Two issues: tone and expectations.
On another list, a post I wrote was deemed hostile by the writer of the post I was responding to. Even though someone else wrote in and said he saw nothing hostile in my post, the listserv was inundated with outcries about there not being any place on the list for hostility. I felt that if I asked people to please read my post, even that would be regarded as a hostile act. So I left a list I had been a member of for many years. Whose tone was at fault? Mine or that of the offended party? No one cares. You just have to realize, contrary to what many have said, that there are people who delight in bullying and degrading others. The best thing is to ignore them b/c they batten on attention. For the most part, no one intends hostility.
Lance wrote,
Aside from points 1-3, can anyone answer why they still think it’s OK to grade students on how many errors we make? Before you reply, have you looked at the research or ACTFL expectations? Do you know that we should expect errors until Intermediate Mid, a level which some students never attain throughout high school? (Lance)
I would call that abrupt, not hostile. It is a style. Yet people are offended by it.
Someone posted to my blog:
But perhaps we need a FAQ page,
As I said earlier, Brian Barabe is working on one.
Then someone else posted to my blog:
As with Christian teaching, the TPRS community needs to follow the aphorism attributed to Phillip Melanchthon: “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, diversity; in all things, charity”. Of course, then there has to be agreement on what is essential and non-essential.
There is the nub for me, so many people writing in about practices that are not essential to CI nor to tprs. Do we say no, that’s not right? They are certainly free to practice as they will, but what if they complain that tprs isn’t working? Can we tell them why? And what do we do with the very aggressive people who insist we validate their “innovative” approach? I can recall one from a few months ago.
So for me, I will just wait for the monthly check list to make its appearance.