Week 8 Comments and Feedback

I have gotten so much amazing feedback from the other members of this class. I think that my stories improved astronomically when I incorporated some of the suggestions that were made. Using the comments that they provided I was able to find ways to deepen my stories with details. They've also been helpful in figuring out how I wanted to present my page itself and refine its appearance. Everyone's comments and been helpful and positive, so I felt confident is taking the advice that they provided.

However, I'm not feeling overwhelmingly confident about the quality of my own feedback. I tend to read stories as 'this is what the writer wants me to know, therefore this is the story.' That's good from the perspective of enjoying and being entertained by stories, but not particularly helpful when critiquing them. I just don't really have any questions that I want to ask, so it's difficult for me to find constructive ways to help other people with what to add or include. The main points that I notice tend to be spelling, grammar, and word choice. But if all of my comments are exclusively about those things it makes me feel just nitpicky and anal. Also, regarding word choice, who am I to decide why and how the story would sound better? It's their story, not mine! I'm having far more difficulty providing feedback that any other part of this class.

I feel that I have a pretty good handle on some of my classmates based on their blog posts and their introductions. Some are a bit less of an open book, but that tells me something on its own. I'm mostly comfortable with my own introduction and posts. I don't want to lay all the parts of myself out for everyone to see, but I've laid out enough.

Going forward, I want to find a way to provide more useful feedback to my fellow students. I just don't feel that I'm being helpful right now, although I am trying! I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do to get better, but I'll keep trying until I figure it out.

I picked this image, because I am trying very hard to follow it! In particular, I am trying to use it as a guideline to how I provide feedback. I'm comfortable with taking it in the spirit in which it was intended, but I am just not as good at figuring out what to say when providing it. This infographic is helpful when I'm trying to develop my thoughts.