Thing 4: Why Commenting is Important

Thing 4: Thing 4 is broken down into several parts. The first part asks me to explain why commenting helps create a sense of community and interaction. I did partially address this in a previous post regarding using blogs to create a classroom newsletter and interact with parents in that way. Thinking outside of the educational uses for blogs and focusing, rather, on personal blogs, commenting and interacting is a way to say things about yourself that you may not be comfortable talking about face to face. It's always an excellent tool for meeting other people with similar interests as you that you would not normally have the opportunity to meet.   

The next part asks me to bring up two valid points from articles about the importance of commenting on blogs. The first that I am reading is the Cool Cat Teacher Blog: How to comment like a king (or queen). The first thing that catches me eye is that they point out that a meaningful comment shows that you "hear the author". This is true in face-to-face conversation as well. You can tell if someone is just skimming through what you've written when they give a generic comment, just like you can tell if someone is only half listening to you speak when they do nothing but nod their head in agreement. For a blog to be successful, participation must be genuine.

The second website I'd like to point out shows it from the writer's point of view, and it is 10 techniques to get more comments on your blog. "Ask questions" is what caught my eye immediately. I've been adding the "question of the day" at the end of each post in order to try and get my audience more involved in what I'm doing. I came up with it since I am harassing my friends daily to come and check out what I'm writing and I want to give them a way to show me that they're listening :)

Ok, fair warning! This part will be a bit lengthy. The assignment is to read 7 blogs from fellow students, 5 from my own class and 2 from another, then comment on them and blog about why I chose to do so. Here goes...

I chose to read Danielle Witter's 23 Things since I saw that she was kind enough to comment on my blog! My comment was on post #2 regarding using blogging in the classroom. She brought up something I hadn't thought of, which is using a blog as a discussion forum for students. This is not applicable to the age group I will be teaching, but most definitely would make discussions more fun and interactive to middle and high school students. 


Alexis Wylie's The Wylie Things was chosen for the same reason as Danielle's. I commented on post #4 on her blog because she brought up something I've also believed all along. Blogging is a way to get information out there that might not normally come up in normal conversation, as well as connecting people who may never bump into each other in the "real world".


Now it's time to scroll through the list and pick some names! I found Kala Thomas's 23 Things for Teachers and decided to check it out. Thing #2 is where I chose to comment since I had a similar fun experience creating my avatar, and, like her, this was my first time creating a blog.

Thing 2 was also something I commented on in Ashley Saunders's Gonna Learn 23 Things. She had the same idea as me: using a class blog in replacement of a newsletter. In the days of "going green" and such, it only makes sense to eliminate paper waste wherever possible.

Marianne Spencer's name caught my eye because I have a cousin named Merianne and her husband's name is Spencer :) I am glad I read through her blog, My Journey with Instructional Technology, for a few reasons. One was seeing the picture of her beautiful little girl, Zoe, and reading her story of how she came to be. As a mother of two girls myself, it brought tears to my eyes. That was not, however, which thing I commented on. Thing #5 was where I put my two cents in,  and that was the subject of technology in classrooms in the future. I do feel like e-books as well as other technology would be useful, but since I grew up with textbooks, I also am hesitant to see them disappear completely. 

Since thusfar I was only reviewed blogs written by females, I decided to seek out some guys in other classrooms (no, I don't mean like THAT. Come on, let's focus on the academics). So I clicked on Daniel Lugo's Lugomania: A World of Learning. I guess I like to focus on thing 3, because that is where I chose to comment on his blog as well. He brought up a point that I had not seen yet: blogging can be a reflective tool for teachers. This ties into the previously discussed point of it being a means of communicating things you may not normally be able to. I feel like a personal blog shared with only friends and family would definitely be a helpful improvement method. 

Thing 3 was also my victim in Cody Douchane's Douchane's 3040 Reflections.  He has the similar opinion of using it for discussions with students, but for a reason that I had not previously noticed. Some students are more shy and socially awkward than others, and for these students it would be more difficult to effectively participate in a classroom discussion. It's not fair to them to not get as much out of class as their peers, so putting it in an online situation has the possibility to make it a more enriching experience overall. 

For anyone who made it to the end...congratulations! You win a prize! Since you read through the super long post of the day, you have earned one free hug. See me to redeem this prize! 

Question of the day: How do you feel about blogging in the classroom?