When students see there are comments on our class blog posts it can be very exciting. They feel like someone has left some money under their pillow or something in their Christmas stocking. The comment can be from a classmate, family member or another adult in our learning community. In class, we have been learning about how to write an appropriate comment. Here are some things to consider before leaving a comment on our class blog.

Think about your digital privacy:

• Use your first name only to identify yourself.
• Leave off your email, your street address, phone number, or school name.
• Don’t share specifics of your daily routines that involve time or location (i.e. where and 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 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 be 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 the conventions of your comment:

• Try to fix your spelling mistakes.
• Use capitals in the right places: people’s names, places, the beginning of a sentence, and on “I” ( no evil i’s ). Writing a sentence in all capitals is like yelling or shouting and it’s considered very rude.
• 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.

 

Have fun leaving a comment on our blog!

 

These commenting guidelines were written in early October of 2010 by the bloggers of Huzzah!