While being told what to teach on a particular day is a little annoying to me on a philosophical level, it's really not that big a deal in practical terms. My 8th graders are in the middle of our Constitution Unit at the moment, so they are covered.
After some thought, I decided to address the Constitutional lesson with my 7th graders by showing them the video below, a rap about the life of Alexander Hamilton. Both classes I showed it to begged me to show it again immediately and asked me to post a link to it on our class blog.
It's that good.
Two Other Videos Which, While Not Being QUITE So Awesome, Are Still Pretty Awesome:
This one about the Declaration of Independence:
And this one about William Howard Taft, the 27th President of the United States. (History has not been kind to Taft, who had a truly remarkable career and was, by all accounts a decent and kind man with a razor-sharp intellect. Unfortunately, he was our fattest president and is best remembered today for having once gotten stuck in a bathtub.)