that ridiculous feeling when...

So I specifically tried to be the hardest, most challenging of all Intro to College Writing instructors last semester. I did this assuming that reading my end-of-term evaluations would be an exercise in masochism and that I was sacrificing popularity for the quality of their writing.

I did indeed get some choice comments ("Hopefully she improves her teaching so students in the future will not suffer as I did," for example) but I also got some really lovely ones. More than that, though, I have heard from two or three students this semester that they have to come to me on recommendation from that previous group, the group I worked harder than any previous class.

That makes me do this in my heart: