Following Congress Virtually

Students are taught all about the role of Congress in our government. They study Article I of the Constitution and examine the duties and responsibilities of Congress. There are thousands of lesson plans about how a bill becomes a law (and even a famous short cartoon clip!). We present this information to our students, and they absorb it but do they really understand what a member of congress does day in and day out?

Today, with the help of technology (that we know our students use) members of Congress both Representatives and Senators are allowing everyone to get a glimpse into the their day to day activities. Twitter, the hottest Web 2.0 technology to hit the web, has become very popular way for elected officials to stay in constant contact with their constituents. Google’s YouTube has created two special “hubs” for Congress one for the Senate and one for the House of Representatives. These two web based systems, provide a look like never before into the activities of our elected officials.

So what can you do in the classroom with these new tools?

• Using the National Constitution Center’s Citizen Help Desk system located your members of Congress. Check out the list of members who are Twittering and see if you elected official is online? If not you can always just choose a member, or better yet have students work in groups looking at more than one elected official.
• Ask student to follow "Congress" for a couple of days and note the many different task they see members of Congress completing and recording online.
• Students can then locate the Representative or Senators local newspaper and see if what he or she notes is happening on Twitter is being covered in a local media source.