Blog Commenting

Commenting on other people's blog posts

When you comment on another student's learning, set out to inspire them to respond. Set out to make them feel safe and confident to share more of their learning on their blog. Set out to be the person that inspired someone to deepen their understanding, and improve their learning outcomes. The words that you share publicly online in response to another person are incredibly powerful - aim to make their day!

The biggest barrier to blog posting can be our fear of negative, thoughtless, unhelpful comments that can make us feel embarrassed, exposed and vulnerable. People troll and flame with their comments online do this to entertain themselves when they have nothing better to do, with no thought to the negativity they are creating and spreading, and the impact that they have on the person receiving their dumb and useless comments. Please screenshot and save, then report these types of comments to a teacher immediately. Talk with someone at school and or home to debrief about how you are feeling. Remember, it's not you, it's the troll with the problem! Most importantly, don't respond to a troll. Stay focused on sharing positively, and creating a great digital footprint for yourself.

Replying to someone who has commented on your blog post

When you get a comment in response to a blog post that you've shared, it's a pretty exciting feeling - someone has taken time and made an effort to write to you, they've shown an interest in your work, and they've made a connection. Comments will be made by teachers, peers, friends and family / whanāu initially, then in time, you'll get an audience of people you may not know, but who make a positive contribution to your learning.

Aim to reply to every comment in a way that keeps the learning conversation going:

* Thank the person for taking the time to comment (this builds your network)

* Make a connection by saying that you are taking their ideas and suggestions for next learning steps into consideration.

* Ask them a question to better understand their suggestions and their knowledge and experience.

* Tell them how you've integrated their ideas, or why you might have decided not to integrate their ideas.