Thing #4 - Blogging about Blogging

One thing that I have discovered while reading several blogs is that I enjoy the voice of the writers (most of the time). It provides writers with a place to be a little sarcastic if necessary (or natural, which ever the case may be). It is rather nice to "listen" to others "talk" on their blogs. I, also, realized that I have a tendency to skim through so much of the information. Why? I really don't know, but it seems like this informal writing lends itself to skimming. I don't have to have my pen ready for annotation or my journal ready for my notes (yes, I am an English nerd). Do I miss some things? Perhaps. Does it matter? Probably not.

Once again, I don't want to sound anti-blogger or anti-blogging, but I feel compelled to share some of my observations. For example, when I read Mark's blog about SSR (his students read blogs silently instead of books), I was a little a frustrated with some of the comments he received from his peers. One lady complimented Mark on the beautiful snowflakes covering his walls. Now, that's relevant! After reading her comment and mumbling aloud, "You've gotta be kidding me," I had to scroll back to the top to see Mark's snowflakes, and yes, they are absolutely lovely. But really, what does that have to do with Mark's activity? How did that comment add to anyone's learning? Then, I started to read all of the comments, not only on Mark's blog but on several other blogs -- so much sweetness -- "Awesome!" "Great!" "Wonderful idea." -- so much sugar, I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight.

This got me to thinkin' (poor English intentional). When we are required to comment on blogs, are we completely honest? Are the comments sincere, or are we just saying something because we have to? Furthermore, when we "force" (as if we had that much power) our students to blog or comment on someone else's blog, are they really learning something, or are they just fulfilling the requirements for a grade? And finally, what's the difference between "forcing" a student to read a blog or to read a book?

My husband once told our six-year-old son, "Medicine tastes nasty, but you still have to take it if you want to get well." Not everything can taste so sweet. Sometimes, we have to swallow that bitter pill and do things that we don't want to do.