Feedback can be a source of academic love or academic devastation. We have all dealt with the critiques of a “Reviewer #2” sometime in our lives. We watched our papers bleed from slashes of a red pen. These memories can inspire either kindness or bitterness in peer review. 

I teach several writing workshops as a graduate consultant for the University Writing Center and an assistant instructor for the Butler School of Music at University of Texas at Austin. In my teaching, I use my wealth of experience from improv theatre to encourage my students not just how to fail safely, but also how to communicate effectively with their peers. Writing is hard and vulnerable. 

How can we teach our students to give constructive feedback without feeling dejected?

My trick? “Today is Tuesday.” 

If you have played the game “Telephone,” you may have an idea of how this game works. In “Telephone,” students sit in a circle and one by one, whisper a phrase until the last person in the circle says it aloud. The goal is to learn how rumors pass from ear to ear causing confusion and distortion of the original story. Students giggle, but gain the lesson from experiencing the emotional change. “Today is Tuesday” works similarly.

In “Today is Tuesday,” students also stand in a circle.  Instead of whispering the phrase in an ear, students are to mirror the entire action – the phrase, their peer’s inflection, the body’s mannerisms. Students pass the motion around the circle (typically three rounds) to witness the organic emotional changes in expression and gesture. In Improv Troupes, the phrase is typically dry or observational, like “Today is Tuesday” to leave more room for interpretation in the group. For my writing classes, I use two distinct phrases to articulate emotional responses to writing criticism. 

 

First Phrase: “That’s great”’ with a sarcastic inflection as the teacher crosses their arms.

The First Phrase is passed around the circle. Students slowly may become quieter, more shrunk into their crossed arms and frame. The phrase may sound more dejected and upset. After the three rounds, I ask my students how they feel. Many will say they felt upset. Even though nothing was said about them specifically, the tone and body language registered as negative feedback. 

I validate the experience. It sucks to have negative feedback and I suggest if they are willing, let us do the activity one more time. Counterclockwise and with a new phrase / gesture. 

 

Second Phrase: “That was amazing!” with an enthusiastic smile and open arms as if performing jazz hands (sometimes I even add a mini-jump or hop). 

The Second Phrase is passed around the circle. Students quickly become louder, more open and may even add words (“Oh my God, that was amazing!” Or “Dude”/“Whoa! That was amazing!”) to the phrase to showcase authentic encouragement. After the three rounds, I again ask my students how they feel. Many will say they feel much better! Even though nothing was said about them specifically, the tone and body language registered as positive feedback. 

In life, each student is going to have someone (a boss, an editor, a teacher) who may display either the first phrase or the second phrase in their feedback. You cannot control how someone responds, but you can control how you respond. When I ask my students how they would prefer to have feedback, all of them agree they would prefer the Second Phrase. 

 

Now does this mean this work is always amazing and perfect? No. Be sure to have students understand that there is always room for improvement. What we can encourage is positive, constructive criticism, especially when giving feedback to our peers in classroom settings and writing workshops. Playing “Today is Tuesday” allows students to embody the backlash of “Reviewer #2” without specified dejection in a shared emotional simulation. Only to turn it around by imbuing students with positivity and excitement to write that paper, which will be amazing!  

keywords: Improv, Feedback, Writing

Submitted by: Hannah Neuhauser 

• Listing ID: 2957
• Resource Type: Document
• Geographic Area: multiple regions
• Audience: undergrad + grad
• Century: multiple centuries