Thing 12: Participating in the community

The posts we read about commenting were written from the viewpoint of a blogger not just a commenter. So some of the points weren't relevant to me now. Maybe later I will care about how to attract commenters by registering in a myriad of places that at this time I neither have heard of nor understand.

Saying something positive, of course, is the most important commenting advice. If we want our opinions to be listened to, we have to first respect the opinions of others. It also seems important to me to write with at least a little humility. With such a potentially wide audience, we have to recognize that the participants also have potentially very different experiences. And you can count on there always existing somebody who knows more than you do.

I commented on a Cool Cat Teacher post and a 2¢Worth post. Cool Cat Teacher is the epitome of the technologically savvy teacher. She's scary! I read her and I think, Am I really supposed to be doing all that? And she posts on exactly the topics we are all currently concerned with.

2¢Worth is another blog focused on technology especially as it applies to education. The post I wrote a comment for addressed exactly the issue that most worries me now: How do we engage students in their own learning? I worry a little about that comment because the question is vital to me and in the disjointed, remote conversation of a blog, it is hard to hit the right tone. In this case I just had a couple of opinions, a bunch of urgent questions and no solutions.

One of the pieces of advice for commenting was to not just say "Right on", or "Thanks", but isn't it also important to know to what extent your readers' opinions coincide with yours? If there isn't a one click way express agreement that shows up as just a number, there should be.