^, ^^ and ^^^ are correct. As a TA your job is not to be on the students' side but to present a united effort with fellow TAs and professor.
The professor routinely disparaged me in front of the students the entire semester. Why didn't the professor get this united front memo?
If OP were half as brilliant as he thinks he is, he would have realized that the whole "hurt my feelings" talk was, in fact, a sort of passive-aggressive, cutesy way of saying "you screwed up, don't do it again" without actually yelling at you.
But you can't take a hint.
This guy isn't that smart. He made a big deal about having a completely unusual life then he holds himself up as a normative case. The thing he doesn't like about me is that I use "theory." The same professor uses theory. Students in the class use theory. The only person's theory that threatens this professor is mine. Because I'm a minority. He makes sexist and racist remarks all the time.
OP here:
This professor said he married his first girlfriend, still lived in his first house, and still had his first job. And he done the same exact thing for 40 years of his career. He said his life is highly unusual. But he also holds himself up as a normative case. He is always the right way to do things.
This guy contradicts himself frequently in his lectures. He says that "theory" is terrible and students should learn by intuition. He plays music and movies in class a lot. This class is terrible.
I know I am supposed to respect the professor, but this guy is nowhere near the intelligence and maturity of my Ivy professors.
1. I have gotten annoyed with him two times. Each time, he has later on recycled my criticism of him back on me. This "hurt my feelings" remark is something I said to him about 8 weeks ago. I criticized him another time for personalizing a professional matter and being defensive. Then he later criticized me publicly during class for being defensive.
2. He criticizes me for going public in my comments, but he has criticized me publicly in front of my students numerous times.
3. He thinks women should stay "in the home." And feminist criticism invites trite, cliche scholarship.
This guy is crazy. He is nowhere near the same intelligence level as my regular Ivy professors.
you sound hysterical.
you sound hysterical.
Is saying that there are bullying professors who are poor teachers and poor managers that big an intellectual stretch for you? Are all of your professors amazing or do you just stick your head in the sand when your "friends" get bullied by Big Names? It's no wonder the labor movement is dying when TAs cannot stand up for their interests. Today's youth is so apolitical and apathetic. It's not "cool" to stand up for your rights.
Presenting a united front is a poor strategy. If you can get away with it (in other words, if the students won't rat you out), always side with the students against the professor. Your evaluations will go through the roof.
Whether a professor is good or not -- or if you respect him/her or not -- is irrelevant. You work for the professor and are not an independent contractor. As a professor, I support my TAs in their interactions with students (even when they screw up I keep the admonishments private or between me, TA and the DGS) and expect the same from TAs. I especially expect support in pedagogy. Over the years and probably hundreds of TAs I have had a small handful that have sought to undermine my teaching. Two points on this: (1) it always gets back to the professor and (2) this situation never works out well for the TA; never, ever, ever.
Now, spilling the beans on exam material is a fairly big deal and I would have called you out on it. (I don't get "hurt feelings", I would have eviscerated you.)
In this case, part of the solution is simple; if you violate the confidence, I no longer confide in you. This means I don't tell you what's on the exams, and you see it for the first time as you hand it out. Remember, there's plenty of time to figure out how you would teach better than the course professor after you get a PhD, a job and your own classes.
""Over the years and probably hundreds of TAs I have had a small handful that have sought to undermine my teaching. Two points on this: (1) it always gets back to the professor"
Well, this statement could never be falsified with the data you have, could it? If it didn't get back to you, you'd never know it happened. So you *may* be correct, but you wouldn't know if you were not.