Phew! Exhausting day. I just taught the whole Global War on Terror in one class period!

[Bucky]

I just dumbed down the GWOT into a 57 minute lecture. You're not supposed to just lecture students (especially not 10th graders!) but for some reason today's lesson kept them captivated. Here's the vocabulary for today's lesson...

1. Al-Qaeda
2. Osama bin Laden
3. Taliban
4. WMDs

1998-2000
5. Operation Desert Fox
6. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania
7. Operation Infinite Reach
8. USS Cole bombing

2001-2002
9. September 11th Attack
10. Operation Enduring Freedom
11. Guantánamo Bay, Cuba
12. 2002 Bali bombing

2003-present
13. Operation Iraqi Freedom
14. Abu Ghraib
15. Al-Qaeda in Iraq

Map Locations
16. Philippines
17. Indonesia
18. Afghanistan
19. Iraq
20. Iran
21. Yemen
22. Madrid, Spain
23. London, UK

Just time for the very basics, obviously. What a wrenching day!

[monmouth]

1. I had a great teacher like you back in the day and at my 50th class reunion

he came as a guest. He got more attention than anyone, old students recalling to him some of his better lectures, etc. Believe me, that sounds like it was a great class and they will remember. Good on you...

[flor de jasmim]

2. And so nice to hear they are learning CURRENT history!

I graduated from HS in the early 70s and in our history classes we never got beyond WWII. (I had to take an elective to learn something about Vietnam!)

[LibDemAlways]

5. My daughter, who is currently in the 9th grade, had

US History in grades 5 and 8 and both times only the period through the Civil War was covered. She's due for the course again in 11th grade, and guess what? She gets to once again learn about the early explorers, founding fathers, manifest destiny and civil war. There is no mention of anything in the 20th century, never mind the 21st. It's a horrible shame.

In 9th grade there is no history taught at all. In its place the kids have a semester of geography and a semester of health. Next year is World History, a rehash of 6th and 7th grade social studies - that again doesn't get anywhere near modern times in terms of the material covered. Kids in California learn next to nothing about recent history in school - at least that's been her experience.

[lyonn]

3. You deserve a big bonus! Those kids will now have a clue....

Houston? Is that a very red area? Was there a lot of participation? I too had a teacher during the McCarthy period (7th grade) who explained what those hearings were really about, such as, how do prove you didn't do or say something that the govt. has accused you of.

[annabanana]

4. You must have talked really really fast!

That is a lot of ground to cover. The curriculum is too tight to be able to grab even one more day?

[Bucky]

6. Yes and Nope. The next three weeks are prep for the standardized tests

No Child Left Unbored.