It is only day eight and I am overwhelmed by the comment challenge. I dropped the ball sometime around day five or six. This is embarrassing because I don’t even have a job, but not only have I not written a quick post highlighting the lessons I am learning by commenting, I am not even commenting. I am not sure if I even have the energy to make excuses. So let me catch up:

Day Five-Comment on a post you disagree with and Day Six- Comment to engage in conversation:

I left the following comment on The Science Bench. For personal reasons, I am very passionate about the idea of professionalism and online identities:

This idea of how teaches should or shouldn’t act online seems to be a popular topic these days, and one that I am personally very familiar with. I was recently asked to resign from a private international school because of a parent complaint about material on my Flickr page. Unlike the teachers from the Washington Post article, I feel I have a good grasp of what is on my various sites. I keep a clean Facebook. I actually invited parents to view my personal blog because I wanted them to have a fuller picture of who was teaching their kids; this brings me to my point:

I am a language arts teacher who is very interested in using technology and Web 2.0 in my classroom as a tool for student self expression. I use these tools myself as an artist, a writer, a photographer, and amateur filmmaker, and as a human being, so what happens if I don’t do anything “stupid” online, but a parent still finds fault with my taste in books, my politics, or religious views. I am an atheist, should I hide this fact to the world, even while I teach my students to be open minded about people’s religious beliefs. What do teachers who do not use these tools tell their students when asked, “Do you have a Youtube page, or do you have a Flickr page?|

It is one thing to judge young teachers who are being flagrantly “inappropriate” online, but who decides where the line is to be drawn. I am a grown adult who loves teaching, loves kids, and loves what I do. I don’t want to have to hide who I am because some parents may think that I am inappropriate. My point is that there will always be someone who doesn’t like who you are and what you stand for, so how do teachers who feel are doing right by their online identities react to being told to be careful, or worse to not engage in online activity.

I have lost my job and have since been re-thinking my stance on all of these questions, but I know that the day of the teacher being a robot of professionalism is dying. Teachers like all professions are made up of eclectic people; we should celebrate this diversity, rather than forcing the educators of our children to be forced into some strange homogeneous fake world of conservative expectations.

I teach my kids to use Web 2.0 to create, share, exchange, and build networks, how can I not be doing that myself…as myself?

Day Seven- What have you learn do far:

I have learned that I don’t like the pressure of this challenge. I am not sure if staying on schedule is good for the quality of my comments and subsequent blog posts. Take this last post for example. I was looking for a blog with which to disagree; I am not sure how natural this process is. I do, however, see the value in keeping these lessons with me as I move beyond this challenge.

The most important lesson I have learned early on, is that commenting is the most important activity for establishing and fostering online relationships, which will only strengthen one’s network. I have already met several bloggers with whom I am regularly interacting with on my blog and twitter, simply because we exchanged a few comments.

I hope that I will continue to comment frequently when the pressure of this challenge has subsided. I am off to find a blog outside of my niche. I’ll let you know how that went.

I run three blogs and have been doing so for some time now. But until tonight, I have always felt blogging was a very lonely act. Perhaps it is because my readership is quite low, and I seldom get comments, and when I do they are usually from the same small group of people who comment regularly. It is true that I write and blog for the sake of writing and reflecting, but as every writer knows I want and need an audience. Sometimes this need to connect has made me a bit crazy, but usually I write and wait optimistically that my posts will somehow connect to someone out in the blogsphere.

Well, tonight something felt different, because I finally stopped being a lurker and became a commenter. (If you are lurking on this post, leave a comment! It feels good trust me.) I visited several blogs I had never read before and left my two-cents. This inconsequential act made me feel more a part of a communty than all of my writing combined.

I finally realized that like everything in life you have to give in order to recieve. How selfish I had been, sitting in my lonely room writing away, thinking that everything I say is the most important new idea, expecting others to flock to my blog and tell me how brilliant I am, when I never take the time to do the same for others.

This challenge is teaching me that commenting is one of the most important aspects of blogging. So a quick shout out to the organizers of this challenge. (Yes, I know hyper-linking is a good blogging karmic tool as well, but it is late and I am tired. Next time I promise.)

The following post is for the 31-day commenting challenge:

How often do you comment on other blogs during a typical week?

I am a horrible commenter. Even though I know that commenting is one of the most important aspects of blogging, I am often either too lazy or intimidated to leave a comment. I am always awed by the depth and length of some comments, so I feel silly just say, “Yeah, I agree.” Often times I will leave the site having said nothing at all. If there is a post that makes me think, I swear that I will mull over the content and come later, but I seldom do. I will leave several blog that I want to comment on later as unread in my reader, but when the next batch of 50 come through, I mark them read and say I will do it next time.

The irony is I am always disappointed, when I write what I think is an emotional charged or powerful post and get no comments. I really hope this challenge will get me into the habit of commenting more. Tonight I comment on two new blogs, and I feel great about it. I hope to hear back from both of these great bloggers. After all this is the spirit of blogging. I am through with screaming into the darkness waiting to be heard and acknowledged, I want to sit in the darkness and listen and reassure.

Do you track your blog comments? How? What do you do with your tracking?

I never even knew this was possible. I have signed up for CoComment for this challenge, so I hope I will learn how to better keep track of my comments. I am still a bit fuzzy on how it works, but like everything else I will figure it out, or use my network to teach me. As of now it seems a bit “buggy.” Any advice or tips?

Do you tend to comment at the same blogs or do you try to comment on at least one new blog per week?

I comment so rarely, that I will not answer that question, but I will try to comment on new blogs from now on.

Are there any specific areas where you think you need to do some work? What do you want to do to address these issues?

When I do comment, I think I do well. Although I sometimes may come off as confrontational or a know it all, because I find it easier to comment on posts I disagree with, especially when it is something I am passionate about, so it may be a good idea for me to try and be a bit more cordial.

I am sure no one want to read this post, so I will stop. Although it felt good to get it down. Great first day of the challenge.