This paper discusses the use and benefits of the Current Affairs Journals Assignment in the Introduction to International Relations Class. The assignment provides not only the immediate benefits of relating class material to current events but helps to shape students' interests and to build knowledge in a thematic or regional area that can guide…

From 2012 to 2016, American news headlines were dominated at various times by the killing of black men either stopped by police or presumed to be engaging in suspicious activity, and protests that spread through the Internet social media hashtag #blacklivesmatter. In this piece, the author revisits his time in teaching at an historically black…

This paper focuses on a pedagogical and instructional approach to engaging students in the classroom with the specific activity of a writing prompt, which utilizes a short video about current events and trends coupled with writing and discussion. This strategy allows active student learning in which the students engage, develop critical thinking…