Commenting was much less painful than I originally anticipated (surprise!). Since I've already discussed my perceived notions on the value of comments, I'll move right into my list of who got commented:
First, the classmates (go team!):
Melissa B ( of Bullock's 23 fame) made a comment on my own blog (first!) about my thoughts on Thing 4. She made a good point about using comments to, at the very least, keep a conversation fresh and viable. Really appreciated the comment, and encouraged me to reply in kind.
Matthew B's 23 Things I Did and You Are Reading About - made a comment about his Thing 7 post, he had some good insight (and, presumably, some good know-how) about the inner working of Flickr copyright issues. Having had some trouble with the activity myself, just wanted to share that I appreciated his own input into the whole matter.
Stephanie W's Stephanie's 23 Things Blog - left a comment on her post about Thing 11, discussing the merits (or lack thereof) of certain feed-finding tools. Her comments augmented my own conclusions, and so I figured I return the favor with a little comment to let her know I got her drift.
Kelly W's 23 Things - left a comment about her Thing 8 post. She had a great idea for a customized motivational poster that I really liked, and just wanted to let her know. If nothing else, commenting can let us authors know that someone's actually looking at the content we generate.
Nathan D's Ned's Ed Web - made a comment about Nathan's Thing 9 post. His images were laugh-out-loud funny to me, and I had to let him know that the humor was appreciated. Reminds me how important it is that we maintain a sense of humor in this, our chosen profession.
And on to the other guys:
Left a comment on The Nerdy Teacher - responded to the author's post, titled #NothingButPositiveTweetsThisWeek Part 2. The author talked about the effort required to maintain positivity through the work week, and had some good insights about its payout. As I'm not a teacher yet, the post reminded me that, though our careers will most certainly have their share of bad days, positivity is a choice, and in the end, life is better if you decide to keep up with being positive.
And rounding out my comment-spree, I ended up at Major Nelson's Xbox Live blog, and commented about something I have a great love for: video games. Just chimed in over my excitement for an upcoming release. Relevance? It's important for us adults to have some fun once in a while. A relaxed teacher is a happy teacher, agreed?
And so there you have it- the non-commenter left comments all over the place. Gotta admit, it was actually pretty fun. Gave me a sense of connection, and I'll undoubtedly be checking back later on to see who commented on my comments. Here's to keeping the conversations alive! Thanks for pushing me to be more involved, Thing #4.
