Re: [Easter ramblings]

Blammo wrote:
> On 12 May 2006, - Mike Easter entered spamcop and left 
> news:[email protected]:
> 
>> I have a friend who I help with some things, and I sense that I almost
>> always 'lose him' because of my wordiness, so I have to spend about
>> twice as much time as I normally would with my answers.
>>
> 
> I have learned new ways of communication from reading your writing style in 
> this group.
> I recently received an eMail informing me: "your contact form on this page 
> didn't work, it said such-and-such error", and I replied: "I know, it 
> states that it doesn't work yet right at the top of that page. Since you 
> are probably the only one to go to that page, I figured that it wasn't a 
> priority.", and then I rambled on about how no matter what I write or how 
> clearly I write it, people still won't read it or "see" it.
> But she likes my rambling on and replies:
> 
> "My real problem is is that I am now expected to be the tech and do my 
> regular job. Doesn't leave me much time to do either, so, I skim read, 
> clicked that pge, looked at the listed trouble shoot pgs, and for times 
> sake tried to use the form. I learn quick, and am good at annoying people 
> cuz I don't thoroughly read all that was there!!!! SORRY!!!! ; >"
> 
> I don't waste time rambling on in here, but I appreciate that Mike does.

Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate what Mike does, but my style is more 
ICAO'ize (equiv: succinct) if you know what I mean.

I teach and frequently I have to explain details of procedures to our 
students. The details are such that it often requires them to first 
study a chapter that was explained in a class, or in notes or a book 
before they approach me.

One of my problems is my "time" against "their" motivation in the topic 
when they approach me. I found out that the long answers for common 
issues don't always help, in fact, they scare students off, and that's 
what you want to avoid as well.

What I normally do is to watch their behavior as I provide a clue. If 
the problem is complicated (most of them are), and, if they don't take 
notes of what I explain, or if the in between replies don't make sense, 
  then I'm apparently not taken serious.

Also, some replies are like, please give me the "final numbers" or 
better said "the answer" to the assignment. If this happens then you can 
be sure that they are fishing. In that case, and, depending on the 
circumstances you send them back since it would be unfair against others 
if you would help them directly.

To continue would be a waste of time, and in such situations you are as 
a teacher better off in referring to the references, which is the 
equivalent of the FAQ here. This way of handling questions really saves 
me a lot of time on a day. Unless you want to become mister popularity 
not being able to do other work required for research and admin.

This was my long answer for now.

Ejo