Feedback Strategies

The first article that I read is Be a Mirror: Give Readers Feedback That Fosters a Growth Mindset by Gravity Goldberg. Early in the article, Gravity talks about how children can sometimes develop a fixed mindset where they believe some of their abilities (reading was the focus of this article) are static and unable to improve. Later in the article, she brings up five qualities to help promote a growth mindset over a fixed mindset. The third quality she mentions is to focus on the process of learning and the work that the student is putting in throughout that process. I completely agree with the idea of giving positive feedback for effort and progress, especially with younger children. I think I have said this before, but I believe there are many things that can be overcome by simply working hard. If a student believes that nothing will change no matter how hard they work, then they will probably be less likely to work hard. Showing and praising the progress that they have made can prove to them that the work they are putting in makes a difference.

Another quality that Gravity talks about is making sure the feedback can transfer. “'When you thought about why Jonas lied to his dad, it helped you understand why he left,” I might say, “When you thought about the character’s choices, it helped you understand his motivation.'” This is extremely valuable advice in my opinion. Making the feedback too specific can lead to a student understanding that exact situation, but they may have trouble transferring it to other situations. Making the feedback more general can help a student learn an overall lesson instead of situation-specific lesson.

The second article that I read was The Difference Between Praise and Feedback by Mindshift. This article explains some of the issues associated with the language we use when dealing with children. It highlights the idea of "process praise," which I hit on in the previous article, but it also hits on asking questions as a way to give feedback instead of just giving compliments, which I agree with. This not only shows the child that you care about how they feel, but it also makes them think and analyze.

When it comes to feedback, I think it is important to not only tell someone what they need to work on, as well as giving them ideas on how to do that, but also to tell them what they are doing right. People need to know what they are doing right so that they can build on their strengths and apply those strengths when appropriate. I don't think every single thing should be praised, as some things are expected to be done and done well, but I don't see it as a bad thing to tell someone when they've done something exceptional.

Definition of Feedback

Image Author: Nick Youngson

Image Source: The Blue Diamond Gallery

Feedback Thoughts

The first article I read was 14 Signs Your Perfectionism Has Gotten Out Of Control by Carolyn Gregoire. Carolyn's article identifies 14 signs about perfectionism that affect the feelings, work ethic, and entire life of a perfectionist.

After reading the article, I found that many of the sign have or do apply to me. There were a few signs that, although I found very surprising to be on the list, actually make quite a bit of sense. Procrastinating is the first sign that comes to mind. I have been a chronic procrastinator throughout my life, especially when it comes to big projects and papers. A lot of it comes from simply not having the perfect topic or the perfect thesis and not being happy with whatever work I had already done for it. This would lead to me putting it off until I had no choice but to complete it, satisfied or not. Something that I have found that tends to help with this is just getting words down. For someone that wants every sentence to be perfect, it can be challenging to do this, but it helps a lot with procrastination and gets me to do a much more thorough revision of my work.

Carolyn did claim to have simple solutions to start letting go, but her only real suggestion was to "be authentic" and let yourself be seen for who you are. Unfortunately, I would imagine that for most perfectionists, especially those who are my age, this is who they are, so that advice doesn't help too much. To her credit, she does link to another article that goes more in-depth explaining how to be "more authentic."

The second article I read was 5 Tips For Taking Feed Back Like A Champ by Megan Bruneau. This was a good article emphasizing that the feeling to negative feedback are natural, but it's the reactions to the feedback that needs to be kept in check. No one enjoys hearing that they have made a mistake somewhere or that their work wasn't quite good enough, but it's essential for personal growth.

Megan made a number of points that stood out to me. The first is to realize that having something to work on means you haven't maxed out your potential. This can be comforting if taken in a positive manner. She also makes the point of "state" vs "trait"  where we will receive negative feedback about a certain instance and then turn that into a negative trait about ourselves. Understanding that these are not the same things could alleviate a lot of self-doubt and possibly make it easier to grow in that area.

When I was learning to be an instructor in the Marine Corps, I was required to teach the same class to my peers two to three times a day. They would give me feedback on the things that I was doing right, what I was doing wrong, and how I could get better. Naturally, the first few days were very heavy on things I was doing wrong and how I could do it better. It was pretty brutal at first, but the more I practiced and the more I applied the feedback given to me, the less negative feedback I received. Without that experience, as unpleasant as it was, I would not have accomplished something that I really wanted to do.

Feedback: The Perfect Gift

Image Author: Senior Master Sgt. Mary-Dale Amison

Image Source: Air National Guard