While it is important for students to learn about economic concepts, it is more important for them to develop an economic way of thinking. Economics offers insights about how human beings behave in a world that has scarce resources, each of which have many uses. Economics is about problem solving to deal with these sorts of situations. To this end, you should stress the importance of observing and theorizing. Explain that policymakers go through this sort of process in the real world.
Graphs are useful to understand many concepts in economics. Economists use graphs to show changes in a dynamic economy. For instance, the concepts of supply and demand are depicted using graphs. These show what happens to supply or demand of a particular product as its market price goes up or down. Help students similarly visualize other concepts that you introduce them to. Give them exercises that involve use of graphs to develop their understanding of concepts.
In addition to teaching economics concepts, teachers could provide additional stimulus in the form of input from the real world. One way to do this is to read periodicals and newspapers that provide information on economic issues in the real world. The classroom could engage in a discussion of the issues. There are also books, such as "Nickel and Dimed" and "Fast Food Nation," that deal with specific economics-related situations in the real world and could be used as topics for discussion.
The National Council on Economic Education offers textbooks that are useful to AP economics teachers. The NCEE, an organization whose goal is to advance economic literacy in school children, has textbooks that provide activity-based lessons that could provide a supplement to the concepts you teach in class. NCEE also provides input on activities that involve role-playing, group activities and classroom demonstrations. The textbooks may also come with a resource manual for teachers.