Would it be rude to tell a lecturer you don’t like the way they structure seminars?

[Drin]

I’m a second year mature English lit student and I’m finding the way one of the lecturers structures his seminars extremely frustrating. He prints out a series of questions asking us to analyse certain passages or other various challenging questions and it just doesn’t flow well for me at all. It feels like an exam or something and I always freeze up and become tongue tied.

I’ve pre-planned answers twice in the past but then turned up to the seminar and he’s changed the questions entirely so I did the work for nothing. I challenged him on it yesterday and he apologised saying it was because he was expecting a bigger group and thought it would work better. I didn’t say a word yesterday as a result because I just froze up again. I always leave the seminars feeling absolutely stupid but he knows I’m not stupid because I got 80% on his assignment and I get 71%+ on all assignments so I’m heading for a first. I’ve read all of the books for that unit as well so it’s not as though I don’t know what I’m talking about.

I have two seminars with another lecturer and always leave his seminars feeling really good. It was the same with a couple of the seminars last year, they were just structured completely differently and it worked really well. The difference is they don’t have a series of set questions, instead they will ask what we made of the text and then ask various free flowing questions afterwards. It always flows well and we all bounce off one another, it opens up a lot of dialogue. I just don’t feel like the structured set up flows as well.

I was so frustrated yesterday and felt so stupid I ended up crying in the changing room cubicle at the gym. I’m now on the verge of not bothering to turn up to his seminars at all next year. Would you raise it with him or do you think he’d just think I’m a dick? For me, it’s between raising it and just not turning up so I don’t know which is worse.

I personally think YWBU to say "I don't like how you structure your seminars". However, I don't think there's any harm in saying "I am struggling in your classes because of x, y and z and I feel bad when I leave."

You're not the only person in the class, so you can't expect him to cater to you alone. But there's no harm in mentioning it in the right way.

I'm sorry you've had this experience. I have a university teaching role & would often hold similar types of seminars.

I'd suggest talking to him about how you are feeling, and your experience of the seminar. I don't think you can specifically ask him to change his approach; however, most good lecturers will want to support a student & make sure that they feel comfortable in teaching / learning environment.

Is this for real?

I think you can, but you'd need to phrase it carefully. The focus needs to be "I'm struggling to engage with the seminars. I think it is because of xxxx" and try to have suggestions for what would help you more. You can't say "I don't like how you do it". It might work well for some other students- or other seminar groups - but if it is really making you feel bad it could be helpful to talk it through and see if he can make some adaptations to the structure, or at least make sure that he doesn't change the text/questions at the last minute. Alternatively, if you have a personal tutor you could talk it through with them and ask for their advice?

You are going to need to be able to answer questions based on a printed passage without foreknowledge (other than having experience from doing other questions beforehand), though. Otherwise you could still be panicking and freezing under exam conditions.

What do you think you can do to work on you freezing up? I think the way he's structuring things sounds quite common to me. If this is all based around how you feel (stupid, frustrated etc) then I'd work on that and how you're dealing with the situation, rather than get someone to change a lecturing style. I don't think raising it or not turning up are the only options.

I think perhaps it is worth talking to someone about the freezing up. Could you speak to student services or have a couple of counselling sessions around it?

His lecture style isn't unusual and you can't expect lecturers to change their training for what you personally like. Can you imagine if every student asked for their personal preference!

The pp is right too that in an exam it will be unseen too so you need to be prepared for whatever they ask.

Ah I've pretty much said what the person before me said!

Agree with PP, I wouldn't just outright say you don't like it, it might work well for other students. Different people learn differently.

Just talk to him after the seminar one day and let him know you're struggling with the class.

Sounds pretty normal to me. And I often do similar with my A Level classes. Surely there's some unseen analysis as part of your degree as well. Seminars are for exploring and discussing and trying out ideas.

We don’t have exams at uni but I don’t freeze up in exam conditions anyway because it’s writing I guess and writing is a strength.

I guess I just prefer free-flowing dialogue. It makes the seminars more fun and works better imo. I don’t think within a subject like literature, the structured set of questions works as well. I wouldn’t tell him I don’t like the way he does things but yeah, I am considering approaching him to tell him I’m lacking confidence in his seminars and I don’t know what to do about it. My personal tutor is the lecturer who does the free-flowing seminars so maybe I could raise it with him? I guess different styles just work for different people and this style doesn’t work for me.

He might be giving you the questions as a learning tool but not necessarily to go over literally in the seminar. You could let him know you are struggling with it, but I wouldn't tell him I don't like how he does it. You are one person and others may like it.

You haven’t hired his services one to one. His delivery is personal preference aimed to need a variety of wants and needs. Surely you realise that everyone learns differently and just because you have read all the texts and do well it can’t be aimed at your needs only.

I would consider speaking to student services for additional support if needed as freezing up in this situation could have a direct impact on your working life in the future - try to work on that now.

Yes you can't really give up when you find style's that "don't work for you." As you will find through uni (and life, work etc) there are lots of different styles.

Do you really not have exams at all in your degree?

But yes please do go to student services as it would be worth working on the freezing now.

I appreciate that, I know some will enjoy this system and I know he can’t tailor it for everyone.

I don’t freeze in the other seminars because they feel more relaxed and laid back. With a subject like literature, it flows better but I know that’s my opinion and isn’t so important. I’ll ask student services as you say and see what help they can offer.

No exams in English lit, it’s all assignment based. I’ve never frozen in an exam though and always did well at school/in college with them because it’s writing rather than talking. I guess I don’t like feeling forced to say certain things, I prefer just freely talking. I’m really confident in the other seminars and will happily offer up my opinions first so no reliance on other students to validate me or anything.

I think it’s interesting that you’re coming at it from the angle of ‘how can I make him change’ rather than ‘what can I do to improve’ - part of uni is learning new tools and ways of working, so I definitely think you need to approach this differently. By all means speak to the tutor, but you need to be asking how you can adapt to his style rather than the other way around.

I don't understand. Doesn't the question prompt the answer and then more of a continuation of the discussion
amoungst the group or does only one person jump in and answer and then it is done? I assume this is to stop time being lost in other ways and suits students who don't respond to being put on the spot verbally .

I know he wouldn’t change his entire system for one student so I did come at it from the wrong angle. I’m just feeling frustrated by it after one term of it. It isn’t working for me at all and I don’t know what to do about it. I’ll have a word with student services for advice and maybe mention it to him from the angle of struggling with confidence in his seminars, I don’t know. We’ve finished for the year now so I won’t have another until mid January.

I’m with @tabbymctwat

It is normal - indeed ideal - to be stretched at university so I am surprised that a more structured, less informal setting is throwing you. This is the norm in my experience in good universities. It sounds like he’s a good lecturer who prepares his seminars and adapts based on how shows up.

At most top universities they have variants of the tutoring system for this very reason.

I’m also amazed there are no exams! Is this universal now in English degrees?

Given that you’ve already challenged him on his teaching style and he apologised, what you’re essentially saying is should I keep telling my teacher repeatedly I don’t like his teaching style in the hope he changes it to a accommodate me and my answer would be no. He can’t tailor his teaching style for one person. It’s unrealistic to look at the world and believe everyone should change their approach to meet your needs. Essentially it’s a you issue where you need to ask yourself why can I only work in one way? Why do I have rigid thinking about the way others should be and how they should accommodate me? What can I do about freezing up? What can I do to improve my self esteem to the point where I don’t become tearful about not answering questions in the right way when my answers don’t form part of my grade?

So you like seminars where you are just asked to share your personal opinions, and not seminars where you are asked to actually analyse the text?

I find it really cheeky you approached your lecturer in the first place. I'm also very surprised you would be able to go to "student services" for help (?! What kind of help?), having said that I have no experience of the British university system.

No, it often doesn’t prompt dialogue between students at all so it isn’t very fun. I don’t know if it’s the type of questions being asked but it doesn’t promote a room full of people bouncing ideas around. I’ve noticed less and less people turning up to his seminars as the year has gone on, this hasn’t happened in the other seminars so I don’t know if others feel the way I do or if it’s unrelated.

Not everything is comfortable for you. Not everything is meant to be comfortable or play to your strengths.

As you acknowledge this is a personal preference. He isn’t there to meet your personal preference or what makes you only comfortable.

You already challenged him on it changing it. He continued. He may decide to adjust slightly in the new year. But you already expressed your dislike, why would you speak to him again?

I get it makes you feel bad that you are struggling. But maybe your way would make others feel the same. The aim isn’t to make you feel good. It’s to guide you through your studies and you will struggle at points.

i agree with others you need to look at what you can do to adjust. Not ask him to adjust you when it’s a group. I know that can be extremely difficult. But life feels a lot easier if you approach every situation wondering how you can help yourself.

That kind of drop off is pretty normal. Maybe he is wanting to teach specific concepts rather than philosophize?