I love political cartoons.  Like this one, recently printed in the Toronto Star.

Cartoons are a great snapshot of the current hot issues in a society.  This one manages to include two: the resurgence of piracy and the economic plight of Detroit.

These can be great talking points for starting discussions about current events.  Sometimes they tie into the curriculum, but more often than not I use them for an opener to familiarize the students with some of the major news stories of the week.

The problem is finding good cartoons.  A couple years back, while student teaching, I found a great resource for that: Time Magazine.

The Time Magazine includes a Cartoon of the Week section.  They collect a eight or nine cartoons from around the nation’s newspapers (and sometimes from outside the nation, like the Canadian cartoon above).  I usually check out the new cartoons every Friday and decide if I want to use any of them in class.

The theme for this week?  Unsurprisingly, most of the cartoons are about the recession with guest appearances by terrorism and Guns ‘n’ Roses.

Here’s one more to ponder.  Then go check out the rest of this week’s cartoons.