(WARNING! Long post! Barbara is also sending it by email)
(WARNING! Long post! Barbara is also sending it by email)
It’s time, people! Time to start posting your WIPs—your works-in-progress. And, as people post theirs, to read and comment on them.
If you are not finished, that’s fine—remember that it takes time to read and think about a text, so actually, if you post your work bit by bit, it can be easier for people to react to. You just need to make sure that you post a coherent chunk, such as one complete activity or one complete unit. If you are not posting your entire work all at once, just put a note at the bottom to let people know what it is; something like “This is three complete units. I plan to have two more approximately like this.” As you write more, you can post again (as a new document, so people who have read your first one know that there is something more).
Before you post your work, please do your own review, editing, and proofreading. The more polished you make your work, the better feedback you will get. Do not neglect a simple spellcheck!
There is now an area in our course called “Work in progress”; please post your work there, so everybody can find it.
Make sure you keep a separate copy of your work (maybe with a title like “original” and the date), in case you want to see a copy of it later without comments on it.
Now, for feedback. It would be great if everybody could read and comment on everybody’s work. Go ahead and make comments directly on the document. Not only is that helpful for the author, but it will put you in the mindset of evaluation and considering materials from a more objective viewpoint.
If anybody is not familiar with using “track changes” in Word, please let me know and I can give you a quick Skype lesson (and don’t worry, it’s easy).
Here are some points to consider when you offer feedback:
1) Is everything clear? Is it easy to understand? If there are some points where you had to work to figure out the meaning or intention, let the author know. If there is an explanation that is particularly good, let the author know that too.
2) Do things work? That is, if you are considering exercises, do you think they would work in class? Why or why not? The author is only one person, and we are teachers from many different contexts. Of course, if the author is only writing for Chinese middle school students, it’s not helpful to point out they wouldn’t work in Venezuela. But if the materials are more general, but you think they would work in the author’s class of 12 but not in your class of 40, then point that out. Perhaps there’s a way the activity could be modified for larger classes, and the author would like to add that.
3) Does anything seem unnecessary? Are there too many examples, or an anecdote that goes on too long, or a section that isn’t connected to the main point? Some authors (like me, for instance!) tend to overwrite, and include too much. Trimming the fat can make a better meal. :)
4) Is anything missing? Other authors underwrite, and don’t include all the necessary steps or explanations. If you think something needs to be added that isn’t there, then let the author know.
5) What works well? It’s natural (as well as efficient) to look for problems. But authors also need to know what’s working well. Of course general praise is always nice, but it’s not necessarily useful. If you can say specifically what is working well, that’s valuable information.
6) “If you see something, say something.” Do you see a grammatical problem or typo or misspelling or something? Point it out. This is “all hands on deck.” Your own brain will ‘fix’ your mistakes for you, because it knows what is supposed to be there. So sometimes you genuinely will not see a mistake in your own work. That’s your brain being smart! But someone else’s brain can see it. That is why we normally hire a proofreader to check our work. In this course, we’ll proofread for one another.
I know. Believe me, I know it’s hard to have your material critiqued. You wrote (I hope!) the best material you could; wouldn’t it be nice if it were perfect the way it is? That’s rare, though. The best writers in the world have editors, and make revisions. A criticism of a paragraph or a sentence or an activity is not a criticism of you. Think of the course participants as your team of assistants—how nice it is that they are helping you create the best materials possible!
Since we are all teachers, I don’t think I have to tell anyone how to be tactful when giving feedback. But any suggestion can sometimes be hard for us as writers to be open to. That’s natural. Recognize that, and then move beyond it.
Remember too that you are the author. The final decision rests with you. If someone makes a suggestion, please consider it. But you are perfectly free to disagree with or reject that suggestion. One of the purposes of self-publishing, after all, is to create the materials that you want to create. Feedback is valuable; but it’s not a command. Consider all opinions, and then make your decisions.
If you have questions or problems or concerns, ask them in our discussion area.
Happy writing! We’ll have the next live session on Saturday (for me; Sunday for some of you), where we’ll talk about formatting. So we’ll all need some “stuff” created and polished to be working with then.
Best,
Dorothy
It’s time, people! Time to start posting your WIPs—your works-in-progress. And, as people post theirs, to read and comment on them.
If you are not finished, that’s fine—remember that it takes time to read and think about a text, so actually, if you post your work bit by bit, it can be easier for people to react to. You just need to make sure that you post a coherent chunk, such as one complete activity or one complete unit. If you are not posting your entire work all at once, just put a note at the bottom to let people know what it is; something like “This is three complete units. I plan to have two more approximately like this.” As you write more, you can post again (as a new document, so people who have read your first one know that there is something more).
Before you post your work, please do your own review, editing, and proofreading. The more polished you make your work, the better feedback you will get. Do not neglect a simple spellcheck!
There is now an area in our course called “Work in progress”; please post your work there, so everybody can find it.
Make sure you keep a separate copy of your work (maybe with a title like “original” and the date), in case you want to see a copy of it later without comments on it.
Now, for feedback. It would be great if everybody could read and comment on everybody’s work. Go ahead and make comments directly on the document. Not only is that helpful for the author, but it will put you in the mindset of evaluation and considering materials from a more objective viewpoint.
If anybody is not familiar with using “track changes” in Word, please let me know and I can give you a quick Skype lesson (and don’t worry, it’s easy).
Here are some points to consider when you offer feedback:
1) Is everything clear? Is it easy to understand? If there are some points where you had to work to figure out the meaning or intention, let the author know. If there is an explanation that is particularly good, let the author know that too.
2) Do things work? That is, if you are considering exercises, do you think they would work in class? Why or why not? The author is only one person, and we are teachers from many different contexts. Of course, if the author is only writing for Chinese middle school students, it’s not helpful to point out they wouldn’t work in Venezuela. But if the materials are more general, but you think they would work in the author’s class of 12 but not in your class of 40, then point that out. Perhaps there’s a way the activity could be modified for larger classes, and the author would like to add that.
3) Does anything seem unnecessary? Are there too many examples, or an anecdote that goes on too long, or a section that isn’t connected to the main point? Some authors (like me, for instance!) tend to overwrite, and include too much. Trimming the fat can make a better meal. :)
4) Is anything missing? Other authors underwrite, and don’t include all the necessary steps or explanations. If you think something needs to be added that isn’t there, then let the author know.
5) What works well? It’s natural (as well as efficient) to look for problems. But authors also need to know what’s working well. Of course general praise is always nice, but it’s not necessarily useful. If you can say specifically what is working well, that’s valuable information.
6) “If you see something, say something.” Do you see a grammatical problem or typo or misspelling or something? Point it out. This is “all hands on deck.” Your own brain will ‘fix’ your mistakes for you, because it knows what is supposed to be there. So sometimes you genuinely will not see a mistake in your own work. That’s your brain being smart! But someone else’s brain can see it. That is why we normally hire a proofreader to check our work. In this course, we’ll proofread for one another.
I know. Believe me, I know it’s hard to have your material critiqued. You wrote (I hope!) the best material you could; wouldn’t it be nice if it were perfect the way it is? That’s rare, though. The best writers in the world have editors, and make revisions. A criticism of a paragraph or a sentence or an activity is not a criticism of you. Think of the course participants as your team of assistants—how nice it is that they are helping you create the best materials possible!
Since we are all teachers, I don’t think I have to tell anyone how to be tactful when giving feedback. But any suggestion can sometimes be hard for us as writers to be open to. That’s natural. Recognize that, and then move beyond it.
Remember too that you are the author. The final decision rests with you. If someone makes a suggestion, please consider it. But you are perfectly free to disagree with or reject that suggestion. One of the purposes of self-publishing, after all, is to create the materials that you want to create. Feedback is valuable; but it’s not a command. Consider all opinions, and then make your decisions.
If you have questions or problems or concerns, ask them in our discussion area.
Happy writing! We’ll have the next live session on Saturday (for me; Sunday for some of you), where we’ll talk about formatting. So we’ll all need some “stuff” created and polished to be working with then.
Best,
Dorothy
Thanks for your detailed instructions. Do I understand correctly that we will be all uploading Word documents? And then uploading back documents with track changes whenever we comment on other people's work? Would a link to a google doc work - this would help keep all the comments in one place?
ReplyDeleteMargarita - in google docs the changes are automatically saved and displayed to everyone.
ReplyDeleteActually, I'm afraid that 'track changes' doesn't work with google docs. Unless you give permission to 'edit' your document, people will only be able to add comments. You can give permission to others to edit, and use a different color to be sure that you know what is different, but I don't recommend that unless you are working with a very small group with assigned colors :)
ReplyDeleteA ''how to' guide: drive.google.com - How to comment in google docs.pdf - Google Drive
ReplyDeleteWell, (bad word)! I love track changes. But commenting is fine too (as Barb explains). Let's do that. I think with the size of our group, that's better than editing in different colors.
ReplyDelete