We all remember 9/11 like it was yesterday. I was ironing my clothes for work, watching TV. I changed the channel because I thought I was watching some bad, made-for-TV movie. It was only after I flipped the channel 3 times that I realized I was watching live coverage. I remember dropping to my knees in tears, too stunned to move. Just a few minutes later the second plane hit.
I was in class during my 2nd period prep getting ready for my next period. A trustworthy student stepped in and said NY had been bombed. I didn't believe what he was saying because this seemed just like the type of trick a student would play. He insisted and turned on the TV which I never used. There it was, horribly true. School ended for the day but the students went from period to period watching the channel one TVs broadcast the news. I had students draw/paint/collage reactions for the next week. I think these works were some of there best efforts.
I was teaching class. My room was at the front of the building. I noticed several parents rushing in to get their children I stepped out in the hall and asked one of my mothers what was happening. She said "we are at war, Mrs. M. My husband wants the kids home." I walked into the office and the tv was on. I remember the feeling that the world was about to change.
I was teaching kindergarten. We were told to lock our doors. I knew something was up, but not exactly what until lunch time. A few parents picked up their kids early. We were encouraged to leave as soon as we could to get home to our families. The next day was more of the same, as there was a bomb threat at the federal building in the same town.
I was a senior in high school. I was making my bed in the morning before going to school when I heard the news on the radio. We had a TV on all day in the office so people could watch news updates.
I remember I was reading to a few students when one of the aides came running into the classroom. He had been on his break so he had heard from someone what happened. He was yelling and waving his arms. We had no idea what he was talking about. He was known to make mountains out of molehills so we weren't sure if he was telling the truth. Someone turned on the radio and waited for the news to come on. Then, around 2:30 I was able to get to a tv to see what was going on. I was dating someone in the military at the time so I was quite nervous as to what would happen.
I was working at a small bank with no working television. One of our regular customers came running in as we opened and yelled for us to turn on the local news radio station. My mind couldn't fathom the news, convinced it was a small recreational plane that had gotten off-course. Just the week before, someone had accidentally parachuted onto the Statue of Liberty, so I thought it was more of the same. I called my father at his classroom and asked him to turn on his television in the school TV studio. Within 90 seconds, the second plane hit. I don't think I've ever heard his voice that shaky, not even when his mother passed away. It was then that the size of the planes was impressed on my mind. We kept an ear to the radio while we tried to get through the work day. It was very quiet and somber. Mid-morning, I made a phone call to our loan officers in Pittsburgh, and the one who answered the phone reported that a plane had crashed near his family farm in Somerset County, and he was sure it was no coincidence. Soon after, we were shut down for the day because everyone at bank headquarters was going home.
Student teaching in a Kindergarten room. No TV a teacher in other K room told us...her fam member worked at Pentagon.
I was a freshman in high school. I was at a before school marching band practice. Our director dismissed freshman early because we had to make it across town, to the junior high for school. As soon as we got into the high school band room, to put our instruments away, the orchestra director came into the room and told us.
I was at the doctor's office. The nurse who was checking my iron levels told me that a small private plane had accidentally hit a building in NYC. A little while later I watched some of the early coverage in the waiting room at the lab while I was waiting to get some bloodwork done. After that I went to work at a Catholic seminary (one of my jobs while I was in college), where all the staff and priests gathered in the faculty lounge and we all just watched TV in silence. It was a sad day. It seemed like the news was just getting worse and worse and worse: from a small private plane to a big commercial plane to several commercial planes and so on. I was very affected by the whole thing. I avoid the news on this date. Based on the 2 minutes I spent on Facebook this morning, I will probably be avoiding my FB newsfeed today as well. I just can't.
I was in the elevator of my college dorm when the first plane hit. I was living in Boston, a college student, majoring in communications, so watching CNN each morning while getting dressed was my normal habit. There was no indication of anything wrong when I turned off the TV, gathered my things, and went in the elevator. I stopped by the dorm office, and they had it on the news where the first plane had hit. I sensed that something bad was happening, so I skipped class and went to work at the student union, where I was part of the crisis management team. I got to the office in time to see the second plane hit. After that, I did not leave work for over 48 hours. We set up long-distance phone banks for students to call home, cots for students who didn't want to sleep in high rise dorms, kept the games room open for students who needed to get their minds off of things, had chaplains and counselors available, etc.
Had just gotten my kids off to school and was getting dressed for school myself. I was attending college in another town about 40 miles away. I was watching ABC news and they had said that a plane had hit one of the towers and there weren't too many details at that point. I continued to get dressed, as I was leaving I saw the second plane hit but it really didn't register until I heard on the radio while I was driving what I saw. When I got school there was only one TV campus at the time in the bookstore. There were tons of people trying to see this one tv. They finally pulled out more TVs. I remember as the first tower was falling the lady next to me burst into tears. As the second tower fell there wasn't a dry eye on campus. We did go to our first classes that morning but were soon released. My husband was taking a class over at the airport at the time and was on complete lockdown until late that night. Spent the next few days glued to the TV.
I was in sixth grade. We were in the same room for the whole day, since we were in an "experimental" sixth grade where they didn't move to another classroom for the entire day (the real reason was that there were only three classes worth of sixth graders at our elementary school, rather than four). Around 9 AM, the principal came and knocked on the door and motioned for our teacher to come out into the hall. She came back in a minute or so later seeming distressed. She pulled down the blinds all the way so we couldn't see outside, as we live about 40 minutes from NYC. She began crying a bit by the time she got to the front of the classroom. We asked her what was wrong. She said that the principal told her that there was a small explosion in New York, but it was nothing to worry about. So the day continued as normal. Except a lot of kids began to get pulled out of class throughout the day without being told why. By the end of the day, there were only like 10 people left in my class including me. I get into my mom's car at 3:30 and the first words out of her mouth were "Don't worry, your dad and uncle are okay." My brother and I were like "What are you talking about?" Then she told us and we went home and watched the news.
I heard about it on the radio on my way to a college class. When I got into the classroom, the TV was already on and we just sat there watching everything unfold on the TV. At 10:00 I had to go to work at a restaurant. We kept it on the news all day. We weren't busy and the few customers that did come in sat where the TV was.
Between the third and fourth traffic lights from my house, listening to the reportage on NPR on the car radio, as I ran late en route to a seminar that was broadcast from the West Coast on a private network. The seminar started late and with a brief summary of what had happened - the host and company owner was a New Yorker, I think - then went on as scheduled partly because full details weren't in yet and no one quite knew how the company could pull the plug.
I was in 7th grade. I was in study hall around noon. The school didn't want us to know but my sh teacher told us anyway.
I was working in an office a few miles away, right over the river in NJ. I had a meeting in midtown Manhattan that morning (which we would never make, obviously) and we were getting ready to leave. We had floor to ceiling windows and a perfect view of the WTC out of the conference room. Somebody saw it out of the window and we all gathered around. A man I worked with was talking to his brother in the south tower and then a little while later he was standing with us when we watched it fall. After that I told my boss I was leaving and I got in my car and raced home. I was 7 months pregnant with my first and I can't fully describe the fear and shock I felt. There were digital signs flashing "State of emergency" on the way home. I got home and turned on my TV just in time to watch the second tower fall. It is not a day I will forget.
I also remember a co-worker crying because a relative of hers worked in the twin towers. She finally got a hold of him on the phone. He missed his train into the city so he never got to work and was safe and sound.
I was at work. Same classroom and grade as now. I learned about it from the teachers who were on planning period when it happened. I also remember being really, really sick. I had been in the hospital three times, and I was still feeling really bad. I got home and laid on the couch all night watching television coverage.
It was the second day of my first permanent (contract) position. I was sitting in the little office I used at the back of the library and the secretary came in to see if I had a radio and she told me what had happened. We had parents coming in all day to pick up their children and take them home. I felt so helpless (as I know we all did) because I didn't even recognize most of the students who were dealing with rumours of what was happening.
I was in my first year of college. I had an early class, and I didn't hear until I was on my way home. At the time my parents were in Niagara Falls and I was babysitting my sister (she was in 6th or 7th grade). My parents couldn't get back into the country because they closed the borders. It was pretty scary!
I was a senior in high school. They announced it over the P.A. but I didn't think it was a commercial plane at first. TVs were on for a little in some classrooms but not in the classes I was in and then the principal had them all turned off. Info was getting out and being passed in the hallways during class changes. It was awful hearing how the towers collapsed from students passing by. I remember being really distressed all day long and it frustrated me that my last period teacher taught like nothing was wrong. I understand now that she probably was told to just go about like usual and was probably having a hard time, but at the time I was feeling like the country was at war and all we were doing was discussing something really unimportant. When I got home, I put on the TV and it was insane the images that I saw. Watched TV the rest of the night. Just a terrible day and even 12 years later recalling it, it is emotional thinking of it.
My experience was almost identical to yours. I was wrapping up teaching my 2nd period class, and went into the hallway as students were passing to 3rd period. One of my students asked me if I heard about the two planes that just flew into the Twin Towers, and I thought she was leading up to a joke because it sounded so ridiculous to me. When she insisted I turned on the TV, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw what was happening. I went to a neighboring teacher's classroom to tell him what had happened. My next two classes came in and watched the news, and then we had an early dismissal after that.
I was teaching in the classroom next door to where I taught today teaching chemistry like I was today. Our assistant principal came on the loudspeaker and told all teachers to turn on the TV because there had been a bombing in New York. I can actually see the faces of the kids that were in that class that day. One tagged me in a Facebook post today remembering where she was that day.
I was in 9th grade math class (as a student) and did not understand what everyone was talking about because I had never heard of the World Trade Centre before. Then they turned on the TV in the classroom and we watched that instead of doing math.
I was teaching third grade. We kept the news from them for most of the day but the kids knew something was up. We got the go-ahead to tell the kids late in the day. That was a hard thing to do. I can still see their little faces. They were scared the school was going to be attacked.
Had just arrived at work and turned on the t.v. shortly after...saw the photos and felt confused and scared, shared the info. with other teacher...we had to be careful to not let the little ones see it though.
I was working at a school, and I was running late. I had GMA on, and happened to catch the blurb about the first plane, which they initially reported as a small private plane. I started listening, because my husband had recently gotten his pilot's license. As I watched, the second plane hit. I remember letting out a cry, as I knew it meant war at that point. I could only think about my 7-month old daughter, and how she would never know a world that wasn't at war. I always walked to school, so I came running up the hill and my superintendent was standing outside with the guidance counselor. They started giving me a bad time for being late, but I interrupted to tell them something horrible was happening. They rushed inside and found a TV, and we watched it intermittently all day. I remember it seemed like every time you went back to the lounge, something worse had happened.
I was at work. My boss's wife called him and told him what was happening. We all gathered in the waiting room and watched in absolute horror and disbelief at not only what had already happened, but when the second plane crashed. We honestly couldn't believe what was happening. It was so scary and sad that I cried. We watched a short video on the History Channel and talked about it today. It gave me chill bumps and a lump in my throat. Side note - and this might just be in my area, but it's like each year that passes less and less is done in remembrance. Beth
I started the day out by calling my sister in Orange Co CA to wish her a happy birthday I was ready to give her getting old grief. She was in tears and told me to turn on the TV. we watched the second plane hit. I almost was late to school because I was so shocked by what I was seeing on the TV. Since it happened before school started kids were coming to school concerned about it. I threw out my daily lesson plans out and I taught a full lesson on the WTC. So I used the internet to show my classes where the WTC was where my dad worked (near by) and watched from his corner office and had kept me apprized of the progress of the building of the World Trade Center during my High School years. I had taken many trips into the city to see it. I showed how close my dad worked to it How close I live to it. The assistant Principal came through my class and stopped a few minutes, she had been talking to all the classes about what was going on. She later told me that I was the last class she needed to go to and I was doing a good job so she didm't have to say anything. She later acknowledged me at the next facility meeting and gave me an award for my lesson on the WTC.
I was teaching fourth grade. The principal sent the custodian around to tell all of us not to turn on the TV, but to get to the office when we could. We live near a major base and my husband works there; it was a scary day. A lot of students were picked up by their parents.
I was sleeping but awoke to my landlord who had planned to come in and do an inspection that morning. He was saying, ¨Have you seen the news? Turn on the news. A plane flew into one of the twin towers at the WTC.¨ I turned it on and we witnessed the second plane flying into the second tower. I had the day off and later went to my mom and dad´s home and we watched the news all afternoon. Yes, I remember it so vividly.
Don't remember exactly, but I think I was subbing that day & heard about it on the news when I got home from work that day. I had begun my dual teaching credential program several months prior.
My youngest was in 1st grade, so I was getting back into subbing. I had scheduled my physical for that day, so spent the morning at the clinic. The crashes happened while I was on the way to the appointment. I watched some of the footage from the lobby of the attached hospital.
I was in school. P came around and told all the teachers quietly. My class had computer lab that day...I spent that period on the news websites out of kids' view. dh was driving across GW Bridge when it happened...he was on phone and someone told him what was happening...by the time he got over bridge he could see smoke.
I was getting ready for work and my neighbor called. I was working as a sign language interpreter. The cafeteria was very quiet that day, the kids were very subdued. It was eerie to watch the older Deaf students tell the younger ones what happened. These kids were not very intuned to the hearing world and very rarely watched the news so it was startling .
I was a senior in high school and was driving to school when I heard that the first plane hit on the radio. Although, there was little information on the radio, and they had sounded as if it was an accident, so I didn't think anything of it. In fact, I remember thinking, "what idiot would hit a building with a plane...kinda hard to miss!!" Then I heard that a second plane had hit and realized that something more had to be going on. By the time we were in first period it was all over the news! It was a very somber day. Everyone was glued to the TV in EVERY class. It almost made me sick to watch it over and over and over again with no new information coming out. This event is actually what started my dislike of the media. I can't stand it that they take events like this and roll the same footage all day. Reporting the same stuff, giving wrong information, clarifying that wrong information 5 minutes later, then changing it again. Yes, it's important to report, but it's so overwhelming!
I was a senior in high school in English class. An office aide came to the door and whispered something to my teacher. He turned to us, all color in his face gone. He told us to put down our pencils, we would not be finishing the assignment. (For him to say that was a big deal--we always did a lot of work in his class!) He told us the World Trade Center had been bombed. I remember thinking I had never heard of the World Trade Center. We turned on the news and realized it was a plane instead of a bomb. Literally just a few seconds after we turned on the news, we saw the second plane hit. We watched the news footage in all classes.
Some here might already know, I was in my office. On the 88th floor of Tower 2. I saw the explosion in Tower 1 and some of us made our way out, first going down the stairs to the 78th floor skylobby and then taking the elevator the rest of the way down. Tower 2 was hit while I was outside on the street. Many of my co-workers never made it out. I don't really mind that less is done in remembrance; I expected it. Just so long as something, even minor, is done -- and the day never becomes a day off to have store sales. I do deeply, deeply appreciate teachers who teach about it. Because of my connection with it, I'm not really very comfortable discussing it in much detail with my own children.
