Thing #4

Commenting on blogs helped create a great sense of community because it helped people to communicate ideas and think about our everyday lives. Criticism was part of the learning process. Until you heard how people appraised you and your ideas it was difficult to put the pieces into the puzzle of life. Shared opinions helped to shape our sense of community.

It is important to ask questions and invite comments. Sometimes people will not comment unless you ask them to in some shape or form. You must formulate great open ended questions and make the audience feel comfortable about answering them.

I chose to comment on Beth Tejeda's and Kat William's blogs because I am a big fan of foreign languages. I know a few languages at the novice level and would like to learn a few more. I practice the languages by talking online with people in foreign countries. It works the same with students. If they were required to blog in their foreign language their vocabulary will increase and hopefully they will become expert conversationalists.

I commented on Halee Anthony's blog. She wanted a class blog to use to communicate with the students about course work, homework, quizzes and any other course related topics. This is a great thing especially for the parents to keep track of the students assignments and also the instructor.

I commented to Lindsey Mullholland about the value of the blog as a research tool. You can turn the world into a subject pool. You can gather information on all kinds of topics from experts to lay people. If you ask for information people usually give it to you also. So if you have a need for some good resources you can just ask and your blog may respond.

Jessica Moran felt that there was a need to be cautious while communicating on the Internet. You need to use caution to cross the street and in any discourse. Disclosing information about yourself is something public figures do to gain trust and votes. They want you to come into their lives for a bit and get to know them. They are constantly in communication with their constituents looking for ideas and opinions that will help them do their jobs. Blogs are a great way to keep in touch and get opinions on issues that the Legislature is working on.

I couldn't help but stray into the funny jokes blog and heard a good one about mistakes. But those two have been deleted

At http://singingtipsblog.com I commented on Breathing Made Easy. The blogger was a singing coach who was trying to give advice to improve your voice. However this blog was not a good technique for the purpose he described. Bending over and breathing did not demonstrate how well air goes into the lower part of your chest. It demonstrated what if feels like to only get air into the upper part of your chest. Because the bending over compresses your diaphragm and lower chest area. The air fills your upper chest area. When you are singing and the upper part of your chest filled with air it compressed your larynx and caused misalignment and stress. The best air flow was a completely full chest. When you stood up straight when your singing, everything is aligned and you can really felt the air expand into your lower chest area. I believed he may have explained it wrong. He had the right idea, but he was totally opposite.

I commented on http://singingtipsblog.com, Improve your singing Voice Through Feeling. This technique had nothing to do with your actual voice as he explained. It was a discussion on acting techniques to gain audience involvement in your performance. Eye contact with as many people in your audience as you can, you gained their attention and gave them some personal involvement. Your song choices were important too. You need to understand your audience and be able to communicate with them about subject matter that will evoke core emotions. If they related to the song you are personally sang to them, you had their attention, involvement and you improved your performance.

Educational blogs were a good idea. They worked well as a communication tool, research tool, foreign language practice, and just plain fun. Everyone had a different reason for using a blog which made them highly desirable.