In the PLACE Fellowship we have discussed different careers and explored history within these careers that we talked about. During our 2-hour session we first discussed how we were feeling for like 10 minutes. Then, we did an icebreaker in which we drew 6 random lines separated on a piece of paper and had 10 secs – 1 min (time varied each round) to create an animal out of it. I personally loved the game and it actually brought out my artistic skills.

Furthermore, our topic for the day was feedback. We talked about what feedback meant and what are the proper ways to give out feedback. We first established that before we give any feedback we would want the creator to tell us what he/she thought about their own work, critiquing themselves before we critique them. Then, we established that when giving out feedback it’s good to say something positive or atleast thank the creator(s) for allowing us to take a look at their work. One way we were able to practice giving out feedback professionally is when we watched Jen’s video about the heritage trail and how slaves escaped in history. Me and the rest of the fellowship critiqued it saying what we liked and didn’t like. First, I said that I personally liked the scenery and the way it was recorded because it just looked very professional as a whole. Then I said I like the way she conveyed her message! Her choice of words to express what she thought about the trail and how she thought about the history behind the scene made it easy for us to gain a message from the video which was basically showing us how slaves had to face many obstacles while escaping and one was creating a trail that made it hard for slaveholders to capture them. After practicing feedback we got feedback on how we did and we reviewed the feedback technique that Kristina and Jen taught us.

Ultimately, the main goal for that day was to collaborate with each other and work as a group to work on feedback. In my opinion, I really liked this workshop because I feel like I learned more about how giving feedback not only helps someone with critiquing their work, but it also shows how we could give feedback to ourselves just by giving feedback to them. What I mean by that is if you give negative feedback as a whole that defines your character and how professional you are when it comes to criticism. I feel like being 100% negative is not okay and that we may make mistakes but that’s why we give feedback to others various times to work on how we criticize others and make others feel.

Overall, this was a good workshop and I can’t wait until we do more remote workshops or in-person workshops (hopefully) as time passes so I gain more knowledge based around career exploration.