Activity Instructions

1. Students should create a table with three columns on a piece of paper.
2. Students should think about a time they had to give feedback to someone, and it did NOT go well. This might mean they felt uncomfortable, the person receiving the feedback got upset, or something negative happened as a result. In the left-most column, students should write down their answers to these questions: What do you think caused that to happen? What did you do? What did the other person do?
3. Give students a few minutes to think and write.
4. Students should then think about a time they gave feedback to someone and it DID go well. This might mean the person received the feedback in a positive way, they felt proud about how they handled the situation, or something else constructive happened. In the middle column, students should write down their answers to these questions: What do you think caused that to happen? What did you do? What did the other person do?
5. Give students a few minutes to think and write.
6. Students should then think about a time they received feedback. In the right-most column, students should write down their answers to these questions: Was it a constructive experience? A negative experience? What do you think caused that to happen? What did you do? What did the other person do?
7. Give students a few minutes to think and write.
8. Ask students to look at what is on their paper. Ask them to reflect on whether they see any similarities or trends or differences.

Debrief Questions / Activities

• This is a good warm-up activity for a lesson on giving and receiving feedback. Given that students may be reflecting and writing about some fairly personal experiences, it might not be appropriate to ask them to share what they wrote with the class or the instructor.
• Instead, it can be helpful to reiterate that everybody has experience giving and receiving feedback at some level. It might be positive experience. It might be negative experience. It might be a mix. Students might feel confident giving feedback. They might not.
• In the lesson that follows, students will be provided with some tools for how they can give and receive feedback in a respectful and professional manner.

Tags: oral communications, giving feedback, receiving feedback, self-reflection