A year and a half. We've had a year and a half to work on our weakness and master our strengths. Although there is no doubt as to having improved, there is always new opportunities arising in areas where we can become better students.
It's that time of year where in any other class we would be wrapping up the semesters learnings into a giant test. And even though we don't have finals, theres always some form of evaluation in every course we take.
With the IA's final evaluation (POL's) over with, it was time for the quarterly crowd-sourcing of grades. This time, it was slightly different from previous times that we've done it. We would grade one person at a time as we would go through all the subjects (English, Business, and Media), that way, we were completely done with one person in just half an hour. Efficiency at this time of year is crucial, as we are almost done with school and there is no time to waste for all the things we need to get done. Before I start telling you all how I've improved this semester and what I've been challenged to do, I want to tell you something--my personal opinion--on the crowd-sourcing grades. I believe that it is the best way to get out all feedback to a person, it is an overview of improvements and flaws as well as a straight talk, all combined into a short period of time. I believe that feedback is the most important part of learning, it is what allows you to continue growing and pushing yourself to your limits. Having that said, I feel that sometimes the grades that are given in the moment are somewhat bias in the class even though it's anonymous, it really isn't. But, the good thing about that, is that we can change our ways at any moment, and now that we have realized that, we are doing something about it. Once we get back to school on monday, we will all go through the grades to see if the numbers level out to the performance of each person, that way, we have an even meaning of what level of performance goes with each number.
Now, back to it. I absolutely love the time when all eyes are on you, ready to tell you what you need to improve on and what you have improved at. It makes some people nervous because they know that by the end of the feedback it all reflects on a grade, but for me, I believe there is nothing to worry about because the feedback is what really counts, and yes, the grade is what reflects how you've preformed, but it doesn't have the same intense effect on me as the feedback does. This semester, the end of the first semester of my senior year, was a really good semester of growth and improvement in my actions and ways in the Innovation Academy.
With the IA's final evaluation (POL's) over with, it was time for the quarterly crowd-sourcing of grades. This time, it was slightly different from previous times that we've done it. We would grade one person at a time as we would go through all the subjects (English, Business, and Media), that way, we were completely done with one person in just half an hour. Efficiency at this time of year is crucial, as we are almost done with school and there is no time to waste for all the things we need to get done. Before I start telling you all how I've improved this semester and what I've been challenged to do, I want to tell you something--my personal opinion--on the crowd-sourcing grades. I believe that it is the best way to get out all feedback to a person, it is an overview of improvements and flaws as well as a straight talk, all combined into a short period of time. I believe that feedback is the most important part of learning, it is what allows you to continue growing and pushing yourself to your limits. Having that said, I feel that sometimes the grades that are given in the moment are somewhat bias in the class even though it's anonymous, it really isn't. But, the good thing about that, is that we can change our ways at any moment, and now that we have realized that, we are doing something about it. Once we get back to school on monday, we will all go through the grades to see if the numbers level out to the performance of each person, that way, we have an even meaning of what level of performance goes with each number.
Now, back to it. I absolutely love the time when all eyes are on you, ready to tell you what you need to improve on and what you have improved at. It makes some people nervous because they know that by the end of the feedback it all reflects on a grade, but for me, I believe there is nothing to worry about because the feedback is what really counts, and yes, the grade is what reflects how you've preformed, but it doesn't have the same intense effect on me as the feedback does. This semester, the end of the first semester of my senior year, was a really good semester of growth and improvement in my actions and ways in the Innovation Academy.
30 minutes talking about someone may seem like a lot of time, but honestly, time flies. I feel 30 minutes is a short amount of time when it comes to feedback, but timing works perfectly because we don't get carried away. In 30 minutes, a lot of feedback was given to me, but instead of putting it all here, I took the ones that most stood out to me, both challenges and praises, to share to you all.
English (5)
-improved on listening skills: I take in the feedback that is given to me. strong
-good ideas, but I don’t know how to word myself: be more concise
-publish more
-improved on listening skills: I take in the feedback that is given to me. strong
-good ideas, but I don’t know how to word myself: be more concise
-publish more
-challenge: pay attention to small details
-challenge: don’t limit myself when telling my story, expand myself and really tell my story (tweet whatever makes me, me)
-I really take what others help me on, then I go and do it on my own
-times of stress I still pull through and get it done
Business (6)
-grown as a leader
-challenge: give more feedback to others, be more critical
-im a strong team player: im always open to helping
-challenge: maintain consistency
-grown as a leader
-challenge: give more feedback to others, be more critical
-im a strong team player: im always open to helping
-challenge: maintain consistency
Receiving feedback always pushes me to work on my weaknesses and always makes me realize what my strengths are. I tend to focus more on my weaknesses than praising myself for what I do right. I can now use my strengths and areas in which I've improved to continue working on my weaknesses, and to challenge myself to become a better student.
Feedback is crucial, without it, we wouldn't realize, through the eyes of others, where we stand in the class. This is the chance we get as students to speak up for the better of our peers. The amount of trust we have in each other is astonishing, we know we can straight talk with no harsh feelings (for the most part) and we know that everything we do, is to help each other grow and improve because we care about each other. That's what I love about the IA, we are so close, that we have a special relationship with one another that brings us all closer together, giving us more trust to tell each other if something is being done wrong, or if something is being done right.
Croud-sourcing grades is something we have done for a year and a half now, and has really allowed me to change as a person, without this, I never would have gotten to where I stand today.