Feedback is something that I took kind of a long time to learn and appreciate. I have always strived for perfection in my life, but growing up I hated receiving feedback and constructive criticism. I think this probably stems from immaturity, but now that I am older, I have learned the importance and goodness that comes with receiving feedback well and using it to your own advantage. At the camp in Arkansas I work at during the summers, the leadership team puts a large emphasis on adjusting and affirming feedback. Adjusting feedback is giving and receiving feedback that adjusts and suggests changes to what you are doing, and affirming feedback encourages what you are doing. I really appreciate feedback of both types because they both show how you can continue to improve and get closer to being the best version of yourself.
One of the articles I read, "6 Hidden Downsides of Perfectionism," was incredibly convicting to me because I often think of perfectionism as a good thing. Although it is good to strive to be your very best and to limit mistakes, people often forget the beauty in failure and the mass amount of knowledge you can gain from making mistakes. Something I related well with with the compromising of relationships; during my sophomore year of college, I became so obsessed with perfection in school and extracurriculars that I did compromise a few of my relationships and a large part of my social life. This led to unhappiness and it took me a long time to realize that even though I was working so hard, the resulting perfection was not rewarding when I looked back at the compromises I had to make to get there. I think if I would have taken a step back and looked at what I was doing, as well as listened to feedback my friends were giving me, I could have avoided the pain that was caused.
As I read about the different alternatives to grading in the article "12 Alternatives to Letter Grades in Education," I was very intrigued and encouraged that there are teachers and professors who understand that grading is not the best option. Grading adds so much pressure and takes away from the joy that learning can bring; often, the idea of grades adds stress and unhappiness to students who are striving to be the best they can be. Some of the alternatives suggested that I really appreciated included live feedback and non-points-based rubrics. I liked live feedback because it allows students to see what they can improve as they are going, instead of making mistakes and then having to go back and fix them. This approach also greatly involves the teacher. I liked non-points-based rubrics because it outlines what is expected of the student, but also allows them to not have the pressure of letter grades.
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