Thing #4 (A la Dr. Seuss)

As you read, consider the following questions (feel free to adapt and expand on any of these or add your own):

• What do you notice about the genre of blog writing in general?
• Blogging, in general, is written in the style of a conversation, or, in many cases, a diatribe. When I blog (and I have been doing it for years), I use my speaking voice. Without trying, I write with the same passion and inflection with which I speak to friends and family. When I write about something that makes me happy, my reader can sense that emotion. Likewise, when I write about something that bothers me, my typewritten words convey it.
  
• How is blog reading different from other types of reading? How is it similar?
• Blog reading is less laborious, in general. I love reading (and cuddling up with) a great book, but reading a great, well-developed blog is just as satisfying. As I teach my students, we read for different reasons and purposes all the time. Also, when reading a blog, if the blogger is doing their "job" well, the reader gets a real sense of the blogger's personality and almost feels like he/she knows the blogger, even if they have never met. Kinship is created, and a "relationship" evolves. Just as we are faithful to favorite authors, we are similarly faithful to favorite bloggers.
  
• How is blog writing different from other types of writing? How is it similar? In general, I think that blog writing is a little less formal and uses a bit more of the vernacular as opposed to formal language. Of course, that aspect varies from blog to blog, depending on the writer and his/her purpose. It can be quite a bit more succinct and focused -- sometimes with content following an overall theme, other times with content varying with the blogger's thought process of the day.
  
• How does commenting contribute to the writing and meaning-making? Commenting, if monitored by the blogger and its "followers" should provoke new ideas and thoughts from both blogger and reader.
  
• Is there a "blogging literacy?" How does blogging affect the way we read and write? For me, blogging language is more like my conversational voice rather than my academic voice. I don't see blogging language as casual as I do text message language, but I suppose it depends on the writer. Obviously, I believe that a blog written by a professional education should be grammatically correct and error-free, but the tone is variable with the blogger's purpose each post. I believe that any appropriate content (if used for academic purposes) will help to encourage students/readers/followers to become more actively engaged in the reading process, and if commenting is encouraged/required, ideally, the students/readers will find themselves more engaged and thinking higher on Bloom's taxonomy as they analyze and synthesize posts and comments from various readers.
  
• How can blogging facilitate learning?