To be honest, leaving a comment was one of my biggest fears when it came to blogging. A parade of ideas run through my head when deliberating what to leave as a comment such as 'Do I sound intelligent?' 'Should I say it critically or nicely??' 'Am I stupid for thinking this?' 'Should I actually leave this comment?' and so on and so forth. Reading my peers blogs and the tips for leaving comments helped me to realize that yes you should leave a comment that is meaningful and thoughtful but that it does not matter quite so much if you sound silly or professional or critical or helpful. All comments are unique to the writer and should reflect both your own thoughts and feelings as well as keeping in mind those of the blog that you are commenting on. Going with that thought I really appreciated the 'Your comments?' blog which just really said that anyone who blogs LOVES to receive comments to reinforce the idea that people are reading his or her blog and appreciating it; the idea that someone is affected by what you are writing is what we are all here for anyways! I also appreciated this blog's insistence that commenting become a regular part of a blogger's practices.
As an beginning experiment of commenting I went ahead and commented on a few of my classmates blogs, but have decided to hold off on other individual's blogs as well as continuing my commenting on my classmates' blogs.....
My Classmates:
http://bmenees.blogspot.com/2010/09/thing-4.html
I selected Brittany's blog because I know her and can relate to a lot of the things that she talks about in her blogs!
I commented on Brittany's #5 blog about discovering School 2.0. In my comment I related my feelings of overwhelment with hers in discovering all of the technology. I also talked about how we are both learning so much about technology in the classroom.
http://teacheffortlearnlife-mciezki.blogspot.com/
I selected his blog because after reading a couple of his posts I felt like I knew him and completely understood the way he spoke to his readers in a very real and educated way. I feel that he will make a superb educator!
I commented on his #4 commenting post because I was very impressed with the way he talked about commenting as something that you shouldn't be afraid of and you should use with gusto! He gave me courage to make stronger comments on other individual's blogs. I offered him commendations for these points!
http://meganartzsblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/thing-3.html#comments
I chose Megan's blog because I felt that she was really connecting with her blog and readers and was being very genuine and real in all of her posts.
I commented on her #3 post because I loved her idea of using a blog to communicate with students by including a schedule for the week and to post upcoming assignments. I let her know how fabulous of an idea this was.
edaygoodmanteacher.blogspot.com/2010/09/thing-6-information-overload.html#comments
WOW I completely connected to Goodman's post about being very overwhelmed by technology. This is why I chose to comment on her post. I commented by mutual feelings of overwhelment and amazement at the things I am capable of doing now that I have been in this class for a few weeks.
http://camorgan06.blogspot.com/2010/09/thing-8.html#comments
Cheryl's blog is filled with so many impressive creations from technology and this is why I chose her blog to comment on!
I commented on her thing #8 because I have finally realized after participating in this class how to make all of the wonderful things that she has been making. I commented her on her mosaic and reflected on what I was capable of doing before this class and what I can do now. She impresses me so much because she commonly says how she knew how to do this before the class began!
I completely agree with the comment you left on my thing #5! All of this stuff is very overwhelming, BUT it does seem to get easier as time passes!
ReplyDeleteAs far as commenting, the parade of ideas runs through my head before commenting, too!
Good luck with your blogging experience :)