Huzzahnians have worked hard to develop the skills and attitudes that help build global connections through commenting. In the slideshow below, Huzzahnians from 2011-12 share their thoughts on commenting. What have we missed? Scroll down below the slideshow to read the excellent advice written by student bloggers through the years.
Guidelines written by the 2010-11 bloggers of Huzzah!
The purpose of commenting is to connect. We comment a lot: on YouTube videos, on blogs, and face to face–pretty much, we comment all the time. We comment to learn, sometimes from people on the other side of the world. We comment to express our opinions about what has been written. We comment to connect, and to connect we tell stories, use humour, and share our thinking. Remember, you are trying to engage the blogger in a conversation! A good comment can be the beginning of a good blogging relationship. Here is our advice on quality commenting:
Think about your digital privacy:
- Use your first name only to identify yourself.
- Leave off your home email, your street address, phone number, or school name.
- Don’t share specifics of your daily routines that involve time and location (ie where & when your soccer practice is)
Think about the tone of your comment:
- Be polite, friendly, and encouraging.
- Have some humour, but be careful with sarcasm.
- If you disagree, don’t be rude about it; give constructive (helpful) feedback.
Think about the content of your comment:
- Keep your comment on topic and make sense. Say something about the original post.
- Don’t say random stuff or get really silly.
- Be more formal than you would in real life, but not stuffy.
- Avoid texting shortcuts like u for you and l8r for later, and only use one emoticon if you need to.
- Sometimes add a question at the end to keep the conversation going.
- Include your blog url (address) so the blogger knows where to find you.
Think about conventions of your comment:
- Try to fix your spelling mistakes: use Firefox for drafting your comments.
- Use capitals in the right places: people’s names, places, the beginning of a sentence, and on “I” —no evil i’s. All capitals is like yelling.
- Punctuate properly: period at the end of a sentence, space after a period, comma, or end bracket. One “!” will do: you don’t need a string of exclamation marks.
- Remember, you are putting your best self forward, so polish your comments.
These commenting guidelines were written in early October of 2010. Want more inspiration and guidance for commenting? Check out this post from the Student Blogging Challenge. Time to pump up those mad commenting skilz!
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Guidelines written by the 2009-2010 bloggers of Huzzah!
Blogging is about reading, thinking, and responding.
Getting a comment can be like receiving a little bouquet in your mailbox: a treat for the senses. Division 4 has been taking a lot of time to read posts and write thoughtful comments. Students brainstormed, discussed, and determined that the points below are important to keep in mind when commenting on blogs.Guidelines
- Make your comment worth reading.
- Start a conversation.
- Be positive, interested, and encouraging.
- If you disagree, be polite about it.
- Connect with the post: be on topic.
- Re-read your comment before you hit submit–think before you send!
- Aim for correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar.
- Don’t use chat or texting language like lol, i, or u.
- No “Hi! Visit my blog! Bye!” comments. Be thoughtful.
- Include your blog url so people can comment back, and use our gmail address, not student webmail.
- Keep your privacy: no personal or identifying information about you, your family, or your friends. Don’t give out last names, school name, phone numbers, user names, or places and dates you can be found.
Did we miss anything? Let us know what you think.
Image Send me your love by Gibsonclaire
This site is cool!!!!!!!!!!!! I enjoy reading ALL the blogs of people around the world! keep up the good work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
great class site!
I’ve been learning a great deal from your class blog! I will be intriducing Blogging to my students this year for the first time. Thank you very much for being an excellent group of mentors!
Best wishes to you as you begin blogging–come back and visit and leave some bread crumbs (your url) and we will visit you.
nice blog!!!!!!!!
Thanks, Alyssa. Can you be more specific? 🙂
Hi,
I am just learning to blog myself and I am in College. What an experience, isn’t it? You have done an excellent job in what to do and what not to do. I am very new as are you, is suppose, so I wish you all of the luck in the world. You deserve it! If you would like to give me some good feedback on blogging, I could use any help as well.
Take care and good luck.
Sincerely,
Deborah White
Hi Deborah, thanks for visiting and for the kind encouragement. I would have to say the best advice about blogging is to remember that blogging is about reading as much as it is about writing. Visit other blogs, read, learn, think, and leave a thoughtful reply. It’s the best way to become a blogger. Best wishes, and do drop by again.
Keedz, dun tern owt laek teh duckiey uv badd speeling.
Translation by blog pruner: Kids, don’t turn out like the ducky of bad spelling.
This is really cool. Thanks. 🙂
Hello Grade 6ers!
I am learning to be a teacher at UNBC in Terrace BC, and I found your site while searching for a ‘good example of a classroom blog’.
I have to admit, your classroom blog, and the individual blogs of the students are impressive! I especially appreciate the page on Commenting Guidelines. To me this indicates that you understand the blogging process, and I like the fact that you are posting your expectations for communication front and center on your blog. Someday when I finally have a classroom of my own I intend upon using blogs as a tool to comminucate, and I will definately follow your example of posting guidelines!
Excellent blog!
Thanks for the kind words, Kimi! The first thing as we introduce blogging is spend a lot of time on commenting because reading and responding are at the heart of blogging. Best wishes with your studies!
Hi,
Thanks for all the great work you do with blogging in your classroom. It is an inspiration! I just started my blog this year and we will be setting up student blogs soon. We are working on quality commenting right now and I’d like to borrow your guidelines.
I do have a quick question off of this topic. Did you require parent permission before students created blogs?
Thank you!
This is great. I’m just learning how to blog and so this site is very useful to me.
Thanks so much for affording me the privilege of visiting. I am a newbie at this. I am trying to set up class blog for my social studies students (grade 7)
I like what you have done and I will come back to see this blog again. May I also use the guidelines you have here?
Hi there, Vermal, Good luck with your blog, you and your students will find it very satisfying. Thank you for asking permission to use my students’ guidelines. They will really appreciate that! You may find that having your students write their own, after exploring blog commenting for a bit, may in fact lead to better commenting by them in the long run.
Cheers!
I would like to use your blog when we begin comments. Right now, we are working on our first blog post. I am a newbie with blogging but decided to forge ahead to afford my students the experience. So far it’s slow going because we’re having to edit and re-edit posts–they’re so excited, they don’t want to take the time to proof their posts. Hopefully this gets better as time goes on. Do you give blogging assignments or are your students free to blog on any topic that is of interest to them?
Good for you for stepping out with blogging–you will find it rewarding. I see you have a lab situation, so you only see the kids some of the time–adds a level of complexity for sure. I do give blogging assignments that relate to the curriculum and help them move forward with blogging skills. You may find the 7 Random Things About Me task useful. Good luck!
Really good blogging rules. Nice and clear. I really liked the 3D Wordle, if that is what it is. How did you do that please? See Room 9’s Blog on the Room 9’s Guidelines page for our rules. We’ll have to update ours each term maybe.
Hi Mr. Laidlaw, when you create a Wordle you then do a screen capture of the image and then upload it as you would any image–give it a try!
Hi,
We are getting started with student blogging and my students enjoy reading your blog and your student blogs. Many of your students’ blogs have created real excitement with my students. I added you to our blog roll.
Thanks!
I am taking a class on collaborative webtools and your blog is excellent. I think your guidelines are great tips for young and old alike. Great work everyone!
I’ll be linking to your blog in my own: http://edtechtalks.blogspot.com/2011/06/huzzah-blog.html
Hi Mrs. Hecht, good luck with your class and thanks for linking to us. I am grateful that my students take commenting so seriously…it’s the glue of blogging!
Hello Mrs. Smith. Good pic, where did you find it?
Hi Kenzie. I found that picture on Flickr. I will show you how this year.
Well, I just visit your blogging rules and I found them very helpful
Even if a made a little mistakes that you mansion I am glad to read them,
I am new at blogging so a appreciate your comments on my blog.
Hi Nikolle, we would love to comment on your blog, but we need you to leave a link 🙂
This place is awesome i love this site
Thanks!
I found the commenting guidelines very helpful. Good point about being careful to use humor. It is very difficult to read humor in written form sometimes. If you get a chance check out my blog! http://mrstezzi.edublogs.org/
You’re right about humour–it can slip into sarcasm which often hurts. Best wishes with your blog!
Great Blog! I am just starting out with blogging with my students and I was wondering if I could use your guideline with my students.
Thanks for asking, Mike! You are welcome to use these guideline, just please give my students credit for their work. Best wishes on your blogging adventure!
The rules are very clear and do not have any contridictions in them. The theme and layout of the blog is very good.
CreeperJack
Thank you, CreeperJack 🙂
I love your blog and am starting one with my class this year. May I borrow your commenting guidelines for my class?
Hello Ms Langlois, thanks for visiting and most especially thanks for asking to borrow our student’s guidelines. I would only ask that you link back to this page to give credit to their work.
Good luck with blogging!
Hi there,
I copied some bits of your commenting guidelines for my Year 6 students. I hope that’s okay. We’re still starting to make our blog informative and accessible to everyone.
Your class blog is really informative and fun!
Miss Ebos (from UK)
Hi Miss Ebos, good luck to you and your Year 6 students. Of course you are welcome to use my student’s commenting guidelines. Please give them credit by linking back to this page.
Best wishes, Jan Smith & Huzzah!