In a world that is increasingly connected through social media, educators often incorporate current events into instruction. While this is an important tool for educators to make learning feel relevant and current for students, it also must be done with thought and care. Many curriculum offerings claim to offer educators resources and guidance on integrating complex current events into their classrooms, like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Sometimes these offerings, while claiming to provide…

Educators surveyed in a 2025 RAND study said that after school curricula and U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum materials, YouTube is their most-used supplement for teaching the Holocaust and related Jewish topics. Although its videos are free and visually engaging, their quality varies; for example, Vox’s “The Israel-Palestine Conflict: A Brief, Simple History” can appear more reliable than it is. Vox itself is an American news and opinion website that leans towards the…

In recent years, the education landscape has changed dramatically. With the rise of AI platforms like ChatGPT and resource sharing hubs like Teachers Pay Teachers, there are many organizations and resources that claim to offer quality material—often at no cost.  The rise of these platforms coincides with a change in trends for educators. According to a report from Education Week, the average teacher uses five supplemental resources and two core curricula sources. The report goes on…

There are many benefits of humor. A good joke can ease tension in a stressful situation. Humor can connect people and bring them together. Jokes can bring levity to a situation that begs for lightheartedness. Being funny can signal to others who you are.  Humor can even open a conversation that previously felt closed or off-limits.  However, jokes and humor, when they target social identity groups, can do the opposite. They can make people feel unsafe, disconnected, excluded and…