Articles On Feedback Strategies

In this week's feedback blog, I read two articles on how to give feedback. The first one was called "How To Give Students Specific Feedback That Actually Helps Them Learn". To me it's very hard to find the right words when giving someone feedback on their assignment. I don't want to be too harsh with my words, but then I don't want to be too nice and compliment them too much. In this article they discussed that being transparent in your feedback is crucial because it doesn't leave any questions about what you want from them. It's clear what needs to be changed and how they can do it from being transparent instead of having to guess what the critique wants from them. Also I like how they suggest that feedback should be goal-oriented with a guide to get to this goal. This way you're not left wondering where to start or how to get there. Also time is key. When the assignment is fresh in your head, which in the case of our projects it should be, then the feedback will be more useful. The projects we will be working on every week will be a consistent remainder.

The second article I read was called "How To Craft Constructive Feedback". This article was much shorter than the first one I read. This article included a diagram. An easy flowchart on what to say and how to give your feedback depending on the purpose (is it for self-expression or to craft a performance?). The first one doesn't really apply to our project since it's more to craft a performance with our storybook. It's good to observe, describe, and suggest in our feedback. Say what stands out to you, describe how it makes you feel, and then suggest (in detail) what could make this little bit better. You never want to be vague or else it'll leave the writer in confusion.

(Feedback vs Feedforward, Source: Linkedin)

Feedback Thoughts On Different Articles

The first article I read was "8 Things Students Should Do When They Make A Mistake". I like this article because all eight things related to me in way and can help me in the future. One of the points was that when you feel like your failing or stressing about something that you're not the only one. It's easy to say to yourself that you're the only one in the world that's having a hard time and that every one else is doing better than you, but that's not true. I fall victim to this all the time, but I always remind myself that I'm not alone. Although I know that there is help out there with all the resources at my disposal, it's hard for me to reach out to them. Help comes in the form of feedback as well. I never ask for any one's feedback on anything and it's something that I will get used to this semester throughout this course. There's also another point in the article that says "if you get something wrong, figure out how to fix it" and is exactly what feedback does for you. You have a peer suggest what needs to be changed or what could be better and it's up to you to figure out how to do that and make those changes for a better result.

The second article I read was "6 Bad Mental Habits That Sabotage Your Success"". All 6 mental habits related to feedback one way or another and they are all something that I fall victim to sometimes. The first one was making excuses. I usually don't take criticism too well and I try to blame it on someone or something else other than myself. Throughout this course I'll need to work on taking the feedback and criticism and stop blaming others and look at myself. Another point was trying to seek the audiences approval. In this course, its easy to try and write a story that will please everyone, but will take away from your own creative writing. This is where you'll have to stay away from that and just write the way you want to be heard and if others feel like there is something that could be better then you incorporate that into your writing to better it. There was also a point about putting yourself down and this is something that everyone is a victim of. When you receive harsh feedback it's easy to put yourself down and make yourself out to be a failure, but once that happens it starts a cycle that is very hard to break. So instead of putting yourself down you need to say that this is something that will make me better and embrace the criticism.

(Feedback from others, Source: Pixabay)