SLA Teachers In Education Week

As the Nov. 4 election approaches, Mr. Sherif's students will continue blogging about the issues, and start creating their own campaign ads that promote the candidates' platforms.

Those kinds of activities have gone a long way toward getting students' attention for election-related lessons, said Joshua Block, a humanities teacher at the same school, the Science Leadership Academy. He set up an online discussion group about election issues after his students spent most of one period in a heated debate about the economy and the candidates' plans to address the nation's financial ills.

"I want to make sure they can discuss [the issues] in a sustained manner without getting annoyed, without attacking each other," Mr. Block said.

"Often on these forums you hear from students who don't necessarily speak up in verbal discussions," he said, "but they will when they have a chance to think and compose their ideas online."

They can also continue the discussion far beyond the confines of the classroom, he added. One recent debate, Mr. Block said, continued over the weekend and ended with dozens of online posts from students, some of whom suggested readings and other resources for their classmates.

Tags: sla, ed_week