Celebrating new Bloggers

Vicki Davis has written many times of her

desire to foster, mentor and encourage new bloggers

I want to jump on her band wagon and do the same for newcomers as well.

If your blog readers are growing, who are you mentoring and bringing out to share with others?

Last month Tracy McGrath from Mrs. McGrath Cyber Cafe contacted me after I left her a comment on the blog.

That is how the conversations starts. You leave a comment…. Someone else checks your blog out…is interested in what you are writing about…follows more of your online breadcrumbs…
I have added you to my Twitter. Looking forward to hearing more from you in the future.

I could feel the discouragement between the lines:

I have made some changes, commented on other blogs and posted updates on twitter, but I really am not getting many comments (pretty much none).

I e-mailed her back about my own experience when I started blogging.

I started blogging in February of 2006 and did not receive my first comment until the September 2006 on my 63rd post!!! It was a “thank you” to a comment I left and definitely not a conversation starter. Just in the last few months I have been receiving more comments. I was always fine with that, because the reason I blog, is to help my own understanding by writing it down and also to remember instructions or tools that I am running across. [...] Don’t get discouraged. You are on the right path. Keep posting, keep commenting on other blogs, make connections through Nings or Twitter and reference your work on your blog.

How can we help new bloggers like Tracy? Take the time to comment on their blogs, invite them to your network, encourage your network to include them.

Isn’t it the same philosophy than on the playground when a new kid arrives to the neighborhood or school. Make them feel welcome and invite them to your circle of play. Let’s not create these dreaded cliques that make the lives of teenagers (and adults) miserable in cyberspace too.

I want to introduce you to another new blogger (only 14 posts old). Andrea Hernandez from EdTechWorkshop. She is an elementary school technology coordinator and I love her narrative on projects she is and has been working on. Read about her ideas on a Digital Image Scavenger Hunt, One-Click-Mitzvah-Project, and Inspiration Appreciation ( I really like this one!).

Please click your way through to her site and leave her a comment if you have something to add or suggest. I will be also make a commitment of commenting more.