Does anyone else think the new changes to waygook are great?!?

[landry]

I love seeing all of the lurkers coming out of the woodwork! 

In many ways I would almost say that the new policy doesn't go far enough...

While I am all for open source, I have been totally shocked over the last few days over the sheer number of people on this site who have been downloading and never giving anything back to the community.

As a plea from everyone on waygook that does contribute, please, please, please share your materials!! It doesn't take much time and it can really improve the quality of this community and of English education in Korea and elsewhere.

Many people have said that they usually download and then improve the materials, but that they are too lazy to post them up. Others have said that they don't know how to upload or that they simply don't want to share.

It is one thing to use this site for your own gain, but if everyone did that, there would be no community and no resources. If you are not comfortable enough with the quality of your own resources, at least give feedback to those who do post them. Tell us what worked and what didn't, what you liked and what you didn't like, suggestions for improvement etc.

Anyways, I think that the 5 post threshold is almost too low, maybe we need to go to a system where you must upload at least one lesson plan before being able to download. Just an idea if the current system doesn't work out as planned.

Cheers everyone and happy waygooking!

[#basedcowboyshirt]

The main reason I don't post my lesson plans is because I'm a complete hack with PowerPoint and my presentations honestly look like a twelve year old made them, in terms of aesthetics.

I'm working on a few prettier things, though. Hopefully they'll be done soonish.

[GrenWhit]

I have to say I understand both sides of the issue.  Last year was my first year teaching in a classroom setting and Waygook was one of the tools that helped turn my disastrous first semester around.  I didn't upload any lessons until this year because I didn't feel like I had anything really to offer.  This year I can finally give back.  My style is not for everyone, but I'm happy to be able to share my work in hopes that it helps some.  So I can appreciate that some people don't post for similar reasons.  Then, reading some of the new posts, there seem to be people who have no intention of doing anything but posting 5 comments, including one on how they don't like the new rules.  I think it's safe to say that Waygook aids some teachers in being lazy.  Even then, I'd rather their kids be taught something than nothing. 

I guess that means I like the new guidelines because they will push the decent teachers to share and allow crappy teachers to keep stealing with hopefully enough guilt thrown in to encourage them to become decent teachers.

[GrenWhit]

P.S.  I dig PPT issues - I'm a Mac guy, but then I realized that I can use keynote and upload a .pdf that does a decent job in slideshow mode and looks pretty minus the transitions.  Share the things that you are proud of and don't worry if that doesn't look like everyone else's.

[meggie107]

I understand the purpose behind the new rules - to try to encourage people to contribute and to discourage freeloaders.  The problem is, waygook really helped me in my first week of teaching (as I'm sure it helped many others) - and this is a time when I didn't have lesson plans to share, but was desperate for materials as I was nervous and didn't know what I was doing...

Now all the stressed newbies have nowhere to turn. So I don't know if I think that the changes are great.

I guess the question here is whether you think people should contribute equally, or whether you subscribe to a more classic Marxist view of distribution 'to each according to his need, and from each according to his ability.' Just something to think about:)

[whitenoisemaker]

To the OP - some of us have situations where it's very difficult to come up with *any* new stuff that would be in any way useful to other people. I think if you forced people to upload a minimum of stuff, the site would be swamped with rubbish. That said, I'm all for at the very least posting more and donating a bit of cash.

[gilbert.a.h]

I can't understand at all why you guys are so worried about what others do or don't do. I think it is great that people decide to freely give their lesson plans, games, and suggestions. But why should someone who might not have anything to share be banned or treated badly for that? Seriously, you should be glad to give. Didn't you guys ever learn in your life that the best present is the gift of giving??? Seriously. I feel really good about myself when I help others, and I don't go around thinking "What can I get back from this?"

I think it is really rude to think that someone has to give you something. If anything, it sounds like those religious people here in Korea. "Want some free coffee and a doughnut? Here you go. Now that I gave you free food, you really need to accept Jesus Christ as your one and only personal savior!"

Thats what it feels like when you guys treat others like this, and I am very ashamed of the behavior. If you want to make an exclusive club, then I suggest starting your OWN website and accepting members based on their application and how much they can give you.

 

[Andyroo]

I didn't consider myself a big contributor but was over the post count limit and wasn't affected.

Even if your new (like I am) and naturally don't feel you can contribute as much it's not much to give a thank you and some feedback to the individuals that are contributing.

I have downloaded quite a bit from here, I haven't used much if any in actual lessons but it's just great to see what other teachers are doing and stimulate ideas.

[Artist Formerly Known as Moderator Jason]

The reason to alter the demands on the site wasn't so much selfishness, it was necessity.  There is so much activity on the site it is draining the funds of the owner of the site.  He is trying to keep this site moving smoothly without flooding us with add-space.  Hopefully we can get some recruiters on here that can share in the burden of paying for the site.

I can't understand at all why you guys are so worried about what others do or don't do. I think it is great that people decide to freely give their lesson plans, games, and suggestions. But why should someone who might not have anything to share be banned or treated badly for that? Seriously, you should be glad to give. Didn't you guys ever learn in your life that the best present is the gift of giving??? Seriously. I feel really good about myself when I help others, and I don't go around thinking "What can I get back from this?"

I think it is really rude to think that someone has to give you something. If anything, it sounds like those religious people here in Korea. "Want some free coffee and a doughnut? Here you go. Now that I gave you free food, you really need to accept Jesus Christ as your one and only personal savior!"

Thats what it feels like when you guys treat others like this, and I am very ashamed of the behavior. If you want to make an exclusive club, then I suggest starting your OWN website and accepting members based on their application and how much they can give you.

 

[mojussa]

sarcasm is awesome but he explained what the issue was haha

[siamagoo]

The main reason I don't post my lesson plans is because I'm a complete hack with PowerPoint and my presentations honestly look like a twelve year old made them, in terms of aesthetics.

I'm working on a few prettier things, though. Hopefully they'll be done soonish.

Some of the best lessons I've found on here have looked like a 12 year old made them (and a 1990s 12 year old. I bet the 12 year olds these days are pretty smart).

They look bad, but the ideas are great! I'm not much of an innovator, so I take these ugly but excellent ppts, make them supper pretty, and then give them to the kids.

So don't let ugly-ness hold you back!

[Dantheeducator]

I think it's a great idea, in theory. I just hope people won't be too critical if my lesson plans aren't too great to begin with. I have faith with the Waygook community!

[sechje]

I can't understand at all why you guys are so worried about what others do or don't do. I think it is great that people decide to freely give their lesson plans, games, and suggestions. But why should someone who might not have anything to share be banned or treated badly for that? Seriously, you should be glad to give. Didn't you guys ever learn in your life that the best present is the gift of giving??? Seriously. I feel really good about myself when I help others, and I don't go around thinking "What can I get back from this?"

I think it is really rude to think that someone has to give you something. If anything, it sounds like those religious people here in Korea. "Want some free coffee and a doughnut? Here you go. Now that I gave you free food, you really need to accept Jesus Christ as your one and only personal savior!"

Thats what it feels like when you guys treat others like this, and I am very ashamed of the behavior. If you want to make an exclusive club, then I suggest starting your OWN website and accepting members based on their application and how much they can give you.

 

Because as the creator has said it costs money to run the website and they need some restrictions to limit downloads. I think the new rules are not that difficult to achieve. If you are so giving why don't YOU donate the money to always keep the website running?

Everyone has their own selfish reasons for doing something for someone else. You stated it makes YOU feel good...that is your own selfish reason. Don't discount others own feelings because it doesn't match your own personal view. I find your message pretty rude and ungrateful especially for the major contributors to this website.

People that post activities on here regularly don't go around saying "What can I get back from this?" They obviously do it to help the users. People are just tired of the free loaders that use the website without even saying 'thank you' or 'good job'. I don't think this is much to ask.

[monsoon257]

guys guys guys...you don't have to upload new ideas to get your post count up, you just need to give feedback or comments at minimum. If you have no new ideas to contribute, give thanks where it's due to those people who are uploading their content.

How hard is it to say, "Thank you, awesome ppt." 5 times?

[GrenWhit]

@gilbert:  obviously you care alot about this idea.  but try to consider it from someone else's perspective.  not all of us give to the site to make ourselves feel good.  and even when i give other things (like money to a guy on the street) i tend to be somewhat discretionary about where my resources go.  do people have needs that they can't always repay? absolutely.  i think most of us that don't appreciate freeloaders have already stated that there are times when supplying lesson plans is impossible. 

the idea behind a teacher's resource like this is to encourage shared ideas and cooperative thinking, not to give free lessons to people that can't or don't want to make their own.  so yes, i would rather have someone who is going to participate in that concept use my plans than someone who isn't.  just like i'd rather buy a drunk on the street a meal than hand him money for more booze.  i'd even say that my way is more in the best interests of the person involved.  it was partially a thread on people taking and never giving that encouraged me to start planning better and give back to the community instead of just taking.

[pcunit2009]

I think their awesome. At first I was like what?! But now I've uploaded some lessons and commented on a few things I can see a huge increase in activity and content already. Waygook could be the next facebook or google at this rate. Maybe we should think about investing some of in it!

[variable]

It's alright...::looks at post count::

[LemonWater]

Anyways, I think that the 5 post threshold is almost too low, maybe we need to go to a system where you must upload at least one lesson plan before being able to download. Just an idea if the current system doesn't work out as planned.

Agreed. Maybe there should be a sharing ratio  - 10 downloads for every useful post or something like that.

I don't like just giving away ideas and games freely - these are things that take time and creativity to devolop. Most teachers throughout the world would gladly pay for the the resources found on this site. 

However, I do believe in exchanging resources. It's a good way to grow professionally and improve as teachers. 

We are all teachers and should have some insight to contribute - being new or being technologically inept is no excuse. If you're getting paid to teach, you must have something to say - even if it's just providing feedback on a lesson you used or a meaningful question.

I guess maybe I'm a little resentful because I know some pretty lazy "teachers".  Some people do zero planning or prep. They just come on this site Monday morning and download whatever lessons people have posted. (I'm sure most have noticed how slowly the site runs on Monday mornings).

If only there were a way to filter out the freeloaders . . . .

[EPSK]

I agree that 5 posts seems too little. I confess, I am on waygook all the time and comment a lot but hardly ever download anything. I honestly rarely use the material I download. I know plenty of teachers who get EVERYTHING from Waygook.org and never ever share, even if it's just an opinion or advice threat. Sigh. This, however, seems to be too much for some, as I've heard a few people complain that "aw we have to post to get lessons and do our job with no effort!"

[Brian]

Nobody (I hope) is expecting new teachers to come on here and put up big powerpoints and tons of worksheets just so they can download.  But "sharing" means a lot of different things.  If you're looking to boost your contributions in order to download---and if you don't want to just put up empty posts like some users who are very close to getting themselves banned for it---there are plenty of things you can do to help out:

+ Post feedback from the lessons.  Not just "Great!" or "Thanks!" but how did it go specifically in your class?  For lower- or upper-level students?  What modifications did you make?  Did you make an extra activity to fill in time, or did you have to carry something over to next week?  No two teachers are the same, really, so there are going to be hundreds of different interpretations of the same material and the same resources here.   It would be helpful to not only read these lesson plans but to find out how they actually have worked in the classroom.

+ What's going on in the neighborhood?   Good to see people talking about hiking, about cherry blossoms, about festivals, etc.  What's going on where you live that you think people would like to know about?  Or, are you planning a weekend somewhere and have some questions for peopel who live there? 

+ Get to know people.  Facebook is a great resource for finding people and common interests in Korea, but why not use the introduction area as more than just a place to beef up your post counts?  We might have to find a way to break it up further into regions so you can introduce yourselves and make connections with teachers where you are. 

Off the top of my head those are some ways you can contribute to the site without having to come up with lessons.  Hell, in my nearly-five years I don't think I've ever uploaded a powerpoint.