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ESL forum >
Concerning worksheets > REPORTED CONTRIBUTIONS
REPORTED CONTRIBUTIONS
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jonawar
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REPORTED CONTRIBUTIONS
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I think we need to adopt
a more professional attitude to the reported contributions debate.� We are all teachers.� It is our daily job to evaluate our students�
work and sometimes ask them to rewrite a text or correct their material� How
would we react if they started complaining �It�s not fair, Miss, I deserve a
higher mark�..!�� If our own colleagues consider
that our work is not up to scratch, instead of objecting, why can�t we trust these
opinions and use their suggestions to improve our materials, review our
contributions, add more �substance� to the ws, or create exercises to
compliment the clipart.��
All materials are
valuable in the classroom, whether stickers, posters, flash cards etc.� and many are readily available on the Internet
or in books for everyone to download or copy. For me the uniqueness of this website is that teachers employ
their skills and experience to develop materials which they choose to share
with other teachers.� We all �borrow�
materials but the important thing is how we personalize those materials, create
activities, inspire new ideas �� and not just add a few words to a picture and
call it a ws.
Let�s be practical too, hundreds of printables are uploaded
every day � we need to lighten up the website.�
What�s wrong with discarding the old stuff to make way for fresh, imaginative ideas that will inspire each and every one of us to improve our work and
perfect our skills?��
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18 Apr 2009
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moravc
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Yes, I agree with you. I have already made some similar comments to the "stickers" issue.
We SHOULD PRAISE the individual creativity of teachers, THEIR PERSONAL effort to COMPLETE a worksheet.
We shouldn �t encourage the new contributors to upload a copied picture with a single word.
This IS NOT a worksheet, this is not a CREATIVE work. This is not INSPIRING. This is just a work of a person in a hurry or a lazy person.
DEAR FRIENDS, PLEASE be creative. Be hard-working. Improve your work. Update your old worksheets with a single picture or delete them and re-write them...
Let �s make our website EVEN BETTER, MORE CREATIVE, let �s inspire each other with new ideas !!!!
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18 Apr 2009
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vanda51
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Dear jonawar:
Let me tell you why I think we must not discard what you call the �old stuff�?
The "old stuff" as well as the "old members" have done, step by step, this site what it is today... They should be respected and not evaluated or judged...
Help to improve our work is to search the site and report everything that we don�t like?
I apologize but I cannot agree with this!
Regards
Vanda |
18 Apr 2009
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jamiejules
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why should the "old stuff" be deleted??
this site is a mine of useful data. Some members may only like the flashy newest ws but many older ws have a lot of substance (even if the layout may not be "up to date")
and thanks to the older members we have been able to improve our own work (and let �s be honest none of us would have been able to create such nice ws if it weren �t for the sense of achievement we get from other members downloading our stuff!!)
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18 Apr 2009
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jonawar
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Dear Vanda
You misunderstand ... the idea is to remove the �clutter� not to remove or disrespect the old members� Best wishes Jo
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18 Apr 2009
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s.lefevre
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Hi,
I think that Vanda and Jamiejules misunderstood Jonawar �s intention. It �s not a question of deleting " old stuff", but of deleting stuff which hasn �t been downloaded or doesn �t fit the parameters any more. Do the older members remember that, at the beginning, a worksheet had to be accepted by the other users and they could vote immediatly if it had to be published or deleted? I don �t think that this was a bad idea because worksheets with just a picture and a word or just a word list wouldn �t be accepted any more. I think we shouldn �t juge very severly our collegue �s worksheets but I also think there is a limit for everything. Some people just copy a few words and call it worksheet. If very poor quality weren �t accepted, I �m sure that everbody would work harder. Many of my worksheets at the beginning hadn �t been accepted and I worked to become more creative until I was accepted. |
18 Apr 2009
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yolprica
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I completely agree with you Jonawar. |
18 Apr 2009
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freddie
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As one person who has gone through some of the `old stuff` I want to assure you that when I went through several categories, I saw hundreds and hundreds, probably thousands of worksheets that have never been downloaded or that have 1 or 2 downloads. I have only reported the few that I believe fit the criteria that Victor specified and I usually stop once the downloads for each worksheet get up to 10 or so. I don �t bother going into popular worksheets as there are probably reasons why they were downloaded alot.
I personally believe that if those who are not �on board � with this new system went through the categories themselves, they would understand how heavy this site is with empty files or uploads which may be ESL resources but have never been downloaded and others that were downloaded once or twice. Some of those do not fit the criteria for an ESL resource as specified by Victor. I think we need to clear out the old and make space for more and better material. I think we should go farther and report everything with zero (or even 1 or 2)downloads.
And I agree with Jonawar, an open attitude to feedback from peers is a necessary part of our professional practice. Though of course mistakes may have been made in some cases, by far most cases of worksheets were not positive contributions to our site. Let �s raise our standards. Our students deserve it.
Hope you have a great weekend
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18 Apr 2009
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