Thing #4

Commenting on blogs is a great way to provide support and feedback to the blogger. Also, when a person comments on a blog, it lets the blogger know that people are visiting the blog and using the information that is posted.

Two of the points about commenting that I found most important came from the Cool Cat Teacher blog. The first, "You cast a vote on the importance of a topic". Weighing in on a topic lets the blogger know which topics are most important to readers. Second, "You become part of the life of the blogger you are reading". As someone who has a personal blog, this is one the best parts of having people comment on your blog. It's fun and meaningful to be able to reach out and make connections with others.

For Thing #4, I commented on the following blogs:

Olivia Rhodes - I commented on Olivia's suggestion for the use of blogs by teachers. I think that blogs becoming communication portals for teachers and a place for teachers to exchange ideas, lesson plans, and information could be invaluable. Teachers can support, give feedback, and encourage their peers.

Janice Stamper - I liked Janice's idea to use blogs as journals for students. I can remember using a journal in school and I think using blogs is a great way to incorporate technology into the classroom.

Derek Carroll - Derek posted about using a blog to post photos from class and post class activities. This way, students and teachers would be able to access these photos and information at any time. I think parents especially would enjoy this.

Sarah Hammontree - I commented on Sarah's Thing #2 post, which was about creating the blog and avatar. Sarah and I both had difficulty getting our avatar onto our blog. Also, I thought Sarah's avatar was good.

Lincoln Farmer - I commented on Lincoln's avatar. His avatar has a lot going on, which I really liked. With this blog, the avatar is really the only representation of the blogger, so I liked that he incorporated so much of his personality into it.

Cool Cat Teacher - http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/ I commented on this blog because it's been a reference point for many of the "Things" we've done in this class. The blog I commented on was how the tide seems to be turning against the assessment outlined in NCLB. I think it would be great if that was reviewed and ultimately changed.

Elementary Teacher Blog - http://elementaryteacherblog.blogspot.com/ I commented on the post about APA, MLA formatting. Love that the blogger included this!