Remembering 9/11

by Mary Ellen Daneels, Instructional Specialist

Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay
On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was preparing to chaperone a field trip of 120 freshmen to Chicago when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. In the hallway, my friend Jim exclaimed, “There has been a terrible plane accident in New York!” We proceeded to walk the students over to the local train station to make the trip into the city.

As the train stopped at our station and students were lined up to board, my department chair screeched into the parking lot and flew open the door to her car. “Get off the train! America is under attack. Get off the train!” There was no field trip that day. Everything changed.

One of my former students is now an administrator in our building. He recalls the confusion and unease in the days that followed and my attempt to create a safe space for students in those troubling times. He mused to me, “I remember that you were calm, but we could tell that you were kind of freaked out too. You answered all our questions and were honest. I felt better.”

Two years ago, Dr. Shawn Healy, the Director of the Democracy Program at the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, reflected on how the echoes of the attacks of September 11, 2001 continue to shape American politics. Shawn concluded, “...the implications of the September 11th attacks remain with us today, and the Trump presidency is a natural culmination of the reaction and counter-reaction to this fateful day.”

The events of 9/11 are history to students in today’s civics classroom. The tension between civil liberties and homeland security, the War on Terror at home and abroad are their “normal.” As we reflect on both the past and present to mourn all our nation lost on that fateful day, here are some classroom resources to support this work.
  • Marking the anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, C-SPAN Classroom has aggregated a number of resources, including oral history and testimonial videos, to help your students learn more about the day and the aftermath of the attacks.
  • The 9/11 Museum and Memorial have commemorative lessons for K-12 classrooms.
  • KQED has a lesson concerning the impacts of 9/11.
  • Teach Hub has several hyperlinks to resources from Scholastic and PBS Education to support instruction.
  • The 9/2 Social Studies Chat tackled the topic of Teaching Rememberance and Significance of 9/11 in which teachers shared their go-to resources to commemorate the day.
How do you mark 9/11 in your classroom? Please comment below. Together, we can prepare ALL students for college, career, and civic life.

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