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//Middle School Science Wikis //
You have several seventh grade science classes collaborating on wikis. Students are divided into groups and are collecting information on each of the kingdoms of living organisms. The wikis are used to present the information, including some slide presentations and graphics your students have created. Your Monera kingdom group has been doing extremely creative work and has created an impressive presentation on bacteria. The group has received a request by a teacher to use some of their graphics on bacteria cell structure for a project at a school in a nearby state. The students who created the work would get credit for their contribution, and the request is for two graphics out of over a dozen in the presentation. How do you advise your students?

 =﻿THANKS BUT NO THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!=

While this is very exciting to share information among students and teachers from other schools, this science presentation was meant to be used in our classroom only. We published it on the web for others look at not to use even though the other teacher wants to give the creators credit. Our district internet policy is very strict when it comes to privacy and anonymity of their students. The science teacher will correspond with the other inquiring teacher via e-mail and send a copy of the district's online policy and a polite refusal.

This is the e-mail that would be sent to the teacher.

Dear fellow colleague, Thank you for the interest in my students science projects on animal kingdoms. They have been working very hard for several class periods to create a quality product. I am proud of their creativity and performance I am sure you would agree that they have mastered the material successfully. Unfortunately at this time my students are unable to share their work because of our school district's internet privacy policy. Attached is a copy of the policy for you to review. I have discussed the situation with my students prior to my writing. Please contact me with any further questions.

Respectfully,

Mr. Jason Stearns

Your request for permission to use the two graphics from my student's Monera Kingdom project will only be considered after agreeing with the terms stated in the Creative Commons Attribution-non commercial license. []
 * EXCEPTION FOR PERMISSION REQUEST **

= WE WOULD LOVE TO HELP YOU OUT! = Dear fellow colleague,

After discussing it with the students who created the graphics, we have decided that you can use them in your classroom if you are giving credit to the students, using only their first names. We would also like to use this opportunity to welcome you and your students into our learning network. We have been using the Read/Write web in many ways during the school year and it has led to some wonderful connections with other students who are learning about the same things we are. Since we are just finishing up our unit on living organisms, maybe we could set up a mentorship where my students are able to help your students by answering questions through a wiki. When you are wrapping up your unit on living organisms, we could also Skype with your students and have a little friendly competition between them with a review game.

Good luck with your planning,

Ms. Ashleigh Dzurik & her Grade 7 Science Students

=WHAT AN HONOR! =

It would be wonderful to be recognized for the hard work and research students put in to their wikis. Sharing the information helps others see what you are doing in the classroom as well as allowing for more connections to be made among students. The whole point of a Read/Write Web is sharing, and by being asked to share information, the class should feel honored. When allowing others to use the class' information, ground rules can be set up:

**Wiki Ground Rules **

 * **Openly share your ideas, comments and perspectives.**
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">**Show respect for other people and use appropriate language.**
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">**Comment on, make suggestions and challenge discussions, not the individuals who post them.**
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">**Keep your comments on topic.**
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">**Keep an open mind regarding others' points of view.**
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">**Moderators will do their best to keep this a constructive, productive space for everyone.**
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 3em; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">**By participating in this wiki you agree to the wiki use policy below. Please read it.**

By setting ground rules, students from different districts, states, and countries can share and collaborate on different ideas and activities. Setting up a relationship with this one class that is already excited about what you do, would then allow for more collaboration in the future.

=Resources:= Wiki Policy Use <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">[]