X. ENCOURAGING STUDENTS TO READ THE WINNING OP-EDS
AND SUPPORT THOSE THEY AGREE WITH

1. Why This is Important: STUDENTS ARE ENCOURAGED TO SIGN THEIR NAMES TO VARIOUS WINNING OP-EDS AS AN AFFIRMATION OF SUPPORT. Students, however, are NOT required to sign an Op-Ed. It is their personal option. ALL THAT IS ASKED IS THAT THE STUDENTS READ THREE OR MORE OF THE WINNING OP-EDS AND SEE IF THERE ARE ANY THEY ARE WILLING TO SUPPORT.

2. Teachers can see if students actually read any of the model Op-Eds. Teachers have the ability to see who actually opens up the model (or highest scoring) Op-Eds and who does not. Many teachers emphasize their students should read the model Op-Eds, whether they support them or not, AS A LEARNING EXPERIENCE -- (a) to see how high scoring Op-Eds are written and (b) to reflect on the ideas in the model Op-Eds. Students can now see which students do, and do not, follow through on this valuable experience.

3. How to View the Winning Op-Eds (A Reminder): If you want to see the winning Op-Eds (and if anyone from your school won), simply go to MY ACTION PERIODS, click on the appropriate Action Period and then near the bottom of the page, next to WINNING OP-EDS, click on VIEW. You can see the names of the winners and the number of supporting signatures for each Op-Ed. To see the actual Op-Ed, click on the student’s name. Please Note: Students CANNOT see which schools the winning Op-Eds are from. We previously included the school as well as the student’s name. But we discovered some students were supporting particular Op-Eds because they were from their schools – without reading them – and ignoring Op-Eds from other schools. Now students have to judge whether they support an Op-Ed based on the Op-Ed’s content.