Thing #12...Creating Community Through Commenting

Although I don't consider myself an expert in any field, I guess leaving comments on people's blog comes fairly naturally to me. True, they might not be as constructive as suggested in the various articles and podcast about blog etiquette, but my comments are definitely meant to share my enthusiasm about the new knowledge that I have gained from reading that person's blog. And, hopefully, since we are all teachers, Darth-Vader-type comments don't come too naturally to us! After I finish my Thing assignment, I typically read other Spring Branch bloggers' chronicles of their experience with the same item and I seem to always get a new insight, learn about a different approach or become familiar with more interesting class application. Reading others' blogs is truly enriching (and addictively time-consuming, even with Google Reader!) and although my comments might not be as meaningful as they should be, I do want to let my fellow bloggers know that I am reading their fresh ideas and that I enjoy their divergent ideas. It seems also less daunting for me to comment on other novices' blogs and I notice that I tend to be more of a lurker on more "established" sites. For Thing #9, I did however leave a comment on Clay Burrell's informative website Beyond School where he showcased Biography of America. Later I was very thrilled when I found a comment that Clay left afterwards on my very own blog (and that was before I even knew that it was good idea to hyperlink your html blog address in the comment section to get more traffic!) suggesting an even easier online quiz creator to try out. At that very time, I really got a glimpse about what this blogging business is truly about: establishing a friendly and collegial dialogue. Of course, Grendel & Horatio's encouraging words made my day too!

After reading Doug Johnson's blog, I realized that I might be what he considers a rude and ungrateful troll. In Doug's opinion, one should always drop a line to thank the people who leave a comment on your blog, and although I am very grateful to "[the] person [that] has given up a chunk of life to read and craft a response," the truth of the matter is that sadly, I am not sure how to do it! After I receive the e-mail that tells me that I have a new comment and asks if I want to post it or not, I have tried to respond to the writer by clicking on his/her hyperlinked name in the email and I am just brought to their blog profiles where there typically is no e-mail address to write to (addressed by Shannon and Melanie towards the end of their podcast). I don’t know what to do from at that point and wonder if I am overlooking a step...

So, please, if any of you savvy techno bloggers out there know the answer to this conundrum, drop me a comment, okay? Incidentally, here is my open-ended question, which should initiate a successful comment! :) At any rate, please rest assured that if you have left me a comment and I haven't written back to you, I surely don’t mean to "exude a message of elitism" to quote Drape’s Takes, but I do rather have a serious lack of blog savoir-faire!

Here are some links to a few comments that I made on other Learn 2 Play bloggers --I surely wish I would have used the Cocomment feature that Vicki Davis refers to, though it still perplexes me a tad...

Comment One: Thing #9 on the Chris' blog The Ailurophile (thank you for teaching me another cool way to say "cat lover!")

Comment Two: Thing #11 on the blog Alex Rover Wannabe about possible book review collaboration when school starts again.

Comment Three: Thing #10 on the blog Fooling with Words --enjoy LauraAnn's smooth and witty writing style, her hilarious version of Books for Dummies, and a read of Prelutsky's delightful poem Bleezer's Ice Cream as the cherry on top of the ice cream!

Comment Four: Thing #3 admiring the very chic avatar created by Acadienne76 on her blog Vive le Francais!

Comment Five: Thing #10 on my favorite librarian's blog La Bibliotecaria Loca (she is not, I promise!) about the awesome images that she generated with the online creators!

I discovered Samantha Brown's new TV show Passport to Great Weekends over this summer (always looking for affordable getaways with the gas price hike!) and since I am always looking for off-the-beaten path experiences, I have enjoyed reading her blog about her experiences in the cities that she has traveled to. I left a comment inquiring about the great musician that was featured on the Austin travelogue (under my real name "Estelle")... but unfortunately, my question has yet to be answered. :(

Another blog that has intrigued me is the one that Mark Ahlness has created with his elementary students, Room Twelve. One of his student, Jackson, seem to be so taken with blogging, that he is even chronicling about his summer... and school is out! Finding about that unusual way that Mark has instilled the love of writing in his students has truly been such an inspiration to me that I might want to try doing the same next year. I posted a comment (to be posted yet) for Mark asking more about setting up class blogs using http://classblogmeister.com/ and particularly about how he preserved the children's privacy.