This is a boilerplate policy/permission form for teachers to provide their students. Attached is a separate permission form for students under 13 who wish to create accounts on our 'after-school' online writing community, youngwritersproject.org

Policy Letter for

YWP Digital Writing Classrooms

Dear Student,

Your school is partnering with the Young Writers Project, a Vermont nonprofit, to bring you an exciting opportunity to improve your writing -- a Digital Writing Classroom. This Web-based, secure site is designed to help you develop your writing skills and improve your digital literacy. You and your fellow students will use this site to post your homework, share additional work, give and receive constructive feedback, upload multimedia and engage in collaborative digital learning projects.

The majority of the Web site is "closed," meaning it is accessible only to you, teachers, designated school officials and several folks from YWP. All students are given usernames with their firstname and last initial and no personal information is kept on this site.

From time to time, your best work may be published on the front page of the site for the public to see, but you will not be identified.

How it works

This site gives students authentic audience for their work -- their peers and teacher(s). Students will be asked to post completed homework on the site as well as to share additional work or work on projects. From time to time, school classwork will be done on the site. Teachers will post assignments on the site with due dates shown on the Class Events calendar. A vital aspect of this site is peer feedback. Students will be expected to comment on each others' work in a civil and constructive manner on a regular basis.

Students may be trained and encouraged to embed Web links and to upload digital images, audio and video in their work as appropriate. From time to time the class or  teacher will select exceptional work to be posted on the front page or to be submitted to school Web sites or publications.

Security

Students' usernames will be their first name and last initial. Their real email address will not be used. No personal information is kept on the Digital Writing Classroom site. Students will be given guidance to follow good Web safety practices such as to not reveal personal information such as email addresses, telephone numbers and addresses.

This school and YWP believe that a major part of Web security is civility, so students will be expected to behave in an appropriate manner on the site. This site is an extension of the classroom.

Students and teachers are encouraged to submit exceptional work to the Young Writers Project for possible external publication. In that event, YWP requires that student work be accompanied by the student's real name, school name and grade. If a student's work is selected it may be published in newspapers, on radio and/or on YWP's Web site, youngwritersproject.org. A student would be notified in advance if she or he is selected.

Assessment

Students' work will be assessed according to the school's normal rubrics for performance: quality of work, effort, initiative, growth, etc. In addition, students will be expected to regularly comment on work by fellow students and may be graded on the quality and quanitity of that commenting. The sites contain applications that allow for teachers to grade work -- posts and comments -- but those grades are only visible to the teacher.

Parental Permission

Parents,

This signed form grants your child permission to work on the YWP Schools Project online classroom; we are asking you and your child to discuss this form and sign it. Please return it to your child's teacher:

I have read and understood these terms and conditions. I agree to uphold them.

Student's signature: ________________________________________  Date:________________

Parent's signature: _________________________________________ Date: ________________

In addition, your teacher is seeking permission to submit your child's best work to the Young Writers Project for potential publication in any one of 12 partner newspapers around Vermont and NH or on Vermont Public Radio. If your child is chosen, his/her full name and school will be printed. (NOTE: The teacher may submit this on behalf of your child through youngwritersproject.org; if your child is 13 or over, he/she can create an account on youngwritersproject.org and submit an entry him/herself. If your child is under the age of 13 and wishes to create an account on youngwritesproject,  you need to sign an additional permission form, which is available attached here or at http://youngwritersproject.org/permission and send it to  YWP / 20 Winooski Falls Way / Suite 4 / Winooski, VT 05404. Call 802-324-9537 if you have questions.)

I have read and understood these terms and conditions. I agree to let my child's teacher submit work to YWP for potential publication.

Student's signature: ________________________________________  Date:________________

Parent's signature: _________________________________________ Date: ________________