester. However, I've had professors who seemed like jackasses on the first day of class, who later turned out to be alright and pretty laid back in a week or two. Professors get stressed out too, so their behavior may sometimes reflect that for the first few class periods. The beginning of a semester can be pretty stressful for everyone. That wasn't very helpful. lol __________________ "Through the valleys grey Through the shapeless land I walk alone I'm left alone Through the deepest void, a blackened paradise I walk alone, I'm left alone"

09-09-2009, 09:41 AM	#7 (permalink)
WintersTale Status: Falling into eternity Join Date: May 2007 Gender: Male Age: 27 Posts: 1,506	Well, I went on rateyourprofessor.com, and found 13 negative responses. It turns out that she's even worse than I imagined: arrives late to class every day, doesn't believe in calculators, assigns nicknames and makes fun of students, lectures for minutes at a time about her social life and other people's social lives, half the class will drop out by the time mid-semester rolls around. No thanks. I'm switching to a different professor. I also found the professor I was going to switch to, and she got a very high rating. So it looks like I'm going to switch to her; I'll go to that class, get my add/drop paper signed, and then after class I'll drop it in registration. I won't even have to go back to that horrible professor. __________________ "Every moment of your life Is a chance to get it right Any moment you've been living in You could turn it on like a light All the weight of the years Has got me burstin' into tears Standin' here with nothin' I stand alone inside my fears." - Third Eye Blind

09-20-2009, 06:28 PM	#9 (permalink)
WintersTale Status: Falling into eternity Join Date: May 2007 Gender: Male Age: 27 Posts: 1,506	Just wanted to say that the situation is resolved. Switched to a different professor a week ago, and I'm really happy with her. She's a great teacher. I feel bad for all the people who had to suffer the other professor's wrath, though. __________________ "Every moment of your life Is a chance to get it right Any moment you've been living in You could turn it on like a light All the weight of the years Has got me burstin' into tears Standin' here with nothin' I stand alone inside my fears." - Third Eye Blind

09-08-2009, 02:26 PM	#2 (permalink)
stewbert Status: SAS Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Memphis Gender: Female Age: 25 Posts: 71	I had a teacher like that once, and here's what I did. I would make a point of raising my hand to answer a question or to ask a question at the beginning of each class. That way, yeah, I had to talk, but it was on my terms. And since I was the very first one, it's like it would stick in her mind that 'oh, she's already spoken up,' and she would never call on me. That way I didn't have to sit there shaking like a leaf all class period worrying that she would call on me next. I had already gotten it over with. It also tricked her into thinking that I wasn't shy, since I spoke up before anyone else. I can honestly say she didn't pick on me nearly as much as the others.

09-08-2009, 07:37 PM	#4 (permalink)
locsaf Status: SAS Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Gender: Male Age: 27 Posts: 79	I'm really surprised the common things I'm finding here but I guess this would be the sort of place to find them. I had a teacher who sounded very similar. He seemed to me to be uninterested in teaching anyone and willing to force, ridicule or humiliate anyone who didn't learn immediately. He said that people had problems with him and with a gesture of daring, asked anyone to come up and ask to leave the class if they wanted, this was on the first day of the class. If I was an ideal person and after I have had time to think about it, I would have wanted to stand straight up immediately and ask for exactly that, a transfer, and persist about it until it was done, and not care in the slightest about his attitude or whatever insulting remarks he had for me in return. Instead what I did was return to the class once more, get even angrier when he did annoying things, learn little and then decide to not come back to the class without bothering to switch to another before the period that I could have. I still think at times of doing unmentionable things to him. Really I would want to do what I mentioned in the second paragraph though.