Feedback Strategies: Interest is Key

Thinking about my own experience giving feedback, particularly last semester in Myth and Folklore, I think has been important to give interested and thought-provoking feedback rather than straight-forward mistake identification. For me, I've found it can be really difficult to give feedback to good writers on good stories when I'm looking for a mistake in grammar or something that doesn't make sense. Rather than looking for places the writer can improve I've found it's easier to give useful feedback if I approach a story or project just thinking about what I'd like to know more about or see more of.

Something I liked in the first article I read,"Giving Creative Feedback - A Guide for Those  Who Aren't Creative," was the first of the eight suggested steps: Take a breath and gauge your initial reaction. I think this can be really helpful in identifying what sort of approach you should take for giving feedback. It's helpful for me to think about how a story made me feel to give me a starting point for asking questions which can help me give the most meaningful feedback.

The second article I read, "Three Simple Frameworks for Feedback - The Feedback Loop," focused more on simple strategies for feedback. My favorite of the three was called Strengths, Weaknesses, Questions, Ideas. I think this strategy gives a lot of room for you to meet the specific needs of the piece you are commenting on while being specific enough to still be useful for organizing your thoughts.

Your unique perspective can make all the difference in helping someone improve (Feedback Cats)