Since the last time I got evaluated by surly undergrads, I've come to the conclusion that course evaluations are a bunch of bull anyway. One can sort of predict what sort of evaluations to get by the demeanor of the students--if they actually ask for help and participate, then their attitude towards the class is probably going to be better. As for the students who lounge around and do nothing and still expect an A...
Well, let's just say I got a particularly long and angry evaluation in direct contrast with all my other evaluations. I get the feeling that this student is not only ranting about me but the university system in general. But hey, if you've registered for a class with a kazillion students, having at least one TA around is pretty much a given.
Although the positive ones far outnumber the negative, I find that students who are motivated to include written comments on our scantron course evaluations usually are the disgruntled ones. And those few negative evaluations are always the ones that stick in my mind! Over the years I have gotten used to it, and also better at filtering the BS from the constructive criticism. This semester I had a student who told me in class, and on our electronic message board, that the grading policy on one assignment wasn't fair, that I should have made the guidelines more clear, even though they were listed in the syllabus and I explained them several times in class throughout the semester. I'm sure she wrote similar comments on the official course evaluation (I don't get to see them until next semester). But since this student spent nearly every class text messaging, maybe she thought I should have shot her an IM with the evaluation guidelines?
