Criticism

It’s inevitable that you’ll be criticized at some point in your career. “Someone will disagree with your efforts, goals, or decisions, and you’ll need to think in advance about how you might respond,” says Gary Mortenson.

Mortenson emphasizes the importance in handling criticism calmly and maturely. By behaving this way, it’ll shed positive light on you, the educator. “Teachers who handle criticism by displaying anger, insecurity, insensitivity, or apathy set themselves up for a downward spiral that can end in frustration, alienation, and eventual termination,” says Mortenson.

How would you react to the following hypothetical scenarios?

Scenario #1

Your first job is one in which you replaced a popular elementary school teacher who moved to the middle school. This teacher was loved and respected by everyone. There's occasional resentment about ways you handle the program. Students make statements like “That’s not the way Mr. James did it.” What can you do to establish yourself as the new teacher in town without causing further tension or negative comparison?

Scenario #2

As you are standing in the hall, you overhear a conversation around the corner. You recognize one of the voices as a talented senior in your top-performing ensemble (an all-state musician who receives superior ratings in contests, is punctual, shows interest in class, and so forth). This student is talking to another in a negative way about your abilities as a teacher. The student insists that your class is boring, that you don’t challenge the better students, and that someone else should be brought in to do a better job. How do you react to this information? How do you interact with this student after hearing these critical comments?

Share your thoughts about these scenarios on the future teacher forum or e-mail your responses to Shauna Leavitt.

Read What Would You Do? Part 1, which focuses on teacher-student relationships.
Read What Would You Do? Part 2, which focuses on teacher-parent relationships.

Stay tuned for Part 4 that shares other scenarios about handling stress. Your responses to these scenarios will be shared in What Would You Do? Part 5.

Gary C. Mortenson is professor of trumpet and head of the music department at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. He also serves as publications editor and as a member of the Board of Directors for the International Trumpet Guild.

This article is adapted from “Reality 101,” by Gary C. Mortenson in Music Educators Journal (December 1991): 45-49

--Shauna Leavitt, October 29, 2009, © MENC: The National Association for Music Education