In the educational arena, there’s more to comments than meets the eye. When you leave a comment to a student, it is almost always received with great anticipation and appreciation. Comments can really help a student grow in their thinking, writing and in oh so many other areas. Opening the door for students to other peoples’ thinking and viewpoints is productive. Exchange of ideas on what the student is learning is empowering. Learning from other countries is conducive to building future relationships. There are so many worthwhile possibilities. Yes, there can be an occasional comment that is inappropriate but we can use those as lessons to learn from and move on.
I have had incredible experiences with the commenting feature, some even life changing, like the comments to Patrick when he wrote about passing fifth grade. Here is Patrick’s original post with comments he received. Here is his response. I could list many more examples. I think it might be really powerful and useful if we compiled a list of examples of the kinds of comments that have helped a student in their learning and growth. I have found that many interested, potential commenters who would like to comment but are unsure or lack confidence to join in. Having a list of examples could be a good thing.
There’s another aspect that we need to ponder. What lies behind a comment can have ramifications for our students and us, as educators. By this I mean, what resides on a commenter’s blog can also have far reaching effects on our students and us. I remember one instance with my elementary students. Another older student had left a nice comment to one of my students. I happened to travel back through this student’s blog and there was an unacceptable picture. Any sexually explicit graphics or discussions would be inappropriate for any school setting. After finding this I decided to delete the comment. I did so. I didn’t think much more about it until now. Now, most of my students are receiving lots of comments. That’s a good thing. In schools usually there is no time to travel around looking at the commenter’s blog but the link is there and at any later time the student could decide to do just that. The other thing is that commenters, meaning well, often suggest links for the students to check out. I’ve done that same thing myself. Now these have been worthwhile sites but I have to be on top of that, check them out and be sure. Even though this takes time, I’ve considered that a good thing because it has provided some excellent resources that I might never have known about and it has expanded the students’ thinking. I don’t think it can be said enough though that we do need to check the comments and links. This is part of the quandary.
Do we just block a commenter who has a site that has inappropriate material? Do we just delete the comment? How do we judge? Should we judge? So here’s my quandary. What do we do? I know we can judge the black and white areas but what about a blog that for the most part is perfectly fine but one post or so delves in an area that could be controversial (especially for school settings). Are there some other ways we might address this situation? What if we have a commenter who has been a part of many conversations and those conversations have been exceptional? A commenter may have one link or some part of their blog that really isn≠t appropriate for the school setting. Do we appeal to the commenter to not leave a link to their url? We may have someone who has commented a lot and just didn’t think how this comment would affect a growing audience of students who have been benefiting from comments received. How about a commenter≠s creed that we point people to? Where could this creed be? Does a link need to be at the bottom of each post? That could get tedious. We don’t want to discourage commenting. We don’t want to set up harsh, rigid rules. That might hamper the many wonderful avenues of learning that emerge. Maybe we could develop comment “think-abouts”, similar to my weblog “think-abouts.” Lani Ritter and I had talked a while back about this and she has been working on an additional act, A pirouette: Commenting,  to her Blogging Ballet workshop. It is outstanding. It is a work in progress. She is still thinking through it. I’m sure she would welcome suggestions. She has told me the importance she places on the conversations and thinking that come with commenting in blogging. I think this is of great value.
I would welcome any thoughts, ideas, and suggestions on my quandary with comments.
I am trying to look ahead and develop strategies to address these quandaries responsibly that I see arising.