Don't your just automatically feel better when you know you are not the only one who is dealing with a personal crisis, or the only one that can't seem to stop eating, or the only one who feels lonely and out of touch? Knowing there are others out there feeling the same things is comforting. Through blogging, it is possible to build that sense of community. It's not so much hoping there are people out there suffering too, but that you are not strange or weird or stupid or inept. It's an affirmation of humanity. Whether the subject matter is of hardship or celebration, that pervasive thread that ties us to like people and conditions becomes a type of lifeline, encouraging us to keep going because what we have to say is worthwhile.
Coolcatteacher warns that we will run into a Darth Commenter. Her words of advice were inspiring, even to the point of using a negative situation to create something positive. Her experience caused her to really reflect on her purpose for blogging, and she emerged from her sabbatical with a clear vision of what she was doing and why. Isn't this one of the 71/2 habits we read about? Accepting and actually embracing setbacks or negatives in our lives as opportunities to learn and grow. One of my goals.
Edublogger etiquette: responding to comments. An interesting article, and interesting comments to go along with it. That is a worry of mine. I am liking the idea of blogging, but I know me, and I am afraid I will not be able to keep up with it. I have trouble keeping in touch with family members, let alone with hundreds, maybe thousands of people. Which is another thing; what if I don't get any comments? How will that make me feel? I already have an inkling...I think this is my sixth or seventh post for this class, and I only have one comment. Of course I am going to wonder why.
Speaking of commenting on posts, I chose to comment on:
(1) Sohn's Steps blog because she sits beside me in class and we have developed an easy relationship. Secondly, she loves language, and so do I. That's not something one usually has in common with a lot of people. My comments addressed our common love of words. It's not a topic of conversation I have often with people.
(2) Tantulus 7 because we both had some difficulty with this thing. We both ran into technical difficulties, but we both skirted our technical difficulties in similar ways. I wanted to see what she had created. I liked them. I still plan to go back (when I have time) and try again.
(3) I commented on Rocks by Wheels post of Thing # 18 because I agreed with him on his comments about using Twitter in the classroom. I, like Rick, don't really see the need to do that. I plan, instead, to have a blog and we already have a WIKI page.
(4) I chose to comment on Sohn's STeps blog about Facebook and Twitter because I agreed with her. I also felt a little uncomfortable putting my facebook link up, so I didn't. I am still learning my way around the social networking labyrinth, and I am going to err on the side of caution....or stupidity, whichever comes first.
(5) I commented on sjohnson's blog about subscribing to RSS feeds. I found, as she did, I had greater success searching for websites on my own rather than using the sites given to us in the exercise.
(6 an 7) I have chosen to follow Coolcat teacher and Kathy Schrock's Kaffeeclatsch. Both are great educational blogs.
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