BC and AD. Or BCE and CE. Which one do you use? Does it really matter? Does the textbook use one way and you use the other? How about primary documents or DBQ’s on standardized tests? Will they use a different one from what you taught all year?

So many questions, so many opinions.

Not that it really matters but I personally will not adopt the new method because no matter how much you try to remove religion from dates, the entire concept of the calendar is religious and we follow the Gregorian calendar – a calendar designed by the Catholic Church.

But when I taught, I had to teach both. I had to make sure students knew what both meant. When I taught, the textbook was old and published before they began using BCE and CE. All of the practice exams for the big exam at the end of the year was mixed. The questions would use BCE/CE but the primary documents and DBQ’s used BC and AD.

I’m a historian, however. Understanding the concept of BC and AD (or BCE and CE) is easy for me. I can easily switch back and forth whereas people not familiar with history or for those who could care less it isn’t as easy.

This means students need help. I’ve created a poster for your classroom that will make sure your students have a visual that makes the conversion easy.

This is actually what the poster looks like.

The poster can be sent to any printer. You choose the size. You choose the finish. I recommend laminating for longevity. But the cost of the finished product is entirely up to you.

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