Am I too nice?

[robot_hamster]

Hmm, I found a TA handbook that was literally buried within the university's website. Doesn't say anything about how evaluations are conducted though.

[rising_star]

When I have been a grader, I have not been evaluated by the students separately from the instructor. Rather, the course evaluations ask some questions about grading (how quickly were things returned, how helpful the feedback was). But, these are recorded by the students on the same evaluation that is used to evaluate the instructor. Consequently, those scores are not linked to my scores as an instructor (I have also taught my own courses).

And, btw, I had an awesome conversation with two former students today (neither of whom got As) and who both said they really enjoyed the course. When I asked them a couple of questions to get them to expand on what was in my evals, one of them (without my prompting) actually said that my course evals were probably low because I assigned reading and required students to do it. My point is that all kinds of things (like expecting students to do their work and turn it in when it's due and not when they want to) can lead to getting lower evaluation scores. EVERYONE knows this. So, stop worrying about it.

At the end of the day, the department is the one that signs off on your paychecks. So, make the department and its representative (in this case the professor that is your direct supervisor) pleased with your work. You cannot (and will not) please all students. You can, however, please the person you work for.