I wonder if anyone is planning any lessons or activities to commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11. I want to do something but I am not sure what exactly. I can't believe it has been 10 years. I was in my methods classes when it happened, just finishing up college and starting teaching. I have to remember that my students were only 5 when it happened. Any ideas would be great.
Hmm I'm not sure for hs. I have the book Fireboat. http://www.amazon.com/Fireboat-Hero...3628/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313770769&sr=8-1 Maybe do something for the firefighters & EMS or vets in your town. Maybe do like an interview thing & have them ask like 5 people where they were & their reactions. Might be interesting to compare people's answers.
Thankfully it falls over a weekend. My classes won't be doing anything particularly related, other than offering some special prayers. It will be a mournful time around here. As a family, each year since 2001 we've brought goodies to the local fire and police stations on Christmas as a thank you.
This year, my kids were toddlers when 9/11 happened. They know nothing about it, so we'll be doing some basic introduction stuff (reading an article about what happened and how people felt). Then we'll be reading about 2 heroes involved in rescue and cleanup. Our first quarter theme is Strong Characters: Heroes, so it ties in nicely.
I always read this: http://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Walke...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313779978&sr=1-1 My 6th graders were toddlers... or babies even, I guess... I think it's good to remember, and the school has a moment of silence after the pledge. . . but we don't dwell on it.
Kind of depends on the grade level of your class....also the community in which you teach. My district is only a few miles from the GW Bridge into NYC. There were family members and friends lost that day. Our police and fire department were among the responders.... What grade and where are you teaching, John Lee?
I was in sixth grade when 9/11 happened. The teachers didn't tell us anything. Found out about it when school was let out that day (at the normal time of 3:20). I believe 4 of my classmates lost parents that day (around 10-12 people in my town lost their lives that day).
One of the teachers in my district created a really great lesson. PM me your email and I'll send it to you if you'd like.
Last week, as part of an introductory lesson on the theme of "Conflict leads to Change," we showed our sixth graders a couple of brief clips from 9/11/01 and gave them a choice for a writing response: a)Interview an adult about his/her memories of that day OR b) Write a proposal of how our middle school should commemorate the 10th anniversary. The students were so excited about this topic, we decided to expand on it -- the L.A. teachers took it up and turned it into "power paragraphs." They are also going to interview teachers on the flip cameras and play bits on the school news all during that week.
How much has conflict led to change? Reflect upon that yourself...they hate us for who we are...that has not changed.
I may be misunderstanding the last two posts, but the conflict has certainly brought about change... I usually cover it each year with a short video summarizing the events, a brief discussion, and a writing prompt. Nothing too involved. I'd like to do more but I haven't been able to fit it in. Still, what I do do I like very much and feel it's important. My students were babies when it happened.
I have 8th, 10th, and 12th graders along with a smattering of 11th graders. I'm not sure what I'll do yet. I teach English so may do a writing prompt as well as some reading. I'll have to ask others what their plans are.
As far as personal opinions, I think it's hard NOT to have a personal opinion on 9/11. However, as others have stated here, a lot of our students were babies when it happened. Pretty soon we'll have kids who weren't even born yet. It's a part of our history and should be taught as such. I teach at a Catholic school and a big push this year is bringing faith into every classroom and putting it at the core of our teaching. I plan to tie my 9/11 lesson into that. I haven't come up with anything specific yet but I think this would be a great lesson to really focus on. I have some kids who were born in '98, which means at most they were toddlers, so they probably have nothing but the vaguest of memories of it. I think it's important to teach them what it was like and who better than the people who lived through it? I sure wish I could have had a WWII vet as my history teacher when we studied WWII!
czacza didn't coin that phrase; its a pretty commonly held opinon on the basis for the conflict between Muslim extremists and Western society: http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson011805.html http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9568 http://www.rawstory.com/exclusives/burke/islamofascism_012205.htm -- I'll just quote the opening of this one for anyone who doesn't feel like following the links: (bold is mine) "A syndicated column appeared last week in the local paper by a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Victor Hanson, titled, “They hate us for who we are, not what we do.” While I do not take up keyboard to joust with every bit of noisome effluvia I read, I want to deconstruct this one because our President repeats this canard ad nauseum and sans reasoning, " Also, maybe geography plays a part here. I know that people all over the world were horrified watching the events of 9/11 on TV. But some of us smelt it, saw it, worried about loved ones. I spent an hour of the phone trying to track down my brother in law; he had done electrical work at the World Trade Center a week before. My nephew still has his ID from work he had done there a few months prior. Every time the phone rang for those first few days, I worried that it would be bad news. I spent 9/12/01 with a friend who had run down 30 flights of stairs and gotten out of the World Trade Center then walked, covered in soot and heaven knows what, over the bridge to Brooklyn. She lost a number of colleagues that day. I passed innumerable funerals in the weeks that followed. Every single year we have kids absent on that day because they're at Ground Zero commenorating the loss of a brother or sister or father. I cried every single day for months afterward as Newsday published one obituary after another. I had to explain to my three year old son why we were raiding the pantry for supplies for the first responders, and I cried again when he suggested we contribute his favorite snack for the firemen who were working on the big fire in the city. For some of us, 9/11 isn't another day to teach about; it's visceral.
I will probably read 14 Cows for America as a read aloud. Starred Review. Grade 2–5—Kimeli Naiyomah returned home to his Maasai village from New York City with news of 9/11 terrorist attacks. His story prompted the villagers to give a heartfelt gift to help America heal. Deedy and Gonzalez bring Naiyomah's story to life with pithy prose and vibrant illustrations. Each block of text consists of a few short, elegant sentences: "A child asks if he has brought any stories. Kimeli nods. He has brought with him one story. It has burned a hole in his heart." The suspenseful pace is especially striking when surrounded by Gonzalez's exquisite colored pencil and pastel illustrations. The colors of Kenya explode off the page: rich blues, flaming oranges, fire-engine reds, and chocolate browns. Full-page spreads depict the Maasai people and their land so realistically as to be nearly lifelike. Gonzalez manages to break the fourth wall and draw readers in as real-time observers. I have multiple students who are refuges from Africa so I think it is a nice way to address 9/11 in my class. Also, I can not read it without tearing due to my memories of 9/11 so it helps with teaching how to make connections with a book.
It is such an important event in our nation's history... and as Alice mentioned it is very real, horrifying memory for some. I would like to do something with my kids but none of mine were even born when this happened. For the younger kids is it better to focus on the heroes and that there are more good people than bad like czacza suggested?
Alice speaks the truth. 9/11 and that week is full of rather vivid memories. I remember that September 11th, 2001 was a Tuesday. As soon as I got home, my mom turned on the news and explained to us what was happening. She did not know when my dad would get home, as all buses in and out of the city were shut down, due to fears of another attack. (I believe eventually he got home via a ferry that was providing free transportation back to NJ). I remember seeing WTC 7 collapse at 5:20 PM. I do not know why I remember the exact time, but I do. 9/11 is my generation's Kennedy Assassination: Everyone remembers where they were when they heard the horrible news.
September 11, 2001 was the second day of my first contract job. I remember the school secretary coming into my little "office" in the back of the library asking if I had a radio; that radio was on in the office all day and many of us gathered there whenever we had a moment. Many parents came to pick up their children from school during the course of the morning (there were rumours of Toronto also being a target) and many more students left at lunch time and didn't return. Even geographically removed, it was a terrifying day and one that should not pass without remembering.
I would. Obviously it's a day that has a lot of meaning to me. But I think we have to keep all our lessons appropriate to the age of the kids we're teaching. Giving a 5 year old nightmares over the realilties of that day won't accomplish anything. So, yes, for young kids I think the most appropriate lessson we can teach is of the many heros who worked so tirelessly that day and in the months that followed.
I think that it's very important to educate children on what happened on that day. Of course, you have to make it age appropriate although kids at that time weren't really allowed that. I think that some of how people felt after that day should be remembered too. Where I live, I can't tell you how many flags that I saw in the next few weeks. Even with something that terrible happening, there was still great pride in our country because of all of the brave people on that day. There are countless stories of courageous individuals from 9-11. These people should be remembered! Unfortunately, I have subbed in several schools where older elementary students were somewhat misinformed on the events that happened. In fact, I had one student that made a joke about it. I was absolutely appalled! I think that sometimes in our concern over making it age appropriate, it doesn't become as serious to them. No one that was old enought to know what was going on during that day would treat it so lightly.
9/11 is a day that marked all of our lives forever. All of us remember where we were and what we were doing. This thread was started to get ideas of how to bring that to the classroom. It wasn't started to hold a personal debate. If that's your goald, please do it elsewhere. Let's stay on track and discuss ideas on lessons and activities to use in the classroom. My 4th graders weren't even alive for 9/11. That blows me away. I'm working with the instructional coach at our school to create some lesson plans/activities for our school, but we haven't decided for sure.
I agree. I teach kinder. These have no idea about it and therefore I do something upbeat about our wonderful country. It is a sad day for me. With my own kids (one was 4, one was 2, one was 1 on 9/11) I do teach them about it and we remember every year - but that is in my home. I do believe it is an appropriate subject in high school - even if those kids don't remember.
There is a really good BrainPop video about 9/11. It has been updated to include the death of Bin Laden. It's aimed for older students, obviously. I am not sure if there is an equivalent video on BrainPop Jr.
I just ordered the video CNN Remembers: An American Tribute. I teach high school journalism, so we'll look at it from the angle of being a news reporter that day and dealing with the emotional breaking news.
I saw the new USA Today at the store the other day... The entire issue is dedicated to 9/11. There are pictures, stories from survivors, it is really really neat. I think it would be a great thing to bring in for some older kids, it was really interesting and I may go back and buy it. It had a lot of great information and pictures
AZMRs.S - I might have to try and track that down! I don't even know where to get one around here, though. =(
I assume you know about this site? The September 11th Television Archive. It starts at 8:31 for the big four networks, then 8:34 for BBC, and 8:48 AM for CNN on Tuesday, September 11th, 2001. You see them talking about normal things, having just a normal show and then everything changes. http://www.archive.org/details/sept_11_tv_archive
This is fascinating! I was watching CNN that morning, so it's interesting to go back and watch the network coverage. Also, I was at work setting up emergency phone banks and cots for students who didn't want to sleep in their tall dorm buildings, and coordinating with various ministers and counselors on campus, so I didn't really get to process everything live as it happened. I worked for 72 hours straight starting at 10:00 that morning. I will definitely share this link with the journalism teacher at my school.
I don't think I'll be doing anything special for 9/11 in my classroom. I don't see all of my students on the Friday before or the Monday after 9/11. And I teach science-- I haven't found anything or thought of anything that would be useful. I was a junior in high school when 9/11 happened and I lived about an hour away from NYC at the time. I saw my classmates trying to call their parents, relatives, and friends who worked in the towers and it was a horrifying day for us to live through. And to be honest: I'm simply not comfortable talking to people about it--adults or kids-- yet. I know that two of my students lost one of their parents in it and I don't want to break down in tears in front of them: that's the last thing they need. So I'm hoping nobody brings it up in my classroom but if they do, hopefully, we can have a sensitive time about it.
Mrs. Q- I saw it at the local grocery store. But you may be able to go to their website and order a copy there
