APWH / MISSION CONTROL AP World History: Modern
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Breaking History: connect it to the course Current events · discuss & analyze

Americans vote in the midterm elections one week from today.

On November 3, voters choose all 435 members of the U.S. House, 35 senators (including special elections in Florida and Ohio), and governors in 36 states. Midterms fall halfway through a president’s four-year term, and early voting is already underway in many states, including Ohio.

Republicans now hold narrow majorities in both chambers: 218 to 214 in the House, with two seats vacant, and 53 to 47 in the Senate, counting two independents who vote with Democrats. Surveys show the cost of living, including gas, housing, and health care, is voters’ top concern.

Microsoft offers voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees.

On October 26, Microsoft offered exit packages to selected teams in the U.S., Canada, India, and the U.K., about a quarter of its roughly 223,000 workers. Employees have until early December to decide, and those who accept leave at the end of the year with pay tied to years worked, health care, and career help.

Microsoft says the move will help control costs while it spends heavily on artificial intelligence. It follows a July cut of about 4,800 jobs and an earlier voluntary retirement offer; the company expects fewer people to take this round.

Colorado’s glaciers thinned sharply in 2026.

Andrews Glacier in the Rocky Mountains lost more than 12 feet of thickness in one year, Arapaho Glacier nearly 10 feet, and Isabelle Glacier about 6.5 feet, the Associated Press reported on October 27. Glaciologist Dan McGrath of Colorado State University says that is double their rate over the previous five years.

Scientists tie the loss to the state’s worst snowpack on record followed by record summer heat. St. Mary’s Glacier, a permanent snowfield popular with hikers, melted away completely in September, and McGrath says the remaining glaciers may not last much longer.

Jay-Z will headline the 2027 Super Bowl halftime show.

On October 26, the NFL, Apple Music, and Roc Nation announced that Jay-Z will perform at Super Bowl LXI on February 14, 2027, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. The show comes 30 years after his first album, Reasonable Doubt.

Since 2019, Jay-Z’s company, Roc Nation, has worked with the NFL to choose and produce halftime performers. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said he had long asked Jay-Z to take the stage himself when the time felt right; no guest performers have been confirmed.

Israelis vote in an election seen as a judgment on Netanyahu’s wartime leadership.

Israelis voted on October 27, with early turnout the fastest since 1981, according to the Central Elections Committee. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud, Israel’s longest-serving leader, faces former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, and polls showed a close race for the 120-seat Knesset.

A central issue is accountability for the security failures of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack and the war that followed. Opposition parties promise a national commission of inquiry; Netanyahu has said a special commission is needed but only after the war ends. Forming a coalition could take weeks.

Americans are spending less time socializing.

The federal American Time Use Survey found that on an average day in 2025, 30 percent of Americans spent time socializing and communicating, down from 38 percent in 2015, and the average time fell from 41 to 35 minutes. Time spent on games and computers rose from 25 to 37 minutes.

A Data for Progress poll compared answers in 2026 to a 1995 survey: the share who entertained at home in the past year fell from 88 to 67 percent, and club meetings from 45 to 26 percent. The authors caution that the two surveys used different methods, so the numbers show a trend rather than exact change.

A Ramaswamy ad draws a response from alumni of his Cincinnati high school.

In Ohio’s race for governor, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign released a video on October 19 in which Democrat Amy Acton’s estranged mother calls Acton a liar; Acton has spoken publicly about a childhood she says included abuse and homelessness. Ramaswamy says the ad is “about lying,” not abuse, and his campaign is spending $4 million on it, while Acton, her brother, and Republican Governor Mike DeWine have called for it to come down.

Alumni of St. Xavier High School, where Ramaswamy graduated, started a petition with about 2,900 signatures asking him to pull the ad and apologize, citing the school’s Jesuit motto, “Men for Others.” The petition says it speaks for alumni only, since the school, as a nonprofit, cannot comment on candidates. The election is November 3.

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About the teacherMeet Mr. TivinRead more ↓Hide ↑
Mr. Eli Tivin, AP World History teacher
Eli Tivin · LinkedIn →
AP World History: Modern · Archbishop Moeller High School
My philosophy

My philosophy of teaching centers around many of the teachings of John Dewey. That education is not the preparation for life, but education is life itself.

I believe real social studies education comes to fruition when students are becoming reflective decision makers and active citizens in our multicultural, pluralistic democracy.

Our Class

Our class is a place of educational inquiry and prejudice reduction. Each of you enters with notions about history, economics, culture, connections, governance, etc. This space is designed to explore them critically and historically, with relevance today. I am about having humor, energy, and engagement in the classroom. Discussion and conversation will be consistent, and high engagement is to be expected between everyone in the class. We are to approach all these topics with curiosity and conversation as we should approach our current lives when learning and making connections. If you have a question, issue, complaint, complication, confusion, or frustration; just ask and talk to me about it and I am sure we will reach a solution.

Our Question

Our course is centered around normative, value-based questions and through answering these, we will engage with the many disciplines within modern world history. The course is structured around the main question:

How does learning about the past help us understand and make decisions today?

This is a skill-based class over a content-based class. We use content of the course to help us practice the necessary skills to excel in the course.

Email Mr. Tivin → Want to meet with me? Send me an email. I am available everyday before school at 6:50 a.m.
Course syllabus · 2026–2027AP World History: Modern SyllabusView syllabus ↓Hide syllabus ↑
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“Past events cannot be separated from the living present and retain meaning. The true starting point of history is always some present situation with its problems.”John Dewey
“If you cannot write well, you cannot think well; if you cannot think well, others will do your thinking for you.”Oscar Wilde

Progress is read from this device’s local storage and never leaves it. News sources: Associated Press, Reuters, NPR, PBS NewsHour, CNBC, Axios, Al Jazeera, Variety, Ohio Capital Journal, WOSU, The Cincinnati Enquirer, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Data for Progress, Oct. 19–27, 2026.