In the last few years, concepts that we as world history educators have been trying to convey in our classrooms and curriculums have memorably forced their way into our own and our students’ daily lives. This roundtable of MWWHA members will discuss how this has influenced our world history teaching.

The covid pandemic registered as historic and globally connected far beyond our classrooms. Comparisons were made to other historic pandemics and crises, our awareness of global interconnectedness increased, and there was certainly a heightened sense that we were living through a historic event. Similarly, not only political tensions and polarizations in the U.S. have been clear to our students, but they have an increased awareness of the global interconnectedness, not only of geopolitics, but of economics, social, cultural, and environmental factors. In short, students no longer need to be convinced that world history is relevant in their lives; they live in a world where global connectedness is almost an intrinsic part of their lives.

This roundtable includes secondary to college world history teachers who come from training in various regions, such as the U.S., Latin America and the Middle East. We will discuss how has this increased perception of living through a time that registers as historic and connected reshaped our teaching of world history? How have our students’ understandings, questions, and interest in world history shifted as an interconnected world feels more relevant and real to their daily lives? This roundtable of educators will share their initial thoughts on these questions to begin a whole-group discussion. Finally, we will consider how we anticipate that collectively living through this time of historic and global, sometimes abrupt and dramatic, crisis and change could shift the learning and teaching of world history as we look to the future.