Chapter 10 of Loewen's book has been my favorite so far. My favorite thing to teach is current affairs and I believe my students that I have taught in my placements enjoy it just as much as I do. Once again time is not on our side, and it is difficult to plan time to spend on current affairs when the past is taking up the most time.
One frustration I have always had is the amount of time we spend on certain areas of history, that most of the time my history classes have stopped before the 1950s. Coming to college my weakest area of history was the 1950s-1990s. In my AP US class so much emphasis was spent prior to these years that we sprinted to 1990. Curriculum coordinators and teachers need to work together to make a more organized school year, so everything can fit. Of course some events/eras in history have a lot more detail than others, but there has to be a way to make the school year more efficient.
Out of date textbooks were the other topic of discussion. I've never had to deal with this problem, because in all of my history textbooks we have never really made it to the end. Textbooks that are the newest edition are also extremely expensive and most schools can not afford these up to date texts.
One way I plan to bring current affairs into my classroom is playing CNN Student News on a regular basis for my students.
What are other great ways to incorporate the "present history" into daily/weekly plans?
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