Dr. David Childs, Ph.D.
Northern Kentucky University
What happened on that day?
On Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001 the al-Qaeda terrorist network successfully executed attacks against the United States using four commercial airplanes. The airplanes were used as missiles to commit suicide bombings on several key buildings in the US. The most damage was done in New York as they completely destroyed the twin towers at the World Trade center. The attacks killed 2,996 people, injured over 6,000 others, and caused at least $10 billion in infrastructure and property damage. The death toll increased even after the initial attacks, as additional people died of cancer and respiratory diseases related to the debris from the destroyed buildings in the months and years following the attacks.
Where were you during 911?
For some, they were wrapping up the third period of seventh grade science class. Others were starting out their morning working at the office when they received “the call.” Still others were starting a routine day on their college campus. But for others, they have no recollection of the events, because they were not even born yet.
Lived Experience or Recent History
These events are for some people a lived experience in recent history and for others a historical event that they read about in history textbooks or learn of the events on an online resource. Many people across the US did not live through the events we know today as 911. Lauren Camera has written an article to this effect in USA Today entitled How to Teach 9/11 to Students With No Memory of It. Because we are in a time period where there are more and more people that do not have a vivid memory or lived experience of that time period, there will be more and more people who honestly do not know what happened unless they are taught information about 911. One of the important aspects of the field of history is that it reminds society of significant past events (Good and bad), events that had such an impact on people’s lives at the time that it would be a travesty for people to forget. September 11 is one of those events in history, that as long as the world exists, we should always remember.
Conclusion
For many, it is obvious why we should remember and continue to make it a part of the collective memory of the United States (Much like the American Civil War or World War II). But a number of today’s young people may sincerely not understand why it is so important. That is why a good social studies education is so essential today, indeed the job of the classroom teacher is evermore critical. In many cases, the first time students will hear about September 11 is from their social studies teacher. Below I have provided lesson plans and resources that teachers can use to teach students about 911 and even get the conversation started.
Lesson Plans and Teacher Resources
Lesson Plans
Lesson Plans- 911 Memorial Museum
Middle School Lesson Plans- 911 Museum
9/11 Lesson Plans- National Education Association (NEA)
9/11 Lesson Plans- Scholastic
9/11 Classroom Activities- Newsweek
9/11 Lesson Plans- Teacher Planet
9/11 Lessons- Education World
9/11 Lessons- Tomorrow Together
9/11 Lesson- Teach Hub.com
9/11 Anniversary Teaching Guide- Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility
Footage/News Clips
Remembering 9/11: Watch Today Show’s live broadcast of Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001
9/11 FOIA Videos: Street-Level Footage, Aerial Shots (Viewer Warning)
Second Plane Hits South Tower
Remembering 9/11 | Archive Footage We Will Never Forget
Articles
Photos: Remembering those lost on 9/11
The Names on the Memorial
How to Teach 9/11 to Students With No Memory of It
The 9/11 Anniversary in the Classroom- PBS News Hour
While America Slept: The True Story of 9/11
References
September 11 Attacks- The History Channel
September 11 Attacks- Encyclopedia Britannica
History of the 9/11 Attacks
Discussion Questions
1. Where were you on September 11, 2001 when the terrorist attacks occurred?
2. Why do you think important events are often so quickly forgotten?
3. View some of the resources provided above (Articles, footage, news reports, images). What thoughts and emotions come to mind as you examine the material?
4. What are creative ways teachers might begin discussion about 911? For those currently teaching in the classroom, what are lessons or activities you have tried that have been effective in teaching about September 11?
On 9/11/2001 I was sitting in the living room playing in front of the tv (according to my parents as I was only 3 at the time). So I have no real time memory of the events but I remember in elementary school seeing the videos and having tears stream down my face. Still to this day I still tear up when I see things like this and as a proud American it make me feel a lot of mixed feelings, like anger towards people who could do this, frustration at our government for letting our guard down like this, and sadness for all those people who lost there lives on that day and people who are still dying of lung disease and cancer and have a government that’s uses them and yet in their time of need turns there back to them. This pisses me off more than anything because no American should ever forget this tragic event and we should take away a hard lesson from this.
On September 11th, I had just turned 2, my uncle had called my mom, and we were at home. This is not an event I remember, and yet the notion that there are people, 17 year old people, who were born after this event, is hard to understand, as if time and life should stop after a horrific event like this one. But it didn’t, and when the next catastrophic event happens, things must eventually go back to normality again. I think many people have to come to terms with the fact that 9/11 is history yet, it is so fresh in the minds of our teachers, our parents, and our leaders that they haven’t quite realized that this next wave coming through, like me, who will be a teacher in only a few short years, have no recollection of the event. 9/11 needs to stop being treated like a collective shared history, because it no longer is, and rather needs to be seen as recent history that must be added to the curriculum, if we, as a human race, intended to remember it. I also think the link provided in the article was interesting, the one titled “how to teach 9/11 to students who don’t remember it” because I’m sure it is very difficult to teach something you have a fresh memory of, or something that you have taught to students who have remembered the event and know do not. Even if it is difficult to do, it is something that must happen and it is vital that this becomes apart of the curriculum so that this event is not forgotten.
I was very young when 9/11 happened. Even though I was only three it’s a day that that is etched in my mind forever. I remember sitting on my living room floor with my parents and a guy that was painting our house. Watching the TV as our house was trembling from the amount of planes coming and going from the air force base that was practically in my backyard. Even though I remember what I was doing the day if the attacks I didn’t realize the severity of it until I learned about it in school, and then I learned even more when I went to NYC my 7th grade year. 9/11 was such a tragic event that changed so many things in our country. The after affects like all the lives lost and changing security laws will always be a remembrance of that day. Schools should never stop teaching about it, a day so historic and horrific should never be forgotten.
On 9/11 I was only a year and half so I don’t remember It at all but my grandma said that I was at her house that day when it happened.Since I was alive for it but don’t have any recollection of the events I always remember in school that my teachers would show the news footage of the planes hitting the towers and I think that always stuck with me because you were watching on tv thousands of people die. I think its shocking but I think in cases like this we need to be shocked and slightly uncomfortable for people to really try to feel what our parents and grandparents felt when it happened. I think it would be important to show my students one day the footage because they weren’t even alive when it happened and when we desensitize our selves from bad or ugly parts of history we set our selves up for them to repeat themselves.
I was an infant when 9/11 occurred, so I have no recollection of the day it happened. In elementary school, my teachers made a point to teach us the events that happened that day, and its repercussions on our world as we know it. As I grew up and eventually got into high school, I appreciate my teachers effort in educating us on such a tragic event that shaped our country, when we weren’t there and/or weren’t able to remember 9/11 itself. I hope they continue to educate the students who were born long after 9/11, and hopefully make them able to never forget it.
On September 11, 2001 I was barely three years old. It has been interesting learning about that day simply because of the fact that I have no memory of that day or how the world changed because of it. While I know that things are different it is still odd for me to see things how they were beforehand. For example, I have seen movies where family members would be able to walk all the way to the gate and wait for their family members to get off. When I first saw that my mind told me that obviously it was just because it was what they wanted in the movie. I didn’t realize for a long time that is what used to happen. It is so important to include this in the schools because it helps them to see how such a huge even affected the world. It is something that should never be forgotten.
Even though I was alive when this tragic event happened, I was too young to understand the effects of it as a preschooler-often living in a world of her own. Children are comfortable and familiar with this ‘world of their own’. They know & understand their own relationships and experiences. In school, they get to step outside of that and into the real world. As teachers, it truly is our responsibility to make children aware of the reality of the world we live in, and do so in an age-appropriate manner. I am looking forward to reading the referenced article within this one to get some specific advice on sharing about 9/11 to my future students.
The day 9/11 happened, I was a freshman in high school. I vividly remember the feelings and emotions that I, along with my entire school, felt that day. The school was eerily quiet and filled with overwhelming sadness and disbelief. I think it’s so important that we teach children what happened that day. Like you said, teaching history is about teaching the good and the bad. The resources you provided are great! Thank you for taking the time to gather them so that we can educate younger students about this important day in history.
When 9/11 happened, I was in Kindergarten. I don’t remember anything about that day but my mom tells me that the school dismissed everyone and she was afraid for me to take the bus so she came and got me immediately. I have always wondered what age is the right age to talk about the negative side of our history especially the most recent. After looking over the lesson plans provided in this article, I realized it is much easier than I originally thought to teach these events in history to students. To be honest throughout all my schooling I don’t remember a specific teacher teaching me about what happened on that day. The topic of 9/11 is something no one loves talking about because of the devastation it caused but now I know it is not as difficult as I had originally thought to have this conversation with my students.
I think it is very important that kids learn about the events that happened on 9/11. I was actually in my practicum classroom on September 11 and I was shocked at how little 9/11 was talked about with the students. A news clip was shown to the students about all the current events happening and just since it so happened to be 9/11 the news channel they were watching mentioned it. The classroom teacher made no discussion of it after the news clip. I remember being in elementary school, middle and high school and 9/11 being a very sensitive day and we always talked about what happened and gave a school-wide moment of silence for those who lost their lives that day or families that lost loved ones that day. I think teachers need to be more intentional about teaching history like this in their classrooms.