It was right around middle school that my teachers began asking us to meet with a partner to review each other's work. This seemed to happen mostly in my English and history classes. As a want-to-be writer, I really looked forward to hearing an opinion from an honest reader. I was hoping that I could get some feedback on my stories - especially when I struggled with an ending. Although, I felt a lot of anxiety about having someone read my work, I understood, even then, how helpful true feedback could be. You can imagine my disappointment when my classmate said, "I liked your story. It was nice." A true critical friend is someone who helps you to move forward. They can identify areas of clarity and encourage you to make sure to enhance them. They can also identify areas that lack clarity and help you improve them. A true critical friend doesn't simply stamp your work with a giant rubber "Nice" stamp, but rather, listens and considers your goals and then helps you to evaluate if those goals have been met. One of the best things about grad school has been the amazing educators that I have met in this cohort. Every single one of them is so intelligent and thoughtful. They push me to pursue excellence in my own work, as I observe the way that they complete their assignments and think about the craft of teaching. As we head into our final days and into our final project, I find myself relying more and more on their input. It was extremely helpful to sit side by side with a cohort member with the "What Goes Where on LIL?" document between us. As we reviewed our websites, I found myself making changes, taking notes, and asking questions. "What about this?" I would say, and then would thoughtfully absorb the answers. It was so helpful to not only have input from someone who was looking at my website with fresh eyes, but also to be speaking with someone who was attempting the same assignment. Having a critical friend take a closer look at my work, helped me to take a fresh and closer look at my own work. A critical friend can help you see your own work in a new light which can illuminate areas that need to be restructured, clarified and enhanced. A critical friend can speak truthfully to you about your work, and encourage you to improve. They are supportive and honest, sharing their observations about what you have created. It isn't that a critical friend is searching for flaws, but rather that once given your goals for your work, a critical friend can honestly share with you how close you are to accomplishing those goals. It is as though you are an Olympian in training and they are your coach; always looking for ways that you can improve and thus become champion. A true critical friend can lead to a place where you create something even better than you imagined and can leave you feeling like a true champion.
2 Comments
Nancy
11/7/2017 07:55:35 pm
I laughed. I cried. I gave it a thumbs up.
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Patrick
11/8/2017 04:04:08 pm
I really like the comment about fresh eyes. I think your video really captures that idea. The poor man in the video never got meaningful feedback! Groupthink at it's worst! Even though it is called "groupthink" I think it is very possible for it to strike an individual who does not get outside perspectives. As we toil away on the details of our capstone, it can be easy to forget about creative alternatives or other ideas. We get fixated on making the image in our heads a reality and become blind to other options. My critical friends meeting this week definitely opened up my capstone to some options I had not even considered!
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AuthorJen has been teaching school for awhile now. She's learned some stuff, but she's got tons more to learn. Archives
October 2017
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