Commenting Review Week (and Meme Generator Tech Tip)

I have had a lot of fun connecting with other students in the course through commenting on their blog posts and through their comments on my posts. I feel like we are more connected to each other than most people are to their classmates in other courses. Normally, the only time you really learn about each other is during the first day of class when everyone stands up and says their name, major, and other not-all-that-personal information. Sometimes, you might never hear some of your classmates say a single word again for the rest of the semester. In this course, however, you get to read pages and pages of what each other has to say about stories we've read, stories we've written, and comments on each other's blogs or storybooks. I think I have found that I have more things in common with many of my peers in this class than I have with previous classmates, which is certainly enhanced by the fact that nearly all my previous classmates might as well have been complete strangers.

The easiest part about commenting is complimenting others' work: letting people know what I like about what they have written or what parts of their writing are really top notch. Conversely, the hardest part is trying to give people suggestions on how to improve their writing. Most of the comments that I see are simply praise for what someone has written, so I feel bad telling someone, "Your dialogue could be improved in this sort of way," or some other form of constructive criticism. I don't want to seem like I don't think everyone's work is very good; I've really enjoyed every story I've read that was written by a classmate, but I also want to help them improve their writing so that it can be the best it can be. I also want my classmates to be honest with me in their comments about my work because I want to know what I can do to make my writing better. I appreciate the positive things they have to say, but I would also like to know which techniques and skills could use a little work.

And here is just a funny meme I made using the memecrunch.com meme generator :)