Title: Tips for Leaving Insightful Comments
Course: Book Blogs - Journals for Book Club Discussions (Grades 3-8)

Blogs are a great place to publish your ideas. But they're an even better place to DISCUSS those ideas. Blog discussions happen when readers leave comments about a post.

Commenting is a skill and an art! Leaving a specific, thoughtful, respectful comment for another person takes time and thinking. But the great discussion that grows out of these comments is worth the effort!

Consider these tips when leaving comments for others.
- Comments should include a specific reference to the "job" portion of the group member's post. Commenting on the "summary" portion of a group member's post is not particularly interesting, because you all summarized the same section of the book. On the other hand, on any given week, every group member has done their own unique "job" as part of their post. It is these ideas that we want to discuss.

Remember, we're about the author's IDEAS, not their spelling or grammar. Let the teacher dispense the editing advice (capital letters, paragraph structure, punctuation...).

When commenting on an author's idea, you want to make a specific reference to their words in the comment. Use a brief quotation from their post that shows your interest in a particular part of their writing. Comments like, "Great job, you really wrote a lot!" are kind, but meaningless to the author. Pull out something in particular that got you thinking.

- Be thoughtful - use high-level thinking. Along with being specific in your comment (see above), you should also add detail and depth of thought. You could ask questions of the author. You could talk about why you agree or disagree with their stance on a topic. You could suggest a website that they could check out for a related idea. If you can write 3-5 sentences in your comment, there is a good chance you effectively explained your thinking.

Note: "texting" abbreviations betray your thoughtfulness. In other words, adding "OMG" to a comment renders it trite, no matter how thoughtful your intentions. Keep texting to the phone, not your group's blogs.

- Be respectful and honest. Authors don't want platitudinous compliments. They want comments that show a reader cares about what they wrote. You can express your interest in their post by being direct, but tactful. It's OK to disagree with a person's post, but be kind and be sure to think about things they did well.