Thing #4

Post in progress....

• Commenting helps create a sense of community and interaction because a blogger feels that their efforts and opinions on their blog are validated, respected, understood, and appreciated. It feels as if one is having a conversation with someone and that they are not alone with their thoughts. Everyone has a voice and it is nice to feel like someone hears that voice and cares enough to respond.
  
• A point I found interesting was the topic of the etiquette of a blogger. Some people felt saying thank you was important while others said it was not necessary. I don't think thanking someone for posting a comment is needed, however commenting on their comment could be worthwhile. Especially if their post was insightful or spurred a question or new idea.
• Another interesting point was how to get more comments from readers on your blog. By asking questions, by being open ended, and by inviting comments readers might feel more open to commenting on your post. Other techniques to attracting more comments are to be gracious and humble when responding to post comments and to reply to posts so followers know you also appreciate what they say, even if they corrected an error you made. I will have to put a bit of effort into the blog posts for my students and if I reply to some of their comments hopefully the class blog will be a success.
  
• The five blogs from our class I am following are:
  
• Lindsey Maholland because I thought I would understand some of her posts due to the fact that we are taking the same three graduate classes together;
  
• Matt Schmitz because he plans to teach high school like I do so I'm hoping to get an idea or two from his posts;
  
• Kara Brown since she commented to one of my posts - IN SPANISH! Her screen name is Ms. Brownie...she scored some "brownie" points with me for that one!;
  
• Rachel Davis because her blog's title is in German and I appreciate people who learn another language. I also think she is a good writer and I enjoy her blogs; and
  
• Heather Bryant because she is a very nice, intelligent, and helpful person with lots of valuable thoughts. I am interested to keep following these people to see what they have to say. I feel it is very important to have a large networking circle and what better place to network than in a graduate educational technology class!
  
• The two outside blogs I am following are:
  
• discuss the comments that you chose to make and why you made them - will discuss in the future