8 ways teachers are talking about Jan. 6 in their classrooms

Teachers across the country face a daunting challenge this week:

How to talk with students about the anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Discussing it last year, as it happened or the day after, was hard, teachers tell NPR, but this year will likely be harder. Our nation's political divides persist, and polls show Americans still don't agree on basic facts about why a mob overran the Capitol, attacked police and threatened lawmakers.

NPR spoke with a dozen educators and civics experts about how they're handling the anniversary in the classroom.

Don't assume students know what happened

This one may surprise you, but several educators tell NPR they plan to talk about the events of Jan. 6 as if their students know very little about what actually happened. Because many don't.

"We were talking about the burning of Washington, D.C., during the War of 1812," says Kristen Crews, who teaches high school American history outside Winston-Salem, N.C., "and I was kind of surprised at how many kids don't realize or understand what happened a year ago and how serious it was. And I was like, 'No, this is one of those times where history is relevant!' "

Teens get