You've hit the nail on the head, ed. History class is easily one of the hardest to teach, simple because it's so easy to do wrong. I read recently about this history teacher who did it so right that I fell in love with him a little. He set his class a challenge; pick your favourite person in American history, and explain to the class why they were awesome. The students would argue in favour of their person and try to convince the class theirs is best, then the class would vote on which one they liked most. The next week, or month, the students would make another argument in favour of their subject, but it would have to be with all new information about them. It really was a brilliant idea, because these students became really invested in these people. They had the liberty to choose who to represent, which ensured that they were genuinely invested in the subject.