Feedback Thoughts

The article that made the biggest impact on me was 5 Tips For Taking Feedback Like a Champ. The main reason that this made an impact on me was because I always get defensive when it comes to taking feedback. Every time I receive feedback I feel like people are just tearing my work to pieces and it is really hard to take when you put a lot of time and effort into something and come out feeling like you got fed to the wolves who shredded your work to pieces. One thing I can relate to was from the Difference Between Praise article is when they stated, "if you tell the kid they're smart and then if they fail they think 'Oh I'm stupid' my example is when I was in high school I was in AP English, my Freshman AP English teacher was giving us feed back on our book reports that we had done for our final project. She told me it was the best work I had done for her that semester, when she handed me the paper I was in shock to see it was the worst grade I had ever gotten. Ever since then I haven't liked taking feedback and it doesn't come easily to me to take feedback without becoming defensive. Relating the Difference article, if I would have gotten feedback like they suggested "You worked really hard" or anything besides telling me it was my best work, I wouldn't have thought I was stupid or my writing skills sucked. The tip that I took from the 5 Tips link above was to, "Find the positive intentions behind your deficiency, and notice where it's a strength" this to me is a change I need to make when taking feedback. One tip I learned to help give feedback was to "focus on what the reader is doing" (Be A Mirror) When giving feedback I tend to look for things that aren't there that should be there. This is a tip I need to keep in mind if I give feedback. I hope my tips I learned impact how you take and recieve feedback.

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If you have no critics you'll likely have no success.

Link: Flickr

Photo: Celestine Chua

Story: Ester

Authors Note: So this story is based of the story of Ester. A girl who was raised by her uncle. She was then taken from her uncle to be prepared to meet the king. The king was looking for a replacement queen. Once she had been fully prepared, she got to meet the king. The king loved her, and asked her to be his queen. Her uncle worked at the palace that Ester was queen of. Haman was one of the kings top men, one day Mordecai angered Haman by not "respecting" him because of his beliefs. Haman then went to the king and asked for there to be a decree to kill out the Jews. The king agreed, and Haman sent out his decree. Ester was worried and her uncle Mordecai went into mourning. Ester went to the king and asked to have dinner with him and Haman and they agreed. Then at that dinner she asked if they would come to dinner the next night that she had prepared and they agreed. At that dinner she asked the king to revoke the decree because it was killing her people. The king agreed, he then found out that Haman had planned to kill Mordecai by hanging him by the palace gate. The king had Haman hung on the gallows that he had built for Mordecai. Then Mordecai made a decree that allowed the jews to go after anyone who were killing Jews. This scared people and a lot of people changed their faith.

 Ester was living with her uncle Mordecai when there was an invitation to Ester to come to the king’s palace. After she arrived at the palace the king fell in love with her. The king ended up making her his queen. As the years passed by a man name Haman worked his way up in the king’s guard. While he was working his way to the top Mordecai got in his way during an attack on the palace. Mordecai ended up saving the kings life and that made Haman furious. Once he made his way to the top he decided it was time to go after Mordecai for getting in his way. One day on his way into the place he noticed that Mordecai didn’t bow to him. Haman asked Mordechai, “Why do you not bow when a royal walks by?” Mordecai answered, “I am of the Jewish faith, it is against our religion to bow before anyone but our God.” Mordecai was once again furious. He then used that knowledge to lead his attack on Mordecai. Haman decided that he was going to go to the king with the thought of a decree that would allow the people to kill the Jews because of their faith. After Haman made the decree allowing all races to kill the Jews, Ester and Mordecai were scared. Neither one of them what they were going to do. Ester realized the only way to face this problem was to go to the king herself. She went in to the throne room and kneeled before the king. The king asked, “My dear queen, what brings you in here?” Slowly and softly Ester answered, “My king, I know this is none of my business, but I was wondering if you would mind changing the decree that Haman has made about killing the Jews. Sir, those are my people, the people who look up to me when thing get tough. Please my dear think about it.” After he heard this the king was aggravated he threw his scepter at her screaming “Why did you hide your faith from me?”. He was so outraged that he called his guards in and had Ester taken to the dungeon. Ester pleaded to the king apologizing for keeping this hidden from him. The king went through a major breakdown unsure of what his next move was going to be. What is he going to do about Ester? Should he recall Haman’s decree? Should he put Ester in harm’s way and allow her to die? He stayed in his royal bedroom for 2 week pondering these questions. After the weeks had passed the news of what happened between the king and Ester had finally made its way through the grapevine to Mordecai. Once Mordecai found out that his niece was in trouble he knew that it was his job to go save her. Mordecai headed towards the palace on a mission to save his niece. When he got there Mordecai had to wait two days before the king would see him. Finally, after waiting the king welcomed Mordecai with open arm, “Mordecai, my friend, what brings you to the palace?” Mordecai answered, “My king, you have my niece in your dungeon, I was wondering what it would take for you to release her?” The king answered, “For you I would do anything.” Mordecai got an idea and he and the king agreed that Haman’s decree was too harsh, he told Mordecai that he could not withdrawal the decree but he could write another decree. The king and Mordecai agreed that Haman was in the wrong, together they planned their revenge for Haman. Mordecai released a decree that stated if you hurt a Jew you were then opening up yourself to allow Jews to kill you. It also state that the Jews had royal authority to kill Haman, who would be trapped in front of the palace gates. This decree scared many people and they decided to change their beliefs. The king apologized to Ester for locking her in the dungeon for so long, she accepted his apology and they went on to live happily ever after. 

Bibliography

Ester, The Bible, Ester

A Fight for freedom,

By:Last Man Link

Reading Notes: Bible Women, Part B

The story that stood out to me for these parts of reading was the stories of Ester. The one that really caught my attention was the third story. I think that it must have really been love for the king to be willing  to give Ester whatever she might want without even knowing what she was going to ask for. I also wondered when I was reading what all Haman had to go through to get the position of where he was. I also wonder what all acts it took for the king to trust him enough to make proclamations. Along with the fact that he didn't even question why Haman truly wanted to make the proclamation. So a couple ideas I had would be that the king would question why Haman would want the Jews killed, making him go into more detail that he had already given. Another twist would be whenever Ester and her uncle sent out the amendment to the kings previous ruling that along with giving the Jews the right to kill anyone who might hurt them, that they would also get the right to kill Haman who set a bounty on their heads!

Haman meets his fate, by Normand

Link: Ester

Bibliography:

Bible Women Unit, Ester, King James Bible

Ester Link

Reading Notes: Bible Women, Part A

When reading part A the stories that really caught my attention were the stories of Rachel and Leah. Jacob worked for 7 years to have Rachel as a wife, in today's society I don't think there is a guy out there who would work for 7 years to marry a girl, if there is there aren't very many guys who would be willing to fulfill the commitment. A good plot twist here is when their father gives Jacob Leah instead of Rachel Jacob gets angry and rushes out the door. I was thinking for a plot twist to this story that Rachel should not be "in love" with Jacob. It would be kind of like a love triangle but there are also the two maidens. I was surprised that Jacob had 4 "wives". I didn't know that back in those days that was something that could happen. I was also surprised by the fact that not only were the sisters okay with sharing a husband but their father agreed to the deal. For another plot twist I could make it were Jacob couldn't produce any kids, or if he did have kids that they would go against him and his beliefs. Therefore, they would produce all females instead of mainly males and one female.

The Relocation of Jacob, his wives, and children.

Picture by Von Carolsfeld. Link: Story of Leah

Bibliography:
Bible Women, Stories from the Bible, author not sure
Link: Bible Women