Like Sue Waters I’m trying to finish up my homework on the Comment Challenge at the last minute! I had a five day wekend last weekend and I really had planned on completing many of the tasks at that time. But we ended up having nice weather and I chose to spend much of my time outside and really took the time to just relax and rest up in preparation for the busy and crazy month of June.

So, I’m a little more than behind on the challenge!

Day 17 Five in Five

I’ve thought about this one and even started it but have not completed it. It takes me too long to find posts that I want to comment on and to form my comments. I will keep this in mind and still work towards completing it in the future.

Day 18 Anaylze the Comments on Your Blog-Didn’t do this one.

Day 19 Respond to a Commenter on Your Blog

I learned about this from Sue Waters soon after I began blogging. I appreciate people taking time to respond to my comments so I try hard to respond to people who take the time to comment on my blog.

Day 20 Three Links Out

I actually did this one twice. The first time I didn’t really care for any of the blogs the links took me to. So I tried it a second time with much better luck. I started out at Ed Tech Workshop, one of my favorite blogs partly because we experience many of the same frustrations and because I enjoy her posts and her voice. From there I went to Clif’s Notes. It was an interesting blog because he writes about a variety of topics. He has started a meme on professional development, it will be interesting to see how that unfolds. From there I went to Tech Happy, or I thought I did, as I went back to double check I can’t find the link, hmmm not sure what I did there but anyway I liked this site. I enjoy reading about new tools to use in the classroom and what people think about them. I’ll be back there to check out all of his great looking links. Then my next stop from there was Technolote. This is actually a page for language teachers. However, I found the discussion on IWBs interesting. I use mine in the lab mainly for modeling for the students. However, this fall I’m teaching a class on how classroom teachers could use it and we might be getting some for a couple of classrooms. So, I have a lot of learning to do this summer regarding how to get the teachers using it and more importantly, in my opinion, how to get the students using it.

I think Three Links Out was one of my favorite activities. When I first started an RSS feed I used blog rolls to find more blogs to follow. But once I hit the point that I wasn’t keeping up with them I quit using blog rolls. I often follow links in blog posts but for a change it was fun to go back to the blog rolls and explore and of course now I have a new one added to my over flowing feeder!

Day 21Make a Recomendation

That was fairly easy. A second grade teacher just joined the Elementary Tech Teachers Ning. I went to her Second Grade Teacher’s Blog, and it just spills over with her enthusiasm for using tech in the classroom. I suggested her students might like the National Geographic Filmmaker site.

Day 22 Highlight a Favorite Comment

I am happy with all the comments that I have received. Everyone that takes time out their busy schedules to read my rambling thoughts and then takes a moment to post a comment is a favorite in my book.

Day 23 What Makes a Great Comment

My advice-Ask a question-Add a personal reflection that adds to the post

Day 24 Comment on a Blog Written in a Foreign Language-Sorry I didn’t do this one.

Day 25-Take a Break

Day 26-Explore Other Ways to Comment-I didn’t do this one either. I do want to go and look at some of the ideas though.

Day 27-What do You Communicate About Your Personal Brand Through Commenting

This is not something I had really given much thought to before. I have made some changes recently mainly due to discussions on Twitter and other places. I started out using the name Hockeymom1788, I still use it on Twitter, but in most places I have begun to change it. First, I switched to Elementary Tech Teacher and now I’m using my first name, not too many Nedras around, although one on Twitter did contact me! I also started out with a bird picture for my avatar, then switched to a picture of me but it was from a distance so you really couldn’t see me. Finally, I had my daughter take some pictures of me and I now use a close up photo on most sites. I think this is showing that I’m becoming more comfortable having my name/picture out there and I do want people to know me. I think adding my last name will be my next step.

Day 28-What’s Your Commenting Strategy?

I don’t have a strategy. I read the article and didn’t care for it. I’m not interested in being a top blogger/commenter.

Day 29-Write a Commenting Guide for Students

I like this idea but since the students at my school can’t blog and in the lab I don’t have them reading other blogs I’ll hold off on this activity. Hopefully we’ll be able to blog in the future and at that point it’s something I’ll definelty want to do and I’ll be looking for posts from this challenge for good ideas!

Day 30-How Can You Use What You’ve Learned About Commenting To Change Your Teaching Practices?

Hmmm, I’m not sure. I’ll have to give this some more thought.

Day 31-What Were Your Top Five Lessons From the Challenge?

What did you personally gain from the Challenge? I think the biggest thing I learned was to ask questions to try and get a conversation started. This is one thing that I will definitely continue to work on using on a more regular basis.

What did you gain professionally? I’m hoping to introduce blogging to two fourth grade classes with the help of two teachers next year. Before we introduce it to the students the other teachers need to become bloggers first. I’m waiting until the end of the school year to give them their assignment-start reading blogs and start your own this summer. I feel we can’t have kids blogging if we don’t do it ourselves and have some understanding of it. Through this project I’ll be able to give them some tips that I didn’t have when I began. I’ll post more about this later.

Is this something you’d do again? Yes, I feel I learned something and it’s flexible. I could fit it into my time schedule and I could skip assignments.

Share with us your Top 5 Comment Challenge Lessons and what you think you’ll do differently now that you’ve been through the past 31 days.

1-Ask more questions

2-Make more recommendations and ask for recommendations, when appropriate, in a post.

3-Continue to use coComment. This has helped me keep track of how often I’m commenting and is a gentle reminder to get out there and leave some comments.

4-I’ve learned that the more I comment the more comments I receive back.

5-The toughest post and I only did it once was commenting on a post I didn’t agree with.

6-An enjoyable part of the challenge was looking for a blog outside of education and discovering some garden blogs. Unfortunately I have not been back to them. I guess that’s one more thing to add to the summer to do list!

1. You sound like a press release.

Nope, I’m not seeing that at all.

2. You sound like an infomercial.

Well, I did ask about starting a Ning for elementary tech teachers and I do mention it in my posts when I get a chance but I don’t think that it qualifies as sounding like an infomercial.

3. You sound like a know it all.

Since nothing could be further from the truth I don’t think that’s a problem here!

4. You haven’t shown them how.

I’m guilty on this one but I don’t really see myself writing for people new to blogging. However, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to add this somewhere. I did invite the teachers/admin that I work with to check out my blog. They would all be new to blogging. However, looking at visitor paths showed me only one person from my district checked it out.

5. You haven’t created the right atmosphere.

That’s very possible. I’m the shy, quiet, awkward one in a social setting with new people. I’m probably coming across the same way here. Since starting this project I am seeing the importance of open ended questions and responding to comments to encourage the conversations. So, this is something I’ll keep working on.

6. You just don’t seem that into it.

I am passionate about my new job and I think that shows through in my posts.

Now, why I think people aren’t commenting on my blog.

1. I’m new. I’ve only been blogging for six months. I’ve never been a big writer so I’m still trying to find my own voice.

2. Everyday teaching topics-nothing hot off the press, no research, nothing controversial, just topics that are important to me.

3. Don’t comment consistently elsewhere. I read many blogs through RSS so commenting means going through some extra steps and knowing from that blog I’ll probably find a link to another blog and may never get back to my reader. Even when I am on a blog I don’t comment often. Through this challenge I am doing better and hopefully by the end of the month doing at least one comment a day will have become a habit.

How can I improve?

The blue jay pictured above had a hard time getting a peanut out of the feeder. I think the feeder may have been a new experience for him. However, he was persistent and kept attacking the peanuts from different angles. He’d hop down on the ledge take another look and try again. Despite my creeping in closer and closer he kept at it until he got the reward. I feel like that blue jay. Blogging whether it be reading, writing or commenting is a new experience and even though it can be time consuming I keep working at it to learn more about it and to try and improve. My reward is to become a more educated member of the blogoshpere.

Now, I’ll go out on that limb and ask my readers; Do you feel welcome? Do you have any suggestion on how I can improve my blog and get more comments to get a conversation going?

Day 4 Ask a Question in a Blog Comment

One of the tasks I’m working on with this challenge is to visit the blogs of people that leave comments on my blog or people that have joined my Ning. That’s not something I have done consistently. So, on one of these visits I went to Nexus and left a question regarding Google Reader. Not a great open ended question, but at least it was a question and a move in the right direction. And Diane did leave a response that was helpful.

Day 5 Comment on a Blog Post You Don’t Agree With

Even though I actually did this activity a day or two ahead of time it was not easy to do. I tend to be very quiet and just go with the flow. If I don’t agree with something I may complain to my friends but I avoid any confrontations. When I did my comment I wrote it in the comment section. I felt I was ranting and it left me feeling very uncomfortable. The response from the blogger was very kind and the person did not feel it was a rant at all. After reading the response I felt better.

Day 6 Engage a Commenter in a Discussion/Day 8 Comment on a Blog Outside of Your Niche

Ok, I cheated a little bit here. I did find a blog through Technoroti and it was a topic I never read about in a blog before. However, it included two other passions-photography and gardening. I’ve decided I need to find something to learn more about that doesn’t directly involve school . I’ve been spending way too many hours learning on line these last 6 months. I love it but it is becoming too consuming. So, I’ve decided I want to become a better photographer. I can still use the computer to learn but it won’t just be school related learning. So far I’ve only been to one blog. It was a very simple blog. It was a photograph accompanied with a short description. From my brief visit I don’t think the blog will help me become a better photographer, but I did enjoy some photos. The comments were mainly one line comments. I can do that! I did leave a comment for another commenter. Like I said, I cheated! I will try to make up for these two steps this weekend by finding more substantial blogs and leaving a more reflective comment.

Day 7 Comment on what you’ve learned so far-include 3 lessons learned

Lesson 1-I think I will learn even more if I engage in the practice of asking more questions on blogs. I need to work on making them more open ended and thoughtful.

Lesson 2-Although disagreeing with a post made me very uncomfortable I survived and was not perceived as being negative or wrong. Since I survived perhaps I’ll try again. The downside is that this type of comment takes longer to write because I want to make sure I have it worded correctly.

Lesson3-I am thankful I was prodded to look for other blogs outside of education. The blog I read was not really helpful but I will be back looking for some sites on photography or gardening that I will be able to learn from. Reading about other topics I’m not particularly interesed in might be a good idea but time seems to be a short commodity these days so I’m sticking with topics of interest for right now, at least I got away from education!

I saw a Tweet for the 31 Day Comment Challenge. So, I headed over to Kim Confino’s site and read about it and decided I would participate. Yesterday I went to two sites and left comments. Today I found out there are some suggestions/rules for the challenge. For a change I’m ahead of the game. One I did yesterday was on a site I had never commented on before and I disagreed with what the person said-I think that’s an upcoming activity. So, now I’ll back track and do yesterday’s activity and answer the self audit questions.

• How often do you comment on other blogs during a typical week?-Less than once a week.

• Do you track your blog comments? How? What do you do with your tracking?-I keep track of comments on my own blog and try hard to respond now that I know that’s a good thing to do. About a week ago I signed up for coComment. I use it to see read what other’s have written since I was there and to see if the blogger responded.
  

• Do you tend to comment at the same blogs or do you try to comment on at least one new blog per week?-I’m not a regular anywhere.
  

Then I took a look at Gina Trapani’s Guide to Blog Comments. Since I’m still pretty new to this and haven’t done much commenting I’m doing well with her suggestions. The one thing I need to do is own my comment. I usually sign with open ID and that puts down my web name and I don’t sign my name in my response. So, that’s something I’ll try to remember to do on future posts. I agree that’s important. Sometimes my comments start to get too long or I start to get off topic but usually I catch that and fix it before posting.

I’ve been giving some thought to why I don’t comment more often. One reason is that often what I want to say has already been said, so according to Gina Trapani I’m doing the right thing by not saying it again. Another reason is that I’ve never been much of a writer so when I do a post, even if it’s short, it’s probably taken me quite a long time to put my words down in a way that I like. Hopefully, the more I write the quicker I’ll become at posting a comment.

Ok, now off to read a few posts in my rss feeder, I have over 1000 to choose from, and find one to comment on. Shouldn’t be too hard….