Motivating students to understand the historical process is one of the key tasks of modern school education.The article raises questions about the culture and professional awareness of the history teacher of the 21st century: 1. Why study history? 2. What are the features of studying history at school? School history and historical science — what is their relationship? 3. What should be studied in a school history course? 4. How should history be taught in school? 5. Why are there changes in history teaching? When do they arise? 6. What are the difficulties (difficulties) of modern history teaching? 7. In what way is history education related to the present? 8. How to evaluate historical events? Particular attention is paid to the motivation of students to historical knowledge and its relationship with the motivation of the teacher himself. The personal results of teaching history at school are considered. A look at the design of a modern history lesson using the author's tool — Block-modular lesson constructor is offered. Significant characteristics of a modern effective lesson in history are highlighted: functionality (development of functional literacy of students), consistency (the existence of connections between elements and logic in the sequence of their deployment), proactivity (vision several steps ahead, proactive activity), organicity and adaptability (as opposed to from mechanicalness — restructuring, adjustment and reformatting).

Keywords: professional awareness; motivation; personal results of history education; historical personality; historical knowledge; alternatives in history; lesson planning; assessment.