Having a breakdown after reading class evaluations- PhD student/TA
I have TAed for 2 semesters now (my first time). As a PhD student it is part of my requirement to teach 50 min review session. The first semester wasn't great and I got terrible comments from students. It was disheartening but then I knew where I screwed up. In the second semester I thought I improved. I took tips from other good TAs, prepared material in slides as well as drew it on the board. It is difficult but important to draw graphs in Econ so I made it a point to draw them but also have it on slide so that people can look at a cleaner version. I got confused in class on some concepts because they are generally confusing to learn and teach and I am no expert. I think that happened twice.
This time also I got bad reviews. Very few students did the evaluation and I know it is a selection bias on who actually fills this. Nevertheless, I am having breakdowns thinking about this. I am hesitant to reach out to the instructor because I fear I will breakdown in from of them too. I think it is all the other PhD mental health stress but this just makes it worse. I really want to be a good resource for students and help them but I constantly feel devalued as a TA and researcher.
I am also an international student so I doubt myself even more with communication. In the first semester students said things about my accent in the evaluations too.
Anyone else feeling the same?