When the person can be identified

This is food for thought.

I am just about to begin a personal essay with the 7th graders since we completed The Revealers. In the past I have asked students to write about bullying from the perspective of a bully, victim or bystander. They have usually been strong essays, but I am concerned about the lack of privacy issue with this topic.

Hmmmmmmm.

That is a dilemma. I think I would err on the side of protecting a kid's privacy. On the other hand, it depends on the make up of the class. If you feel like the other students are sensitive and mature enough, then it could work. I don't know though.
--Heather

I had two issues with students writing things that involved people who could be identified while writing personal essay pieces. First, let me say they were given the option of writing a private hard copy or using YWP depending on how personal it was.

One student wrote about her experiences being harrassed by students leaving notes in class sets of books. Each time she would enter the class, she would find notes about her physical appearance. According to the piece she would leave the classroom crying every class and go to the bathroom to regroup. The problem was she mentioned the class and grade she was in then making a comment that it might have been easier for her if the teacher had paid attention to how upset she was. Since this school only has two grades, the teacher was identified. As anyone who has taught in a middle school setting, or any other grade level for that matter, it is not appropriate to dicuss the percieved short-comings of a staff member or student in a public arena, such as the classroom or in this case the class ywp. Students are encourage to speak to a person they feel comfortable with in the building or in our case, go to peer mediation with a peer or staff if they feel the need. While the statement was slight and not written in a rude manner, it was still not good practice.

Again, I do not think it is news to any of us that kids often have self esteem issues. It is not completely uncommon for the student and parent to turn things around and place blame on teachers for this, among other things. So, identifying a teacher for note "noticing" could come back and bite. (The student never told the teacher, just expected the teacher to figure it out, a pattern) So, I felt it needed to be removed. (I did confirm this with a couple of other staff members to be sure I wasn't over reacting). All agreed.

My frustration was two-fold. First I had been ill and fell behind in reading so now I need to learn to stay on top of writing. Second, I could not find a way to remove it, only to unpublish it, which means the student could re-publish it. I need to explore the options provided by the program more thoroughly, hoping delete will be an option.

There is a way to delete - I believe, but then again, I could be mistaken about that specific task. I do know that I deleted some comments early on, but I have not deleted any essays. maybe this is a tiem to try HELP.

sorrry to hear about your illness keeping you away from your reading and writing.