Do the Write Thing Challenge! Take a stand to end youth violence!

7^th and 8^th grade students are invited to participate in the 2012 Do the Write Thing Challenge! The Challenge gives middle school students an opportunity to examine the impact of violence on their lives and communicate by writing what they think should be done to change our culture of violence. By encouraging students to make personal commitments to do something about violence, the Challenge ultimately seeks to give students an opportunity to break the cycles of violence in their homes, schools and neighborhoods.

 

In their writings, students should be encouraged to describe what they feel are the causes of youth violence and to offer specific suggestions about what they as individuals can do to reduce violence in their homes, schools and neighborhoods. Personal responsibility for responding to the problem of youth violence should be emphasized. Students should be encouraged to share personal experiences about the impact of violence on their lives and the lives of their peers. The panel of judges will be looking at how well students present their views on youth violence.

To participate in the Challenge:

• Students may use any form of written expression (e.g. essays, poems, plays or songs), as long as the language is positive and not derogatory. Students may submit only one entry per year and all entries must be the work of only one student.
• Student entries should address three questions:
  How has violence affected my life?
  What are the causes of youth violence?
  What can I do about youth violence?
  Writings that do not address these questions will not be advanced in the judging process.
• Entries should be approximately 500 to 1,000 words. However, shorter written forms of expression, such as poetry, may be shorter and may contain fewer than 500 words.
• Entries must be typed or written legibly in black ink on 8½" x 11" paper. Only one side of the paper may be used and each page should be numbered.
• Entries must be in English.
• If an entry is fiction, it must be identified as so.
• If the student uses a quotation or another person's material in his or her entry, the entry must identify whose work is being used by citing the person's name or citing the source of the material. Writings based upon plagiarism will not be advanced in the selection process.
• Entries must have a "Cover Sheet" (please contact Mr. Cotton for a Cover Sheet)  with the consent statement signed by the student and a parent or guardian. No personal information should appear on the body of the written entry. Entries without a signed Cover Sheet will not be advanced in the selection process.
• Entries must be submitted with one photocopy of the writing.
• Entries must be submitted in the form that they are received and any editing for content, grammar or spelling by someone other than the student is not permitted.

All entries should be submitted to Mr. Cotton no later than 5:00PM on
Wednesday, February 1, 2012.

 

Selection Criteria

Entries will be reviewed by a panel of judges selected by DC’s Do the Write Thing Committee. Entries will be judged on the basis of content, originality and responsiveness to the three questions.
Grammar and spelling will not be used as criteria for judging the entries.

Classroom Discussion

While classroom discussion is not mandatory for participation in the Challenge, students and their teachers can gain a lot from the connections that can result from the exchanges about the impact of youth violence that occur in pre-writing classroom discussions. Many of the teachers whose classes have participated in the Challenge in the past have invited outside speakers who are knowledgeable about youth violence issues to lead pre-writing discussions. Other teachers have provided their students with selected readings or newspaper articles about violence in advance of the discussion to stimulate thought. Speakers or articles, which emphasize personal responsibility on the part of students for responding to the problem of violence, have proven to be particularly useful.

Below are some questions designed to generate discussion among your students before they prepare their entries for the Challenge:

• How does violence affect your daily lives?
• Where are you confronted by violence? Your home? Your school? Your neighborhood?
• What are some of the causes of youth violence in your community?
• What can you as an individual do to reduce youth violence in your community?