For the past 12 years, I've acquired class grades because of the grades I have gotten on assignments and, essentially, because of how well I got along with my teacher. But these grades never actually measured how I was doing as a student in this class, let it be doing well or poorly; they basically just measured how well I could research, cram for a test, follow a rubric or BS my way through the year. These numbers gave you a reputation and no matter how hard you tried to improve, in the end, the teacher almost always gave you the same grade at the end of the year. On the other hand, this year I have gotten feedback rather than a number, and although we do have to have numbers for midterms, report cards and all that jazz, it's the feedback that counts. Two Thursdays ago, we started crowd-sourcing our grades for midterms. I knew a little bit about what was going to happen because of what Karen had told me last year, but it was a totally new experience. I had never been in a position where my classmates helped determine my grades for my courses. But, essentially, what really mattered was the feedback we were receiving from our peers. I remember Corey asking me what I thought of it, and although I hadn't thought of it much, on the spot I came up with the most genuine answer I could muster: "I really like it because I get to hear what my classmates think of me, of my work and what they think I deserve rather than basing my grade on just my assignments and what my teacher thinks. I also like to hear people's perspectives of me and of what I strive in, what I need to improve on". My answer really surprised me but it is the whole truth "I really like it because I get to hear what my classmates think of me, of my work and what they think I deserve rather than basing my grade on just my assignments and what my teacher thinks. I also like to hear people's perspectives of me, of what I strive in and what I need to improve on" We first looked at English and I liked the feedback that I got, agreeing with almost all, if not all of it. The feedback went from "you speak and write really well but need to work on presentation skills and switching up your writing techniques" to "you need to be more emotional and less like Spock". I had never been compared to Spock before but this was really interesting for me to hear because I had a character who I could compare to and see what things I did that are similar to him and I could also strive to be less like him (although he is a cool human/vulcan hybrid, who wouldn't want to be like him?). Although I really enjoyed crowd-sourcing our grades and getting and giving feedback, I also found it to be a huge challenge. I have never been one to reflect much on what I do, let alone on what others do. Giving feedback to others and having to think about what they do well and how they could improve, was complicated for me, especially when giving feedback for Media. During our talks for this discipline, I felt like I was at a disadvantage from everyone else simply because they had already been together for a year and had seen everyones process of making the documentary, the piece that I consider the biggest Media project yet. Also, in my opinion, giving feedback for Media requires knowing each other on a more personal level that I have not yet acquired with everyone. I say this for two reasons: one, media is about balancing time between producing and consuming and it seems to me that it takes a deep level of familiarity with someone and their work in order to know that they are balancing between production and consumption; second, media is also about being able recognize bias, being skeptical and basically just evaluating a wide range of sources and I feel that I have not been in a situation where I have been able to see this for most, if not all, of my classmates. The point I'm trying to make though, and I feel that I've gone somewhat off topic, is that numbers don't really measure how you are doing as a student; rather they measure assignments and your ability to research or how much of a teachers pet you are. Feedback is better, more helpful and more effective. Although we do get teachers' feedback and comments, I consider them valuable only for that one class that you are struggling so much in or for that one class which you know you can do a lot better; I have realized that getting my peers feedback is most valuable of all because I get to see myself through others' perspectives and I learn some things about me that no one else had thought of or realized, such as me being like Spock.
1 Comment
Corey Topf
10/15/2014 01:34:03 am
Hey North Carolina! Here's some more detailed feedback: https://diigo.com/024fc0
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June 2015
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