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Message board > QUESTION TO VICTOR, MODERATORS AND COMMUNITY
QUESTION TO VICTOR, MODERATORS AND COMMUNITY
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Bruna Dutra
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QUESTION TO VICTOR, MODERATORS AND COMMUNITY
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I have a question I would like to ask, specially Victor, but also everyone in Eslprintables. I remember that before the rules we had the common (and good) sense that if you make a question, add some blank lines or sometimes a template, IT DOES NOT MAKE A WORKSHEET. Or at least not IMHO, and that seemed to be the common aggreement among moderators (back when I was one I could see that).
They all fell under "NOT an ESL-RESOURCE", which I believe it still does.
But my question is, has anything changed about this particular case?! Now we accept people (specially now with the template section) taking a sentence and uploading to Eslprintables.com?
I really would like to hear other people �s POVs!
Thanks for those who reply me.
Bruna
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19 Mar 2010
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almaz
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Sorry, Bruna, but I don �t quite understand exactly what you�re asking. What does �before the rules � mean?
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19 Mar 2010
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Bruna Dutra
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Before the new rules, Almaz... established on Feb, 18th, if I �m not mistaken.
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19 Mar 2010
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mena22
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Hi Bruna! The only thing I can tell you is that as long as there is an activity, no matter how short it may be, we must accept it because it is indeed an ESL reosurce. I know that some members often upload worksheets with very few exercises or, for example, with an instruction for the activity and then just lines and more lines for students to write their answers or their assignments. That may not seem fair if we compare thier worksheets with others that have different types of exercises. But we have to see this in a different perspective - the "minimalist" worksheets, which happen to be ESL resources, anyway, will only get a few downloads, hopefully, discouraging the members to keep on uploading almost empty worksheets.
Have a good evening,
mena |
19 Mar 2010
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lshorton99
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In my opinion an ESL resource is anything which can be used to teach English, which is a fairly broad definition. Even if you don �t use the resource, someone else might find it to be just what they needed. And, as mena so rightly pointed out, resources which aren �t useful don �t get downloaded.
I don �t think the reporting facility is there to criticise members � work. That would make the site extremely elitist, instead of a learning and sharing community. I know my work has improved a lot in the short time I �ve been here and that wouldn �t have happened if I had felt judged rather than supported by the wonderful people here.
This is only my perspective, of course. I can understand wanting to have as many perfect worksheets here as possible but those who upload a few sentences today could be those who contribute amazing worksheets tomorrow!
With a big hug for all the wonderful members here!
Lindsey
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20 Mar 2010
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crisholm
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Wonderful answer, Lindsey! |
20 Mar 2010
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Bruna Dutra
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Hi, girls. Thanks for the replies. From my point of view, it �s not the minimalist idea that bothers me, it �s the amount of site �s space it �s being filled with (almost) useless work. And please don �t get me wrong, for those who have come to know me a little from the time I �ve been her, I guess I have always showed just how PRO I am for acceptance of every member, specially new ones. I don �t think it �s unfair that they get points, as long as people play fair, it �s fine with me.
But Victor is always telling that he cannot increase the minimum size of wss and ppts due to site �s space being limited, and if we didn �t allow this kind of thing, it would mean saving up space, at least, it �s what I can feel.
Of course, it also means that we would make members work a little bit more even in the beginning, not because we are elitist or anything, but because we should have some boundaries as to what is actually a contribution to the site �s teachers, and what is only lame attempt to get some points to become a premium member and (more often than I �d care) never contributing again.
Hope you understand my main concern.
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20 Mar 2010
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JulietaVL
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Lindsey... what a nice reply
I also agree with you both Mena and Lindsey....
I have always voted for them to stay, even before the new rules.
I �d also like to read Victor �s opinion anyway. |
20 Mar 2010
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almaz
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Apologies, Bruna. The new new rules. Silly me! I �ve obviously missed the latest issue.
Lindsey: "those who upload a few sentences today could be those who contribute amazing worksheets tomorrow!" How true. Just give �em a chance! |
20 Mar 2010
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lshorton99
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I have to agree with Julieta. The first few years of teaching I doubt my worksheets were much more than a couple of lines. If someone had told me they were useless I would have been really upset and probably lost a lot of sleep worrying about it. I might never have taken the time to learn and improve my work, something which takes time and experience as well as confidence which wouldn �t have happened if people had viewed my work negatively. I have colleagues whose work is amazing but they don �t contribute to sites like this because they lack confidence.
I actually had a conversation with one today about how sites like this help your confidence as well as teaching you how to improve your work. I was trying to persuade her to join. If she read comments about �useless � worksheets she �d never want to share and that would be a real pity for the community as she makes amazing materials - her powerpoints in particular put me to shame!
This is a community and we should be building each other up not knocking each other down. So we lose a liittle space on the server - isn �t it worth it to know that we are helping each other. There will always be some people who take advantage of a system but if even one person improves because of this site then I think we can be proud!
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20 Mar 2010
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Bruna Dutra
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@Julieta, I either mispoke or you misunderstood my words. I know you chose to read the part I wrote (almost) useless separately from what I wrote before and after it. And that would make me sound elitist, yes. But I like to think that I �ve been a part of this community for a while and I have already showed how much I care about sharing and welcoming new members. I also did not like and thought it was elitist of you to say that once a member copied your layout, mainly because we were talking about a table with a heading. That was not nice for me but I did not have the need to tell you that.
But that �s ok, people are free to make the interpretation they want as it suits them.
Writing is an excellent way of practicing, who would disagree? But what I meant is that (maybe, and that �s just my opinion) we should have some kind of boundary regarding this. And what I find it very odd, is that I know you have voted for removal in quite some cases I mentioned because I remember your comments under them at the abuse page.
Anyways, I �m not up for an argument, I just don �t think I implied in any way that I think members shouldn �t be allowed to upload simple basic tasks or exercises, I was just talking about this �one phrase and blank lines � situation, specially those with cute pictures around that take up a lot of space.
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20 Mar 2010
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