Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Comments at a Class Blog

It all started with a call out to my twitter network the other day.  Can anyone leave comments behind at my class blogs. 
A few of you answered my call and from the bottom of my heart I thank you. 
Russell Montgomery from Western Australia went overboard though.  He commented on everypost that the students had completed.  I am forever in his debt for commenting on over 25 blog posts.  I pointed this out to the students who were amazed that someone would care about what they were writing.  I just told them that people care about what you do.  People enjoy reading about your math journey. 

Since that night the students have become commenting monsters.  My email box is filling up with comments at a rate that I have never seen before.  Some times I am receiving 4 comments a minute.  I shared this with them today.  I did not know what to expect..... tonight the comment barrage continues.  They have left over 65 new comments at the time of this post.  Hey perhaps they get this whole idea of community, of helping each other out.

What else are they doing you might ask.  They are using their cbox on each blog to the max.  Each room seems to have designated a person to be the go to person in the chat box every night.  They are teaching each other what to do and how to complete assignments.  Wow it is only September!!

I am going to push their comments to be more than just a congratulations on completing a  post and giving formatting advise.  I want them to start having conversations on line.  Ask questions of the person who is posting and to push the conversation of learning further.  If they can comment they can conversee

A final note tonight before I create the assessment for tomorrow is that the students from last year are starting to blog in grade 9.  The first 2 scribe posts are up for one of the grade 9 rooms and are really good.  Their teacher is seeing the power of the blog, chatbox and  commenting.  Each of the posts have numerous comments, but not as many as what my 8's are doing.  Wow Wow and Wow.  It is going to be a tremendous year.

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