There are several good things in
this article I read in the USA Today and I think they're whorth mentioning.
Students Join GOP Debate Via YouTube
Nebraska teacher encourages his class to submit questions to the candidates for debate Wednesday
When eight Republican presidential candidates meet Wednesday to answer questions coming from citizen videos, the audience will include political activists, local VIPs and Ray Keller, a Nebraska teacher.
Keller, 36, got his coveted ticket to the St. Petersburg, Fla., event because executives of YouTube, co-sponsor with CNN of the debate, see him as an exemplar of what they hoped to achieve with the forum's innovative citizen-driven format.
According to Steve Grove, head of news and politics at YouTube, Keller is among scores of teachers who have encouraged students to submit questions to the candidates via the online video-uploading service. The student questioners run the gamut "all the way from middle school to graduate school," Grove said. One entry is from a class of Harvard University medical students.
The student questions helped fuel a big surge of interest in the debate, which drew nearly 5,000 video questions by Sunday's deadline, CNN spokeswoman Edie Emery said. That's up from approximately 3,000 submissions for the Democratic debate in July.
Keller, who teaches government at Papillon-LaVista South High School in suburban Omaha, said that debate gave him the inspiration to use the GOP sequel as a project for his 120 students. "I thought, man, that's a really cool way to get kids interested," he said.
He said he proposed making GOP debate videos on the students' first day back at school and "it really sparked their interest." The students are juniors and seniors, and Keller estimates that at least 30% will be old enough to vote in next year's election.
The students' enthusiasm for the participatory video format is in contrast to the initial reaction from some in the GOP political establishment, who were cool to one of the clips used in the Democratic debate. That clip featured an animated snowman who asked a question about global warming.
"I think the presidency ought to be held at a higher level than having to answer questions from a snowman," Mitt Romney told the New Hampshire Union Leader.
Romney plans to participate tomorrow. His campaign spokesman, Kevin Madden, said scheduling issues were the only reason his appearance was ever in doubt.
David Bohrman, CNN's executive producer of the presidential debates, said candidates are "a little out of their comfort zone when it comes to this debate." Organizers, who plan to come up with a list of about 80 potential questions, promised the candidates that the selected videos "would be respectful," Bohrman said. There were 39 questions asked during the Democratic debate.
Still, organizers aren't ruling out the offbeat.
"We did not promise there wouldn't be a snowman or some sort of non-human character," Bohrman said.
Keller's students, working in teams of three, submitted 39 questions for the candidates. One group appeared on the school stage to ask a question about the future of arts programs in schools, Keller said. Several cheerleaders dressed in uniform to ask a question about combating obesity.
This is really great, actually. I see creativity, interest and a general understanding (or at least a wish *to* understand) the issues. Plus, who would of though kids these days would like Republicans, what with all those liberal TV shows and liberal teachers
.
But there's something else that cought my eye:
Continued...
The students have engaged in a lively discussion about their questions and politics on a class blog. The newfangled technology turns out to have had a salutary effect on good old-fashioned grammatical skills. "Their spelling gets better and better the more they post," Keller said. "Peer pressure makes them proofread."
Keller's students will be watching the debate -- and exchanging blog postings with their teacher -- at a high-tech center run by their school district. "They're very excited," Keller said.
That's exactly what debate organizers hoped would happen when they opened the floor to citizen videos. "This is their first taste of political action," Grove said of the student questioners. "We hope it will keep them in the battle, certainly for the fall, but hopefully for the rest of their lives."
*MY* spelling (while still horendous) has gotten a lot better since I've been part of IAP, not to mention my vocabulary and my writing over all. This teacher is doing a fine job. Shame I didn't have one like this
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