Considering Feedback....

Now that you are in the process of working towards that final piece, what has been helpful to you in terms of feedback? In my conference with Ronnie, she asked me to give her "constructive criticism" instead of just telling her how wonderful her words were. I hope I was able to do both! We need to consider these words and the feedback that was most helpful when we are conferring with our students. It is walking that fine line between everything being wonderful in the name of high self-esteem combined with the rigor involved in asking them to be all they can be as writers. We are here to encourage and to teach. Our job is to know and "read" our students in terms of where they are in their processes. How much baggage is our own when it comes to asking our students to take that next risk? This is one of the most difficult and yet one of the most powerful things we do as writing teachers. How did you feel being on the other end?