In Spanish

Hi Lely, I'm going to give you my vision of lists function. Maybe this will be a peculiar vision, but so is the situation which I faced this year.

I started to work with a group of kids, that not only didn't know the first thing about lists, but neither could they write, elaborate, etc

These kids belong to a poor section of our society, with great difficulties of all kinds. So I had to see the Social assistant of the zone to coordinate with her an extra computer class based on the "Who-Am-I?" program.

Took a long time for them to learn how to answer, we had many class periods of looking at what  others wrote. Analyzing and comparing. Even though we couldn't subscribe to the list kidwaila-chicos (server was acting unhappily throwing off our confirmation), we have some of the kids' works already finished and some more others that are getting finished about the "Who Am I?" and "Friends and Family" modules, that I'm sending to you for publishing. We worked these modules for the reasons I expressed and because those are the areas where these kids are lacking.
I am very pleased with the great results they got. We have been getting congratulations from the school teachers, social assistant, school director and from the inspector that came to visit us to see what they are doing through inspector Eduardo Carró. Even if it is true that we are far from the goals we proposed at the beginning of the courses, we are now in position of moving rapidly. This of course will stay for next year. The seed has been planted and has flowered. We will continue watering it to make it grow strong and multiply.

  Now I will tell  about some inconveniences I have meet in the development.
It was perfect to me the separation of the lists. Nothing bad to say about this.
 
1) I see an eagerness of the teachers to exchange emails. It is almost like a religion the fact that students have to establish an email communication with other kids very fast. Then we got from Ceci and Samuel an enormous amount of emails of students. I don't think it is right for the teachers to push this exchange. What happens then? Who they write then? How long the contact lasts? It lasts what the course lasts, sometimes much less. And all the disillusions that you all know.(nobody writes me,nobody answer and so on)
 

2) It is not easy to understand or find how to participate and how lists function. Maybe we should include a box that deals exactly with this problem and as a first item before talking about modules and programs.

3) I suggest that the exchange should be three or four times a year as part of the program. That is, include (for example) the two first modules . An exchange by email or chat about what they felt , if they change the initial vision when they read what the other students wrote, etc. this way, exchange would have a more solid base that it has now, given that I consider the fact that the actual interchange is not really coming out of the students but from the adults. When having a concrete theme for the exchange as part of the program, we could skip on many disillusions occurring now. Plus it will help teachers plan the class in a more orderly fashion. I think given the lateness of everybody, that we don't have enough time to read, answer and work over the modules and/or other short projects we get as we go. Personal interchange should be a consequence and not a goal.

I'll leave the forum open to keep exchanging ideas.

End of KIDLEADER-SPANISH Digest - 8 Nov 2000 to 9 Nov 2000 (#2000-230)
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