Kindness costs nothing.

I will forever be grateful to those that blog, especially to World Language teachers that blog, and share activities they have created, resources they have found online, and their classroom experiences, both good and bad. I respect them because, as a blogger, I understand the time commitment involved in writing posts and in responding to readers' comments on the blog and through personal emails.

As a blogger, you are writing on a public space, and you are "putting yourself out there". There may be those that enjoy what you share and then...
there will be that small population, for reasons I don't understand, that write comments that are not helpful. After all, Kindness Costs Nothing (a sign which hangs in my room in English and in Spanish).

Yesterday, I received one such comment on my blog. At first, I was unsure how to handle it. My knee-jerk reaction is to throw my hands in the air and give up. After all, my blog is a labor of love - that's it, plain and simple. But that's not a logical reaction. Why is it that one negative comment can overshadow many positive comments?  

Last night, after two Easter meals with my family and my husband's family, in other words surrounded by positive energy, the solution on how to respond to the comment came to me. It's quite simple and it may just be the perfect solution. I decided to combat that one comment with twelve THANK YOU and encouraging comments on other blogs.

This morning my first business of the day was to catch up on my blog reading and leave encouraging words on blogs of other world language teachers. I searched out new blogs as well as blogs of those I've been following for years. In reading their blogs, I received valuable, personalized professional development. I read their insights on teaching and received ideas from the materials and resources they shared. What better way to show the blogger my appreciation for their work than by leaving a note of thanks in the comment section? 

My heart is singing again.

May I suggest that when you find something useful on someone's blog, take the time to let them know. Please don't misunderstand me - I'm not fishing for comments on my blog, but rather asking you to show your appreciation to bloggers in general for their energy and time in maintaining their blog and freely sharing with others. There is a list on the right side of my blog of amazing teachers with blogs.  

let's Celebrate the Many Hardworking Bloggers that enrich our teaching with our notes of thanks and encouragement.