I can whitelist users so their comments are posted instantly, which I do if teachers leave comments. I've also whitelisted two students. One reason is because they've earned that whitelist with both their quality and quantity of comments. The other reason is because they have their own email addresses they use when commenting, so I can whitelist them.
My two whitelisted students have been going back and forth in one of the comment threads on our classroom blog for going on a couple of weeks. The comments are threaded so it's actually a bit hard to read. Basically, Ian and Molly started off talking about Molly's Historical Interview "The Life Changing Terrorist Attack." Their back-and-forth revolved around 9/11 for a while, but the conversation ground to a halt.
At that point, Ian wrote:
So yeah... Where should our conversation go next?To which Molly replied:
I don't know......you decide!
Don't forget: these are 6th graders. Getting nervous, parents and teachers??
Ian: "Let's talk about the Christmas Day bomber. Does that sound okay?"
Molly: "yes...that sounds great! You mean the guy that got on the plane with bombs in his pockets????"
Ian: "He actually put them in his underwear I think."
Remember, I saw this all happening in email Inbox. I thought to myself, This is getting off the original topic. I might push them a bit. So I left a comment:
Why don't you guys find some links to news articles or reactions to the Christmas Day bomber story?
You're welcome to create a new blog *post* about it if you'd rather discuss it under a new thread.
The next two comments are from Ian:
"So could we title it Christmas Day Bomber and make it like an open thread?"
"Molly,
Lets move the conversation to open thread #7.
Thanks!!"Here's Open Thread #7 if you'd like to join their conversation.
