What to do about negative teaching evaluations during job interviews? This past year I taught two undergraduate freshman-level required religion courses (one in the Fall and one in the Spring) and the teaching evaluations from students were rather average-to-poor. These are the only two courses I have taught so far in my career.

Many academic jobs now request you to send proof of teaching excellence along with your application. Have these two courses ruined my chances of getting a full-time job? I don't want to be dishonest and only present a few positive student comments while ignoring the number of negative ones. At the same time I am committed to improving my teaching skills and want to learn from my mistakes.

What is the best way to present this information in a job application? Or should I just not send my evaluations at all?

One more thing I should mention: the student response rate was very low. In both classes less than half of the students filled out the evaluation at all. I don't know if this is relevant (I've read that students with negative opinions tend to be more motivated to fill out evaluations than positive students).
If you're asked to present information relative to your teaching, you need to do that, especially if teaching will be a significant part of your future job.

Not everyone is a superstar right out of the gate, as far as teaching is concerned, and everyone understands that it may take a while for you to hit your stride. The best way for you to finesse the negative responses is to include your own commentary on the teaching evaluations, showing that you can be reflective about your work.  We all bomb out now and then; the question is whether you can look objectively at what the students have said and make some adjustments to your approach in the classroom that might address some of the issues.  I want to see someone making improvements based on feedback.  I don't want to see a faculty member getting the same kinds of comments, semester after semester, and just going on with the same old methods.  Did you seek any kind of mentorship for your teaching?

A low response rate is not a positive thing, unfortunately. 

Did you have a supervisor for your teaching?  Was that person supportive and aware of your efforts in the classroom?  Could that person write a teaching recommendation for you that might be in addition to the other expected letters?