Inappropriate C4K Comment

I have received a report from Mr. Cometti at Fairhope High School which is quite disturbing to me. Fortunately he is a graduate of EDM310 and he believes in the power of blogging. In addition, he moderates the comments left on his students' blogs. Here is his email to me:

Thank you [NoNoNoNoNoNoNo] for commenting on one of my students blog. They really look forward to the comments every week. Comments give them motivation to continue blogging and producing quality work. I hope you realize how important these comments are to my students. Please consider your words carefully in the future.

Here is the link to Zane's post.


Below is your full comment. I am sure you can [improve] upon this comment.

My name is [NoNoNoNoNoNoNo] and I’m in the EDM 310 class. I got your blog to read and comment on. Is this post a joke? It shows absolutely no understanding of World War One. It is nothing but incoherent babbling. The 1900′s is a long time period, when exactly was the war? I have never heard of ketchup gas. Did you by chance mean mustard gas? The Nazi party was not involved in the first world war. Saying that Jesus won the war is far from the truth. Hundreds of thousands of people were slayed during the war for no real victory. It was a brutal war of attrition that America and its allies happened to come out on top.

"Is this post a joke? It shows absolutely no understanding of World War One. It is nothing but incoherent babbling."

As a future educator, I hope you learn to make positive criticism to your students. ...[There] is no reason for you to talk down to him. He is simply a child that is trying hard to be funny to his peers.

"I have never heard of ketchup gas. Did you by chance mean mustard gas? The Nazi party was not involved in the first world war. Saying that Jesus won the war is far from the truth. Hundreds of thousands of people were slayed during the war for no real victory. It was a brutal war of attrition that America and its allies happened to come out on top."

Your comment to Zane displays your inability to pick up on the attempted sarcasm of a 14 year old kid. ... He purposely changed it to ketchup gas. He doesn't think Jesus won the war. His use of sarcasm is evident in his title "No, this one is for real, promise." ... he is trying to write creatively. This blog post was part of a creative writing assignment in a history class. As his teacher, I will inform him of his mistakes. I talk to my students constantly about the dangers of using sarcasm in their blog. Your job is to introduce yourself, lead with a positive comment, maybe offer a suggestion, and ask the blogger a question. Please consider the age of the students blog you are commenting on.

Regardless of Zane's poor use of sarcasm, you need to learn how to make positive comments that provide constructive criticism. As a future educator, I hope you consider your audience and choose your words carefully in the future. I am deleting your comment and I would recommend that you make a new one for a grade in your class.


Thank you,

Justin Cometti

Now for some heart to heart discussion from me:

NoNoNoNoNoNoNo must not have read my instructions in the Class Blog post Comments for Kids Starts This Week. Let me quote from that post:

"BEFORE you leave a comment for a kid you MUST read the instructions at the top of the Doc and the material in the links found elsewhere in this post. The kids ARE NOT YOUR PEERS so you approach you comments differently than you approach the comments you leave for your classmates."

And in the concluding section I write this:

"2. You must find out about the teacher and the school BEFORE you leave a comment. You are a visitor there. Know where you are and with whom you are interacting! This is extremely important!
3. The primary purpose of your comment is to be an audience for the students and to encourage them to learn. You are not their peer but a visitor. Ask a question. Be supportive and encouraging."

I would also like to call your attention to p.15 of the Project Instruction Manual. There I write:

"General rules:

1. Comments must be substantive in nature and appropriate for the intended audience. In other words, write for 3rd graders if it is a 3rd grader’s blog. Write for a teacher if you are doing a Comment for a Teacher (C4T).
2. One of the best set of instructions on how to write good comments is by Gracie. Gracie was a third grade student in Ms. Yollis' class in the Spring of 2011. Read Gracie's post Quality Comments.
3. All comments must be proofread and free of spelling and grammatical errors. Have you read Some of You Won’t Make It Through 3rd Grade ? If not, do so now. I do NOT want to find out that your comments have been rejected by a teacher (3rd grade or not) because of spelling or grammatical errors. For heavens sake! You are planning to be a teacher, correct? Here are the techniques Mrs. Yollis’ 3rd grade class follows in writing comments. Mr. Chamberlain, who teaches 5th grade, also has a list of useful advice when commenting on the Comments4Kids website. You should master these techniques as well."

I will edit this to read "I do NOT want to find out that your comments have been rejected by a teacher (3rd grade or not) because of spelling or grammatical errors OR FOR ANY OTHER REASON.

Obviously NoNoNoNoNoNoNo did not follow these requirements. You are practicing to be a teacher. This is NOT what a teacher would write to her or his 9th grader.

When you leave a comment for a kid you are a guest in the teacher's class. Behave like that!

We learn from our mistakes and from the mistakes of others. This is an important learning opportunity. Take advantage of that opportunity. I DO NOT WANT any additional feedback from teachers like this.

One Additional Comment:

Teachers often moderate comments. You can understand why when you read this account of NoNoNoNoNoNoNo's comment. If the teacher does moderate comments, you will not see yours appear. Again I quote from p. 15 of the Project Instruction Manual.

"6. Some teachers moderate the comments left on their personal blog and/or on the blogs of their students. This means that you may not see your comment until it has been approved. That may take one day or many days. You do not have to worry about it since you will summarize the post and your comment and you will post these summaries to your blog on a regular basis. This also applies to C4T and C4K."