TEACHING THIS YEAR · 2026–2027
This academic year, I teach U.S. History, AP U.S. Government & Politics, and Journalism at Brimmer and May School.
Explore what my students study, what we do together in class, and how they prepare at home. Start with this year’s courses, then browse the archive to see earlier lessons and assignments.
2026–2027 · CURRENT COURSES
America’s founding promises and contradictions, historical memory, and the choices people made under constraint.
Founding arguments, constitutional choices, and evidence-based civic reasoning—with purposeful AP preparation.
Selected units & activities
I do not post a fixed curriculum here: the student editors run the newsroom, as they should. As adviser to The Gator and GNN, I support their reporting, editing, and editorial decisions.
Reading: Published reporting and student drafts are the focus; there is no fixed reading list posted here.
EARLIER & PERIODIC OFFERINGS
Earlier courses offer another window into the reading, discussion, and writing that shaped my classroom. Dates in these collections belong to their original academic year. I also offer Philosophy of Government and American Judaism and Popular Culture every few years.
Five units of classwork, homework, source analysis, and civic reasoning, from constitutional foundations to civil liberties and civil rights.
Explore the archived course →2025–2026 · ARCHIVESeven units of daily classwork and homework, from the Revolution and enslavement through Reconstruction, World War II, and the Civil Rights Movement.
Explore the archived course →ONE SEMESTER · OFFERED EVERY FEW YEARSWhat makes a government just? A seminar course connecting moral philosophy with constitutional choices, public responsibility, political influence, and the media.
Explore the course & semester plans →OFFERED EVERY FEW YEARSExplore the Jewish roots of superheroes and the ways comics reflect American debates about identity, belonging, race, gender, and power.
Explore the course & assignment sheets →Latin American History · Previous offering. Archived materials are not yet available here.
2026–2027 · OPEN A LESSON
Open a review activity on ChatGPT Sites to practice established learning. How I build these lessons →
Explore the choices and consequences on the road to the American Revolution.
Open on ChatGPT Sites ↗Use with your notes after learning the topic. Works offline; separate from the interactive activity.
Work through the challenges of governing under the Articles of Confederation.
Open on ChatGPT Sites ↗Use with your notes after learning the topic. Works offline; separate from the interactive activity.
Debate constitutional compromises, ratification, and the design of national power.
Open on ChatGPT Sites ↗Use with your notes after learning the topic. Works offline; separate from the interactive activity.
Practice evaluating historical arguments and connecting evidence to an interpretation.
Open on ChatGPT Sites ↗Use with your notes after learning the topic. Works offline; separate from the interactive activity.
Compare competing arguments about a large republic in a source-based team challenge.
Open on ChatGPT Sites ↗Use with your notes after learning the topic. Works offline; separate from the interactive activity.
Explore Marbury v. Madison through a simulation about judicial review and constitutional checks.
Open on ChatGPT Sites ↗Use with your notes after learning the topic. Works offline; separate from the interactive activity.
Decide which features of the Constitution are national, federal, or both.
Open on ChatGPT Sites ↗Use with your notes after learning the topic. Works offline; separate from the interactive activity.
Analyze the case and practice applying constitutional principles to an argument.
Open on ChatGPT Sites ↗Use with your notes after learning the topic. Works offline; separate from the interactive activity.
THE CLASSROOM COMES FIRST
Screens reinforce learning. They never introduce new content.
Students first learn through instruction, printed reading, writing, and face-to-face discussion. Digital activities then help them retrieve, apply, and check what they already understand.
Convenience can bypass the effort learning requires. Students need knowledge of their own before they can evaluate a tool’s output.
“Use tech after mastery, not for introduction.”
— David Cutler, Edutopia
“Always work down with tech.”
— Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath, quoted in my Edutopia article
As I explain in the Edutopia article:
MY APPROACH TO AI
I put substantial time and care into designing these lessons, often starting with my own existing materials. I “vibe-code” with ChatGPT: I describe what I want an activity to do, then review and revise the code and content it helps produce. I set the teaching goals, check the sources, and remain responsible for what I share.
Transparent with students, always. I explain what I created myself, what I have “AI-ified”—adapted or made interactive with AI assistance—and what I have borrowed from other creators. Using AI does not turn someone else’s work into mine.
“I would never use AI for something I could not do by myself otherwise.”
— David Cutler, Edutopia · October 24, 2025 ↗
In that article, I explain why teacher judgment matters: educators bring knowledge and experience to evaluating AI’s output. Students are still developing those foundations. Having AI do their writing can bypass the reasoning and practice they need. I distinguish explicitly supervised learning activities from using AI to produce students’ work, and explain my own use openly.
My use of AI does not authorize student use: students may not use AI to produce or revise submitted work unless I explicitly permit it for that assignment.
HOW I DESIGN ASSIGNMENT SHEETS
Each assignment sheet gives students a predictable route through the work. Headings and written labels explain the task; color reinforces those distinctions.
ADAPTED EXAMPLE · AP GOVERNMENT
Can a large republic protect liberty?
Work in pairs or trios. Compare the authors’ arguments using the passages, questions, and hints in the team challenge.
Finish the assigned selections and bring annotations for the comparison activity.
Which democratic ideal is most challenged today? Support your answer.
From the September 14 assignment: compare the arguments, prepare with purpose, and support a conclusion.
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