The message that needed one more question
Our class was making a page about favourite books. The group leader sent a short message: 'I want everyone to send me a photo by Friday.' Several students replied immediately. One sent a photograph of a book cover, another sent a picture of herself holding a book, and a third sent a screenshot of a reading app. The leader realised that the request was not clear. She had expected a photograph of each student's handmade book recommendation card. Nobody had been told this. Instead of blaming the group, she wrote a second message with an example and a simple checklist. The new message asked students to photograph only their cards, leave home addresses and faces out of the image, and check that the writing was readable. It also explained that the final page would be public, not just visible to the class. Students who did not want their work published could give the teacher a paper version. I learned two things from the mistake. A short message is not always a clear message, and an unexpected reply does not always mean that someone was careless. Sometimes the missing information was in the request.