Watching History

This is a great time to be a U.S. History teacher. Its not very often that we get to watch history as it happens but I've been watching both of the conventions and getting more excited every day - election day 2008 will be a truly historical event no matter the outcome.

What's even cooler is that so many of my students have been watching the conventions as well. We've been having some great discussions in class. So much so that we've been cutting into time reserved for other activities. I'm reworking the schedule for some things to allow students to discuss these issues freely.

A new plan I have, and several teachers like it as well, is to have a "teach-in" on election night. We're on our first intercession (break) in November so unless we meet on election night, I won't see my kids until after Thanksgiving to talk about the election. I'm putting some details on the plan and am going to pitch it to the administration in a bit. I think it could be a lot of fun.