I must admit I am a bit conflicted about commenting on blogs. First of all, do we say, I liked your post or your blog? I realize it's semantics but there is nothing worse than realizing you know enough to sound ignorant!
I loved the 10 Techniques to Get More Comments on your Blog, however when I went to leave a comment it was discontinued. How funny is that? I couldn't believe how rude some of the comments were. I think there is a sense of entitlement when people think they are anonymous. For some reason people feel they are empowered to say things in a way that they wouldn't say them in person. (Sort of like Staff Development evaluations)
I think blogs and commenting could be very useful in a classroom and/or even for the facilitators to use with teachers. I kept thinking, though, how much it reminds me of writing in journals. Teachers ask students to 'keep journals' all the time. Many of those teachers then complain that students don't take them seriously or don't write very much or write the same thing. I hate to always go back to PURPOSE but what is the purpose of the journal? IF students are going to write in journals and nobody reads it, why bother? Likewise, the technological comment? If students (or teachers) are going to comment and nobody reciprocates what's the purpose. All writing, and commenting, is for an audience. Either live or via the internet, right?
I think there could be great back and forth discussions with not only the teacher and student but outside contributors as well. My fear is that we will get kids hooked and they will eagerly check to see if anyone has responded to their comment only to be disappointed.
Now personally I feel a bit intimidated to leave a comment when I don't know the author. It's easy to contribute to Short n Sweet and either agree or disagree. But if I don't know the author I really do think twice about if I have anything to really contribute. If I were in a face to face discussion and didn't have anything to say I would just shrug or say 'huh.' I think that is frowned upon as a comment and how does one shrug on a post.? Not to mention most of those people are a lot smarter than I am. Who am I to comment except to say, I agree and that seems like a wasted comment.
So my confliction continues.......
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You're exactly right in comparing a blog to a journal. It is a great place for someone to write about their thoughts and feelings on a particular topic. The thing that is different is that the audience has the potential to be much wider.
ReplyDeleteIf you wanted students to journal in a blog, I would think that you would also want to have the grade level teachers and other students all subscribed to those blogs and making comments.
You're doing some good thinking about what needs to be in place to take the journaling a step further (blogging) and how to take advantage of the interactive features of the blog.