Once blocked, Twitter and other social media become classroom tools:

Once blocked, Twitter and other social media become classroom tools

Mike De Sisti

Wauwatosa West juniors Allie Grabow (left) and Allie Meyer check Meyer’s Twitter update in teacher Chris Lazarski’s American Public Policy class at Wauwatosa West High School. Teachers like Lazarski are finding ways to have students engage on real-world social media platforms, but in an academic capacity.

More learning encouraged in 140-character bites

By Monique Collins and Erin Richards of the Journal Sentinel

Dec. 1, 2013

Taxation, representation and slavery were up for debate recently at Wauwatosa West High School, where juniors engaged in a multi-day, in-class simulation of the first Constitutional Convention in 1787.

With a modern twist.

"I hope that today's debate ends with a decision on how representatives are chosen," Andrew Gleason typed on Twitter.

"More than one executive is not common sense. Only one!" contributed Deon Ellis.

"I have decided to have Ben Franklin run as my VP in 2016," Garrick Gesell punched in.

Teenagers using social media is nothing new. But in-class use of sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube traditionally have been discouraged in most K-12 schools, seen as a distraction from real learning at best and a red-flag privacy concern at worst.

That's starting to change in Wisconsin and elsewhere.

Chris Lazarski, the teacher of the American Public Policy class at Tosa West, persuaded school administration this year to unblock the sites

Monday, December 2, 2013