Thing #4 (part two)

I chose to comment on the blog's of names I recognized in  my other classes. They are not in the class I am keeping this blog for, but are in my other classes (whether on line or in a classroom). I was interested to see what they would have to say about this project. I read  The Brennan Breeze blog and Rand's 3040 Reflection blog. On both I made comments about parental involvement, as they discussed it in the ways blogging can be used to create community and interaction. I agreed that it can be a great way to get parents involved but also included my own experiences of parents who do not want to be involved. I work in a preschool back at home and I know that some parents do not care so much. However, I do feel that they may be interested in looking at a blog for thier child's class and I know there are lots of parents who do care. I wrote that they had good ideas of how a blog creates community and I said all of this because I think it one of the more important aspects of blogging about the classroom.
I also really like the cleverness of the blog name The Brennan Breeze and it made me want to change my blog name to something a little more original. I enjoyed her blog because she put so much of her personality into it and her posts. You can get a good sense of the kind of person who wrote it with her little jokes and commentaries. I think I will incorporate some of that in my blog from her on out...this I did write in my comment on her blog as well.

I commented on blogs from our class by just clicking on five that were listed. The first one I read was Marianne Spencer's and my comment was about how touching I found her story that went with the picture she posted and the importance of personalizing and sharing yourself in your blog. It's kind of the whole point, along with creating discussion and community. I agreed with her statements about the preciousness of life and how God calls us to life. I have very similar believe and enjoyed reading her story. The other point she made that I agreed with was the goodness of putting pictures on your blog because it  tells people more about you. I shared a story with her about my aunt and uncle that related to the one she shared and I did that because it may not be my story but I understand where she was coming from in her comments.

The second blog I read was Kala Thomas's and I wrote that I also like the idea of sharing comments and experiences on a blog. It is a fun and great way to learn things about your classmates and get to know them as people through their blogs. I felt that an art class, as she plans on teaching one, would be excellent to have a blog and that I would be interested in looking at those types of blogs to see what young people are creating. I then looked at Ashley Saunder's blog and really connected with her first post. She talked about the habits of lifelong learners and how number 4 was one of the big ones for her. I shared with her that I struggle with it as well and why I think it has been a problem for me; it's the one about being a confident learner. I wrote how I feel I could overcome this habit and referred to the saying about people being their own worst critics. I find it very true and that to fix that anyone should try to be like the little engine that could.

My forth experience commenting on a classmates blog was reading Danielle Witter's and I found it very insightful. She had a lot of good ideas and ones that had not occured to me. I put that in my comment and how I will remember her great thoughts. She suggested putting a calendar on a blog to keep parents informed about what is going on in the classroom, discussion questions that finish what was said in class or gets students to write what they did not get to say, and interaction with classes in other states and countries. This last one really interested me and I think it is an excellent idea and can defintely help students learn about other places and cultures. The last blog I commented for this post was Alana McLeroy and I simple answered her question of the day. Which I thought was a great way to start discussion and communication. I wrote about this being my first experience and how I am enjoying it. Also that I plan on using it the future and I am glad I have the chance now to explore blogging, commenting, and following other people's.

I was compelled to write comments because I found ways to connect to my classmates through their personal stories and ideas. I learned a lot of other ways to make blogging useful for a teacher and his or her class.