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Message board > What if nobody ever downloads my stuff... Then what?
What if nobody ever downloads my stuff... Then what?
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Rufio18
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What if nobody ever downloads my stuff... Then what?
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What if nobody ever downloads my stuff... Then what? |
15 Sep 2008
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vbpb
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Hi Daniel!!
Well I was a little surprised when I read your post..... " What if NOBODY downloads your stuff???" and I said to myself... wow... it is impossible... then I decided to sneak around the material you had uploaded.... and please don�t take this the wrong way...
In my humbled but very honest opinion, and as an English teacher for teens, the topics and themes of your material are a little rough :(
What I want to say with this is... I know what happens around the world, and my students know it too, we all watch it on the TV every day, hear about it from everyone and almost everywhere... so... I know I can�t keep my students from all that, but I can keep it from my class, and try to make it fun and try to make my students think about possitive things instead of all tragedy and all that...
I�m not saying your material isn�t good, because it is good, you have a point; to develop a critical thinking in your students, but.... honestly, I find it rough, and maybe other teachers will too.
Keep with this idea of making your students think, probably focusing in fixing a problem or something like that could work better... I don�t know....
I apologize if this post reply "hurts" your feelings in any way. it isn�t my intention at all....
Good luck!!
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15 Sep 2008
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Logos
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Sorry Daniel, but I too agree with vbpb. To call your worksheet a �fun activity� when it is regarding September 11th is not really appealing to me - and I am sure many others. Have a look at other worksheets, particularly those that have been downloaded many times and you will see that they are attractive and relevant to teachers teaching English as a Foreign Language - mainly to children. Whilst indeed your worksheets can be used to stimulate discussion, they really only appeal to a niche market.
What people value is creativity - good presentation with good content. Put the two together and you will have a successful worksheet. Start using the imagination a bit more, create one good worksheet that downloads more than 30 copies and you are on to a winner.
Suppose it�s like starting a business, finding the first customers can be the hardest!! |
15 Sep 2008
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goodnesses
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... and taunting too.
I don�t think you have to apologize Vbpb , you as well as Logos, are right and what you say is crystal clear.
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15 Sep 2008
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gilorit
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Dear friends
I think you are too severe with Daniel.
Yes, he made a mistake by describing his worksheet as fun activity - but I am sure that he is aware of the moral issues involved in the subject of his work. I am more than sure that as American he knows the meaning of September 11.
He looks so young and I am sure he has good intentions, otherwise he wouldn�t have joined the site.
Give him a chance
Orit |
15 Sep 2008
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goodnesses
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You may be right Gilorit about him being young "teacher" ...
but you agree that there are some issues that are so delicate and sensitive that we should/"must" handle them with great precaution and awareness particularly when dealing with the young ones because you can easily get the counter-effect of what you are seeking.
We are teachers, and we like or not, directly or indirectly, we are the first and the last responsibles as far as tolerance and peace among nations/people are concerned. I could seem naive to some, but never mind, "I" believe it strongly.
Those who cause(ed) war had teachers one day. And those who put an end to war had teachers one day.
RESPECT TO ALL
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15 Sep 2008
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dareka1
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If you want a highly downloaded worksheet to get more points, there is only one way. You need pictures. List of things that makes a good worksheet- Quick and easy to understand. At least a few pictures to help with presentation. An easily understandable point as to why we should download the worksheet. An interesting/different thing to make your one special (that means try to come at it from an unusual angle). �The truth isn�t that your worksheet is bad, it�s just that I could get it for free from millions of other sites, why should I download it from here? There are probably one hundred worksheets slipping their way down the screen at any given time. You need to start thinking about marketing if you want your worksheet downloaded. One hundred worksheets, I log on maybe once every three days or so, I�ll take a look at maybe ten. Getting downloads is tough, but follow the general rules and you�ll get some.
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16 Sep 2008
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goodnesses
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Hi, there.
I beg you pardon, but is there some competition around here and I am missing it?
I have some difficulty understanding why (some of) you dear colleagues are talking about getting more points, using business and marketing rules (one member even talked about making money one day) so that your WS could be downloaded the most. Aren�t we here for the pleasure of sharing work materials and more importantly "GOOD IDEAS"?
I agree with you Dareka1 about no one being obliged to download a specific WS or a specific member�s WS. I download a WS that suits my Ss� teaching goals. However, if I don�t download it this does not mean it is bad or useless.
I don�t agree with you (at least partially) when you say that the only way for our WS to be downloaded is "pictures".
Illustration and visual aids are an important factor in the teaching/learning process as long as they are here to help the Ss� understanding. Using pictures and colors just for sake of making your WS beautiful so that they could be downloaded the most, I don�t think it�s a good idea. I can even say it may mislead the Ss especially the very young ones in their comprehension. Thinking this way (using picture and colors to make people download your WS), in my opinion, is a kind of underestimating many of the site�s members. What kind of teacher downloads a WS just because it is beautiful and doesn�t take the time to check its content. What is then the use of the scrolling preview put there by Victor and which I suppose wasn�t that easy to integrate in the site?
My final word is I share my work with my colleagues (they are in no way obliged to download it). I try to make my WS as attractive as possible when necessary and affordable keeping in mind that what is important is the content. I believe, in teaching, we should always "joindre l�utile � l�agr�able" (combine the pleasant and the useful) as the French people would say.
What is the benefit when we download a WS that looks very beautiful because full of pictures and colors and finally we find it just full of MISTAKES (or even DANGEROUS content).
Respect all.
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16 Sep 2008
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dareka1
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I didn�t, in my previous post, suggest that a person making a �pretty worksheet� should neglect content or spelling. There are however, and surely you must agree if you have downloaded any worksheets yourself, two points to membership here- �1) sharing your work so others may benefit �2) downloading other people�s worksheets so that you may benefit. �Unfortunately you cannot do 2 without making your worksheets interesting. In order to do that you have to take a look at the worksheet from another person�s perspective, and that will start influencing 1. My points in the previous comment are valid, just peruse through the current selection and note which worksheets are the most downloaded. Illustrations aid quick comprehension ergo pictures are a good idea (especially as I�m guessing the majority of teachers using this website teach beginner students with the worksheets, more advanced students you can have discussions with). �Having quickly reviewed your account (goodnesses), I do notice that you are no stranger to illustrations (I should have stated I meant illustrations as opposed to pictures per se) but admirably do without when not necessary. However, you do take care to break up the page and balance it so that it does please the eye. Is that purely by chance? or it is one facet of your worksheet production process? �As a last point, most of my students all have their own lives to worry about, they don�t want negative thoughts in the lesson. They want to talk and be happy, have a light, care-free atmosphere, escape from their everyday, mundane lives. My job (and salary) depends on them leaving the classroom cheerful. If they don�t, I�ve lost 30-50 dollars an hour. I don�t take chances with that. �(ps. I hope to amass as many points as you one day, goodnesses. I�m sllllloooowwwwllllyyyyy working on it.... :) � �) ETA- (pps. Ironically, here is a question for you- which of your own printables has the most downloads?)
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17 Sep 2008
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goodnesses
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All what I meant is that there should be a difference between illustration used for a pedagogical purpose and useless decoration. I would never download a WS with a very beautiful frame a colorful clip-art at each corner but in the middle an activity such as "turn the following into the passive" including a dozen of sentences at most. I can give this to my Ss on the WB and it will save me and them money and more importantly time. Because I am sure such a WS will take me more time to designe the frame and find the clip-arts than to prepare the activity itself.
However, when I see a WS (in the small preview) that is "quite" full of text about a specific topic, I take my time and go to it and have a look at the details of its content. If I realize hat it is well structured and organized and more importantly it has a good gradation so I download it without hesitation.
Now if we talk about the very little ones (I mean students) I agree with you that colors and illustrations are "more" important. But even here these colors and illustrations are done in a scientific way not just for the sake of decorating or pleasing the eye. Just have a look at any textbook designed for this category of Ss you will certainly notice that every color and every picture or clip-art has a function directly or indirectly to enhance and support the Ss� learning.
In addition, we seem to forget that what helps to download your WS as much as possible is the description you give it. The more accurate is your description and the more likely your Ws is to be downloaded.
Finally, something else we seem not give enough attention is the "categorization" of the WS as far as the number of downloading is concerned. There are tons of WS that are never downloaded just because they are in the wrong category. Just imagine. You prepare a "lesson plan" about the passive for intermediate the you upload it as a "test" in the category about the past tense (because you example and illustration concern the passive in the past) for advanced Ss. So, now I am looking for a "lesson plan" about the passive for intermediate Ss, I will never find yours because simply it is not there where I am looking. Then if I want a "test" about the past simple (passive or not) I will find yours but obviously I won�t download it because it is irrelevant. In any case your Ws will have "very" "little" chance to be downloaded.
To finish with, I believe that every button, every link, every textbox and component Victor put there on every page of this website has it importance and utility. Just like the one here in this forum that nearly no one seem to (be willing to) use when they realize they made some kind of slips in their posts. They use another post to correct them and then waste more space on the server at the moment they can just click a little link at the bottom of their post to RE-edit it. Hope you see what I mean...
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20 Sep 2008
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