Often criticism is not taken in the right spirit and people get offended when they are corrected by someone. It is commonly seen at workplace that when a senior colleague tries to give advice to the subordinate, the employee may feel that he is being personally attacked and get angry or sad about it. Well If adults haven’t learnt to accept constructive criticism, how do we expect our school going children to deal with it?

What is Constructive Criticism?

Constructive criticism is giving feedback to an individual in a way that acknowledges the person’s strength, and at the same time, helps them improve or do a better job going forward. The main aim of this exercise it to offer useful guidance or tips that can reap better results. It’s a sort of positive feedback.

Criticism is an important part of life. It is because someone pointed out our errors that we refrain from making the same mistakes again and learn to improve ourselves. Growing kids have to constantly deal with ‘do this’ and ‘don’t do that’ comments passed by their parents, and even their extended family members. At school teachers may instruct children on how to adopt correct learning techniques and improve their knowledge. Even their friends can sometimes come up with all sorts of gyan. Criticism can often be difficult for children to tackle. Hence, it is important to teach children how to accept constructive feedback at an early age.

In a school setting there are examinations where children are evaluated, and it is imperative for the educator to write remarks or give comments to those who need to work harder to score better grades. Even in times of pandemic and social distancing, examinations are conducted online. Markezy is one such platform which enables the school to undertake exams prudently while giving the examiner the flexibility to evaluate and provide timely feedback from any remote location. In a short span of time, Markezy has already marked its presence in IB schools across the UAE, including Dubai.

How to teach kids to accept Constructive Criticism

Teaching children to not get dejected and rather gracefully appreciating the feedback and working upon it, is a way to inculcate good practice amongst them. Here’s how to talk about it to your school goers:

Explain what constructive criticism is

Children who are not guided by their parents or teachers on how to handle feedback may not understand how to deal with it and get demoralized or upset about the statement. Their interest in studies may be negatively impacted, and they may lose excitement in improving their skills. It is important to explain to them that constructive criticism is nothing to be afraid or ashamed about, rather it is a part of learning from others and improving oneself. Let the child know that you understand what they may be feeling and ask them to take It in the right spirit.

Children are not always right

Often kids think that they are always right and do not like to be told that they were wrong in the first place. While it is good to allow kids to explore and experiment by themselves, it is also important to correct them when it’s their mistake. Calling the mango, an apple, is not something that you as an adult can let go, and it’s your prerogative to immediately correct them. While the child may get agitated at first, he needs to learn to accept his fault and improve.

Praise the child for his attempt

When your child accepts the feedback given by the teacher on his exam paper and works towards re-learning the concept, appreciate his efforts. Ask the student to attempt the same question again and examine whether the concept has been thoroughly understood. Markezy makes it possible for parents to get real-time feedback. Correcting the child early on is better when the learning is fresh, than waiting for the school to organize its quarterly open-day.

Offer Solution and Advice

Whenever you are trying to correct the child, make sure to be clear with what your expectations are. While correcting an answer sheet, write in details why the reasoning applied by the child is incorrect, and what should have been the appropriate way of going about. The Markezy assessment tools, assists teachers in offering clarity to children by providing enough space for educators to write down their comments. With Markezy there is no room for ambiguity, and most schools across the Middle East, including GCC countries, endorse the manifold benefits of this amazing digital grading platform.

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