4 Blog Conversations

What are we learning this week?

Monday: Observation / Point of View
Tuesday: Slice of Life in Conversation
Wednesday: Conversation of Objects
Thursday: Conversation: Poem in Two Voices
Friday: Conversation: Blog Comments and Conversations

Important in our little community is our presence online and in our blogs. I've written about Blog Conversations on another blog. I'd like to invite you into this form of writing to connect with others.  Some ideas:

Good bloggers spend time reading and commenting on others’ blogs. We look for posts of interest to us and leave a comment expressing our ideas and appreciation for the topic information. Commenting is a form of conversation with the author of the blog.

As bloggers, we can do more to extend the conversation. We can add value to others’ ideas by extending the conversation into our own blogs.

When we read others’ blog posts. We enjoy, learn, or disagree with them. In our minds, we have a response. That’s what we want to capture, that spark of connection when we read the posts.

Read to find that spark, that connection — the place in the blog post you think, “Ah.” or “What?” or “Yeah.”

At that point, that’s your cue to add to the conversation. It’s your gift back from the value given in the post. Copy that part of the idea.

Then, with the best digital citizenship in mind, we write a post on our own blog about that idea, and your gift back: do you agree? disagree? learn something? have a different or new idea?

Go for it: Share their idea and your response — being overly positive as we always do so the author feels accepted and not disrespected.

Link back to the original blog.

Then comment on the blog with a link to your response post.

You’ve just started a blog conversation!
If you want to simply comment, here's a review of good blog comment guidelines:

Comment Guidelines

Important points:

Read the post and all comments first.

Use the author's name.

When responding to other posts, consider using the following openers as a guide 

• *  I noticed.....
• *  I liked.....
• *  I wonder.....
• *  What if.....
• *  How might.....

Think about what questions to ask.

Think how to be positive and helpful, even when disagreeing [see guidelines for tips].

Write well -- edit.

The Start your comment:

Use the author's name.

Compliment the author's ideas.

Offer your ideas about the topic.

Ask a question about the topic.

EDIT.
Thank the author.

Add your name / own blog URL.

Where do you find kid blogs?  Look here, a hashtag for kid bloggers:
#comments4kids

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The important thing about blogging is the connections:

• In order for what we are saying to make any sense, it needs to be a response to something. 
• Find places where you can add value rather than pursue a particular goal or objective 
• In almost all fields, connecting with others IS the work. 
• Connecting is all about adding value and flow (input, output, feedback, plasticity) 

Go ahead.  Try a blog post conversation or a comment conversation.

Write a post about what you learned -- about your blogging and learning, and about a topic.  Share your URL  to your reflection below.

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Photo: Sheri Edwards

Pretzel Art: Tony Stansac

Conversation 2

What are we doing this week?

Monday: Observation / Point of View
Tuesday: Slice of Life in Conversation
Wednesday: Conversation 2

How about a conversation between non-human objects? Imagine what your sock would say to your big toe and your shoe? Or the basketball to your hand and the court floor? Or your dull pencil to the sharpener?

Here's an example:

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I stood strong, second in line, my petals spread out to enjoy the warmth of the September sun.

"Sun," I asked, "You are sleeping earlier today."

"Yes," replied the sun. "I can't quite reach you any more when your Earth follows its path around me at its equinox."

A fluff of cumulous cloud passed across the face of the beaming sun. A shadow brought a shiver of coolness to all the coneflowers.

As the sun's rays slipped out its warming beams once again as the cloud moved on, sun added, "Excuse the interruption, and I apologize in advance of the continued shortening of my waking hours."

"But sun," I said, "If you take longer naps, my blossom will droop as my leaves dry up without your nourishing rays. I will grow old."

"Ah," sun replied. "That is part of our relationship; you will then drop your deep brown seeds into the earth and be renewed in the spring when I will meet your kin."

The evening breeze ruffled my petals.

Sun reached out, "You are preparing now for that part of our cycle. You have breathed life into the air as oxygen and gave your nectar to the bees and added beauty to the earth. You have made the world better; it is as we all should be and do."

"I have helped the world. I need to finish my journey." As one petal dropped, the sun dipped below the horizon.

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Did you follow the conversation that included science and the cycle of seasons and day to night?

You could be serious with science or history, or you could humorous. Just think of something you know about, and start writing the conversation between the objects. Jump right in the middle to get started, or set it up as I did with a picture. Can you tell which flower was speaking?

Remember to use action words and write in the moment, as if you are one of the characters now. You'll take that object's point of view, like the flower losing the warmth from the summer hours of sunshine.

Your turn!  Please share your responses with a link in the comments below.

Photo: (c) 2016 Sheri Edwards

Slice of Life Conversation

Tuesday. Slice of Life.

Today, try a conversation. First, set it up. Then share the dialogue.

For example:

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Beep Bop.

"What's that noise, Allison?" Grandma asked as she walked around the playroom, listening.

Beep. Bop. 

"I think there's a toy here that is stuck on." Grandma picked up a teddy bear and looked underneath it.

Beep. Bop. 

"Can you hear it?" Grandma asked Allison, a four-year-old busily building a fort with blankets over the table and chairs, aligned just so.

Beep. Bop. 

Grandma looked under the table. "Do you hear it, Allison?"

Allison looked up and listened. She said, "It's probably your cell phone Gramma."

And it was. 

"I'm so old," Grandma said as she took the flip phone from her purse to answer.

Beep. Bop. 

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Think of a conversation between two people that has some story within it: a twist in words, a joke, a mistaken identity.

Every real story is fuel for your narrative writing, or even for a report on this one of the ease of which children today know technology, while some elders have a difficult time with it.