My Feedback Thoughts

Feedback Cats Image from cheezburger

The first article I chose was 6 Hidden Downsides of Perfectionism. I picked this article due to having close family members and friends tell me that I'm a perfectionist. I didn't really believe it until reading this article. One point that stuck out the most was the one on procrastination. I do have a problem with procrastinating. The article stated that, "perfectionists are specific about having the perfect conditions before they get to work", which is definitely true for me. I can't focus if I haven't done all my small tasks beforehand or if my study conditions aren't "right". The second point that stuck out was the disregard to own health. Usually I am one to stay up late to finish a project or homework and only get 3-4hrs per night of sleep. So, putting my own health on a back burner usually rebounds back on me and I have been trying to fix that part of my habits.

The second article I chose was To Err Is Human – And A Powerful Prelude To Learning. I was interested in this article because it speaks about how human error is actually beneficial for learning purposes. It really caught my eye from the beginning speaking about raising your hand in class and being shot down for answering wrong. The simple fact that error correction instead of praise for correct answers actually may contribute to better school performance is amazing! In high school it definitely helped to have those few teachers actually take time to explain why something didn't work. Alternatively, some would even elaborate into why a solution did work that way we all understood how to get the final product and then felt confident in trying ourselves.

Throughout my years of being a college student I find receiving feedback really rare. The times I have honestly gotten feedback were either in my Spanish classes or during practice for the OU Pride Marching Band. I say this because during Spanish our professor actually gave us feedback and worked with us on how to correctly say things. The same goes for the marching band except it was on the basis of how to efficiently move to certain positions and play the music. College doesn't allow much room for either positive or negative feedback. I feel as though the cause for this is the class sizes which create a sort of need to just get things graded instead of teach us why we missed a concept. Beyond school I have experienced both types of feedback and it honestly helps reassure me on where I'm at in the situation. I actually seek feedback on decisions I have made cause I hate not seeing something I'm missing.