The undergraduate teaching assistants received their reviews from their students. They were what I expected. Not because these teaching assistants are terribly or wunderkinds, but because the reviews were coming from a big cohort of students. From my experience, students give a mixed-bag of critique. While I agree there are bad instructors out there, sometimes students don’t recognize what is good for them and lash out. They also sometimes do not take accountability for their own learning or have other issues in their lives that make them a little more angry than usual.

Some teaching assistants took them in stride, some were a little hurt. I cannot blame; they spend a lot of time trying to perfect being good teaching assistants, and it’s hard hearing that you are not good at something, especially with some of the diction people use. I definitely believe in taking the reviews seriously, but I also believe that one should also not take these things to heart and also remember there were positive comments as well.

Even though they’re different fields, dance is similar. Although I have typically had critiques done by my teachers, they are still hard to stomach, perhaps more so because the source is someone with insight and knowledge. Critique allows us to grow, but it still is hard to face. My best advice is don’t beat yourself up over things and look at the situation as objectively as possible. Don’t get caught up in only believing the good or the bad. Try to use the critique as a means of setting new goals for yourself.

For more detailed advice on how to handle critique, check out Ozma of Japan’s article. Lots of good tips!

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