Making Meaningful Comments
I subscribed to a feed from a blog about Classroom Technology Tips. I read a post titled Blogging and Reading Comprehension Strategies. This blog discusses the fact that many classrooms, teachers and students are blogging. But one teacher wondered how they could encourage students to comment on others blogs and make it meaningful rather than just a plain old comment. The blog suggests some key ideas behind making a comment meaningful. There are 5 ways students can improve their comments; make connections, question, visualization, infer, and synthesize.
This is a good article for teachers who want their students to take blogging to a higher level. Rather than being concerned with only their own blog, they are encouraged to show interest and read others blogs as well as comment on them. I enjoyed reading this article because I am new to blogging so it helped me think about making comments myself. I also thought it would be interesting for others especially if they are planning on using blogging in the classroom. After all, what’s the point of doing something if you aren’t going to do it well? This information can help us teach the students to look at blogging more critically and thoughtfully.
Donna DesRoches said,
May 14, 2008 at 2:22 am
Thank you for your kind comments about my post. I very much agree with your final statement that using the comprehension strategies can help students be more critical responders to what they read on others’ blogs.
Donna
tsakshaug said,
May 15, 2008 at 11:09 am
Getting good comments on your blog is always a positive reinforcement for your work. If you think you are writing to nobody, you lose motivation. Getting students to write more than one or two words helps them become better writers. Using prompts at the start of a blogging project is good, but depending on the age of the students, you can pull back on that and ask that they make at least 3 meaningful comments per week or something like that. but meaningful must be defined.
Teaching Students to Comment | Education & Technology said,
May 17, 2008 at 4:25 pm
[...] Teaching Students to Comment Posted on May 17, 2008 by corinnep. Categories: General.I was reading Ashley’s blog on Making Meaningful Comments and helping students improve their comments and was inspired to read [...]