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May 5, 2008
by blogwalker
5 Comments

Days 4 and 5 – Comment Challenge

As I continue on into Days 4 and 5 of the Comment Challenge, I realize what a valuable opportunity this project is for observing how a growing group of people, from around the globe and from all walks of life, come together to form a community. And I now understand how coComment works. Unlike the more elegant co-mment that I mistakenly registered for yesterday, I am now able to add tags to my comments, just like I would to one of my posts. Well that’s pretty cool!

Day 4 Activity: Ask a question

On the project wiki, I clicked on a Day 4 link and wandered into the blog of a teacher of Portuguese (I think). The only post I could find in English was his/her take on the Day 4 activity. Since I could not really find anything about this blogger as a person (quite the opposite of yesterday’s venture into the Intrepid Teacher blog), my question to him/her was “As a teacher of Portuguese, what would you like to be asked about teaching in a digital age?” I would like to get a better sense of who this blogger really is.

Day 5 Activity: Comment on a post you disagree with:

In scrolling through Bloglines and Google Reader , I realize that I choose to subscribe to like-minded and inspiring bloggers. While pondering where I would locate non-like-minded bloggers, I noticed a front page story on today’s Sac Bee titled “Kids are reading, and not just Harry Potter,” written by Jay Mathews of the Washington Post. I couldn’t find the link at sacbee.com, so I’m copying basically the same story from today’s Modesto Bee – http://www.modbee.com/local/story/289046.html. If the Sac Bee does not give online access to the comment feed for this story within the next 24 hours, I’ll hop into Modesto’s comment box and let readers know that not all educators value the Accelerated Reader approach to motivating young readers.

May 5, 2008
by blogwalker
3 Comments

Jump Starting the 31-Day Comment Challenge

Since today is already May 4, I’m doing a little crunching to catch up on the 31-day Comment Challenge, following the guidelines in the wiki.

Day One Activity: The kick-off is a commenting self-audit and a reading activity:

1. Answer the following questions:

How often do you comment on other blogs during a typical week?
On an average week, probably 1-2 comments (but that’s not counting Twitter responses;-)
Do you track your blog comments? How? What do you do with your tracking?
OK, the whole concept of co-mment is new to me. So up to now, no, I haven’t been tracking my blog comments. (Oh, my, so much to learn!)
Do you tend to comment at the same blogs or do you try to comment on at least one new blog per week?

2. I’ve read through Gina Trapani’s comment guide and realize I should be more aware of whether I’m actually contributing new information in my comments (ok, even if there are already 57 comments, for instance, I need to read through them before adding my 2 cents worth).

Day Two Activity: Comment on a new blog:

An hour later, I’m just now emerging from a scroll through the Comment Challenge Wiki list of participants. I was drawn in by the scope and depth of topics posted by the unemployed Intrepid Teacher, with his passion for teaching for social justice and his straight-from-the-soul writing style.

Day Three Activity: Sign up for a comment tracking service:

I am a total newbie to Co-mment, but I’m sure that if Sue Waters recommends it, it’s worth exploring.

Three activities into the Comment Challenge, I am envisioning what a powerful model this would be for students.

May 4, 2008
by blogwalker
4 Comments

Joining the Comment Challenge – 31 days to becoming a better blog citizen

I’m joining the 31-day Comment Challenge, which I first read about this morning in my friend Kevin‘s blog. In a way, I think Challenge organizers Kim Coffino, Sue Waters, Silvia Tolisano, and Michele Martin have added structure to a direction I’ve been moving in the last year or so – moving away from reading “first wave” bloggers, who are typically convention keynote speakers, published authors, etc., and, instead, reading blogs of fellow teachers, from near and far, who work directly with students. Twitter, I think, somehow has much to do with my switch in blog reading habits. It’s so easy and fast to read 140 character microblogs, and from a Tweet, I’ll often click on the Tweeter’s link and journey over to their blog. What I like about the 2nd wave of bloggers is that, unlike the 1st wave, conversations are more likely to happen, as opposed to a zillion people posting comment after comment. I feel a sense of community. With this idea of community in mind, I look forward to joining the challenge to becoming a better blog citizen.

Heading off to read Gina‘s Guide to Weblog Comments and to figure out the best way to jump start the challenge (since I’m beginning in Day 4;-)