Feedback Strategies

Since I missed this assignment (oops) last week, I read one of the articles from last week, and another for this week's assignment.

Game of Thrones Criticism meme by Sabrina Guillen

1. Overcoming the Fear of Feedback 

One of my biggest problems with feedback is that I get too anxious about the opinions of others, and that leads to me changing things in my writing/assignments that don't need to be changed. This affects my work because I don't feel, in the end, that it's truly mine. This article helped me to see that it's okay to be slightly nervous about feedback, that it's normal. Which is good, because I would hate to be considered a headcase. The fact that they brought up the growth mindset in this article is interesting, considering I had only heard of it briefly before taking this class. What this article taught me is that, like most procedures in life, feedback needs routine. You need a distinct set of directions and rules that you follow for both giving and receiving feedback, and this will train your mind into not being afraid of the feedback as a whole.

2. What Kinds of Messages Help Kids Grow?

I chose this article because, as a future teacher, I want to be able to give my students criticism in the best way for them to grow as students and as people, as a whole. This article does focus on younger children, sure, but it would be very similar in how a teacher would handle a middle or high school student. Again, they brought up the growth mindset, pointing out the differences between older and younger kids - which helps, obviously - and explains what it is. I like that I keep being reminded. The idea of "process praise" is a really good idea because, in my experience, simply being amazed by a kid's work all the time doesn't help them grow at all. This article taught me that students need to understand that even though they might not be able to do something now, they will be able to do it in the future, if they work hard enough for it. It was good advice for me to know that it will help my students to improve by actually telling them that they will, instead of having to pretend that they will just continue on the same wavelength .