Summary of Article

The article, "Speaking Up in Class, Silently, Using Social Media" is an interesting article chronicling the use of social media in the classroom.  Various teachers around the nation are using social media, such as Twitter and Today’s Meet, to have class discussions.  The rationale is that shy students, or students who do not talk much in class, will have an outlet to articulate their thoughts without having to do so orally.  One teacher states, “…social media, once kept outside the school door, can entice students who rarely raise a hand to express themselves via a medium they find as natural as breathing.”  The article goes on to voice the opinion of other students who enjoy this type of discussion.  One student states that the social media in the classroom helps her to understand her peers, she says, “It’s made me see my peers as more intelligent, seeing their thought process and begin to understand them on a deeper level.”

 Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/13/education/13social.html?_r=1&ref=education