martes, 15 de noviembre de 2011

Tom and the Water-babies

Part II of an egotistic report outlining my individual contributions to the design of the Collaborative Language Course in Sandbox B.




Hello fellow M4T-I moo-oodlers.

One of the first books I remember reading at the age of four and a half to five years old is the Water-babies, written in 1863 by Charles Kingsley.

Of course I was intrigued by the story of the hero, Tom, a young boy pressed into service as a Chimney Sweep's assistant, who falls into a river after encountering an upper-class girl named Ellie and being chased out of her house. There he dies and is transformed into a "water baby", as he is told by a caddis fly—an insect that sheds its skin—and begins his moral education. The story is thematically concerned with Christian redemption, though Kingsley also uses the book to argue that England treats its poor badly, and to question child labour, among other themes.

Tom embarks on a series of adventures and lessons, and enjoys the community of other water babies once he proves himself a moral creature. The major spiritual leaders in his new world are the fairies Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby, Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid, and Mother Carey. Weekly, Tom is allowed the company of Ellie, who had fallen into the river after he did.

Grimes, his old master, drowns as well, and in his final adventure, Tom travels to the end of the world to attempt to help the man where he is being punished for his misdeeds. Tom helps Grimes to find repentance, and Grimes will be given a second chance if he can successfully perform a final penance. By proving his willingness to do things he does not like, if they are the right things to do, Tom earns himself a return to human form, and becomes "a great man of science" who "can plan railways, and steam-engines, and electric telegraphs, and rifled guns, and so forth". He and Ellie are united, although the book claims that they never marry.

So, what does all this have to do with the Sandbox B in M4T-I? You ask. Everything! I say.

Once again, I feel like little Tom, trying to prove myself a moral creature and enlisting the help of my fellow water-baby collaborators in order to terminate our designated tasks for this, our third work week of the course, and, like Grimes, proving their willingness to do things they do not like, our collaborative tasks being the things that should be done.

This past week I .... First things first, I read everything posted on the course and Sandboxes B and A then I ......

Returning Sunday 20/11/11, mid-afternoon......

So!, what did I do this week?

Well,  I added some more resources that I thought we could use in further lessons and, after doing some research on additional resources and activities for our Collaborative Language Course, I found an interesting plug-in for m-Moodle allowing users to view and participate in activities of Moodle classes on their smart phones whilst off-line. I inserted details of the program in Sandbox B and in the M4T-I course Questions, Comments and Feedback forum for all to see.

Afterwards, due to the lack of replies, I decided to insert a model, general Language Course title, photo, description etc. called "A Collaborative English Course" in space 2. I also posted some tit-bits of, what I think is, interesting information found on the inter-net.

On the question of "Collaboration" - this week I have felt like the Sower in Jesus, the Christ's, parable from the Synoptic Gospels ...... "I have dropped seed on the path, on rocky ground, and among thorns, and the seed was lost;

But, as ever optimistic, I await next week when "but when seed fell on good earth, it grew, yielding thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold".

Bye for now,

Keep on Moo-oodling.

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