Mentoring Matters
Welcome to "Mentoring Matters" the podcast where professors Stephanie Hansen and Mary Drewnoski share their expert insights on how to excel as a mentor. Join us as we tackle the challenges of mentoring graduate students and offer actionable tips for building community, enhancing communication, and fostering a culture of learning within your team. With years of experience and hard-won wisdom, Hansen and Drewnoski will provide the guidance you need to succeed in your mentoring endeavors. Tune in to "Mentoring Matters" for valuable insights and advice on mentoring graduate students.
Mentoring Matters
Feedback Strategies That Actually Work
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In this episode of Mentoring Matters, we dig into how to give students feedback and why it's so hard! We start with the big reason it stings: students tend to tie their self-worth to the quality of their work, so a draft full of comments can feel like a verdict on them as a person. We talk about how to separate the work from the writer so feedback becomes a tool for growth.
We also walk through our START framework for feedback that lands: Specific, Timely, Actionable, Respectful, and Targeted. Along the way we get into delivery, from quick comments to sitting down face to face, and why a meeting often saves time by letting students process feedback and ask questions before they spiral.
A few favorite tactics come up too. Steph shares feed forward, where you talk through a student's outline and key points before they write to cut down on painful revisions later. We cover why you should never let hard feedback fester, the value of campus writing centers, and the small but mighty habit of having students respond to your comments instead of just accepting all the track changes.
For actionable tips and strategies for mentoring please check out The Graduate Mentor's Trail Map available in paperback and ebook!
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