My biggest pet peeve about blogging or any other social networking comments is when they are not helpful or insightful in any way. I'm talking about comments such as "thanks for sharing" or "I agree" without any reasons why or any contribution to the post whatsoever. This is boldly mentioned as the first rule in How to Comment Like a King (or Queen) - Write a meaningful comment. I like to feel as if the comment was left because the reader connected with something I said, not because they had to or had nothing better to do.
I also enjoyed reading Your Comments? on Blue Skunk Blog. Not only did it make me laugh, it made me think. I had never thought of reading blogs and not posting as "lurking," but it also never crossed my mind that some people claim they write blogs for themselves and don't care about comments. Why make it online and public, then? I try to comment as much as I can when I connect with a blog post, but will be much more mindful in the future. I know I smile when I see someone has taken the time to leave me a comment!
I have the Newsweek article about firing bad teachers on my mind, so I used the keywords "fire bad teachers on Google Blog Search. Two blogs that I found were A Teacher's View and Teach313's Random Keystrokes. The first one is an interesting commentary on the aforementioned article, while the second is a heartbreaking account of an inner-city Detroit teacher who faces countless obstacles in teaching her 5th graders. She seems as if she truly cares about these students, but she is threatened with being fired and replaced with Teach for America teachers.
It's always interesting to hear the newest theory on how to "fix" our schools. If you haven't already, please read the Newsweek article and let me know what you think. I'll post my thoughts on it later so as not to accidentally influence opinion before you read.
