Current Events In Your Classroom
Teaching Ideas, Activities, and Strategies for High School and Middle School Students
Teaching current events can be challenging: the news cycle moves quickly, the issues can spark strong feelings, and classroom time is tight. Yet engaging with current events is an essential part of educating young people to be informed and humane participants in a democracy.
In this Teaching Idea, students learn about the history of democratic and anti-democratic efforts in the United States and examine sources that illuminate this tension from Reconstruction through today
This Teaching Idea guides students to use an iceberg diagram to synthesize the events of January 6, 2021, and outline the complex array of causes at work.
This Teaching Idea is designed to help guide an initial classroom reflection on the insurrection at the US Capitol that occurred on January 6, 2021.
What is a Teaching Idea?
Our Teaching Ideas help you address specific events and issues in the news. With a variety of accessible resources and engaging teaching strategies, they can be used for all or part of a class period.
What is an Explainer?
Our printable “Explainers” introduce key terms and ideas that are essential to understanding today’s news. View our latest explainers.
Going Deeper
Sign up below for our biweekly current events emails to receive links to additional videos, readings, historical sources and lessons to enrich your teaching of current events and connect to your curriculum.