Pairing and Feedback

Pairing

Pairing isn't so bad. The peers are all nice and I haven't met someone who was disrespectful during the sessions. Despite the easy going people I am always anxious or a little nervous come time for the session. I get the feeling that I may not contribute to the session as much as the other person BEFORE the session even starts. However, I do think that feeling goes away as I continue to pair with the same person. The feeling of being comfortable enough to joke around while pairing is a great feeling by the way. It loosens any tensions from either side. I don't think it's fun when the code doesn't run the way we want to but it is especially rewarding when our code works. I think the only frustrating parts of pairing is when both sides have code block and haven't come up with a fresh way to tackle the challenge. But that frustration has nothing to do with the people pairing.

Feedback

I feel very vulnerable reading my feedback. They point out your flaws with the material which sometimes we can't quite control because most times we aren't on the same challenges or haven't studied the material up to that pairing session. The feedback is necessary though as long as it is contructive criticism and not destructive criticism. I like to believe I have changed my ways a bit but like most things, only time will tell if I have really improved them or not. The feedback i received is definitely helpful to my learning. From one pairing I was told I was tentative during the pairing but essentially knew what I was doing. Well first I had to look up what tentative meant ahah! I think most times I tend to think I don't know enough or anything but I really do especially when I'm put on the spot or in the heat of the moment. Moments later I would realize "oh, crap! I knew that!"

Writing feedback is very difficult for me. I tend to compliment the pair more than constructively criticize them because as previously mentioned I think they know more than me. I hardly ever feel like I'm hot stuff so it's difficult for me to criticize how other people do during a challenge. It is not because I am afraid I would hurt their feelings or that I would say the wrong things but because pairing is completely new to me. Even during college and high school, group projects usually consisted of meeting once before the due date, assign the workloads, and then go off on our separate ways until right before the due date to weld it all together to turn in.

Pairing is a great way to learn. Questions are and "I thought it worked this way" are answered almost immediately. It is much better pairing and mentoring than to learn programming languages alone. If that were the case than why would there be so many successful programming development programs that insist on the usage of staff and peer assisted learning?