Teaching about 9/11

[uncool2pillow]

I will spend tomorrow teaching 7th graders about the 9/11 attacks, the roots of terrorism, and the aftermath of those attacks. These kids were in kindergarten when the attacks happened. Responsible parents and teachers sheltered them from the horrors of that day. But now, the gap between what the know about the world and what they need to know being 5 or 6 years away from adulthood is frightening. Hopefully, I'm closing that gap.

 

Anyone who lost loved ones seven years ago or in Afghanistan or Iraq, my heart goes out to you!

[EL the Famous]

seriously, good luck. my kids aren't at an age to understand 90% of what comes out my mouth...this type of discussion, once they reach an age of understanding what is happening around them, scares the shit out of me.

 

and ditto on the heart thing to anybody affected by both 9/11 and iraq.

[Wilco Worshipper]

Yes, much good luck on the teaching.

 

 

 

All of my sympathies and prayers to those affected by this

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT: I wish we had a hug that looked more appropriate for this sort of thing.

[bobbob1313]

man, I was there age when it happened. Feels one so much longer ago than it is.

[uncool2pillow]

man, I was there age when it happened. Feels one so much longer ago than it is.

Dang you're a youngin'

[bobbob1313]

Dang you're a youngin'

 

Yep, I was in 8th grade American history class when the first two planes hit.

[mpolak21]

Yep, I was in 8th grade American history class when the first two planes hit.

 

I was in a 10th grade World History class. The teacher told us about it when we came in, and then we had to take a test, which I think everybody failed.

 

--Mike

[bobbob1313]

I was in a 10th grade World History class. The teacher told us about it when we came in, and then we had to take a test, which I think everybody failed.

 

--Mike

 

Yeah, we watched the attacks first hour, then had a math test 2nd hour. I think I got a 3/20. I may or may not have been crying at that point, I can't remember. The whole day is such a blur.

 

http://tealandblack.net/forums/redirect-to...-SEP_FALLINGMAN

 

More and more, I find myself coming back to this story when I think of 9/11. It was such a huge event for me to take in at the time, that I'm not sure I ever did until I read this. It manages to personify it and make me connect with the event in a very strong, real way that I never could before.

 

I grew up a lot faster than I would've wanted to in the weeks following that, and I got pretty depressed. It's a lot to try to take in at that age.

[mountain bed]

Man, I'll never forget sitting down with my kids (aged 15, 12 and 9 at the time) and trying to explain the hard-to-explain to them.

 

It was the first time I really feared for their future.

[Party @ the Moontower]

Man, I'll never forget sitting down with my kids (aged 15, 12 and 9 at the time) and trying to explain the hard-to-explain to them.

 

It was the first time I really feared for their future.

 

It was the first time I really feared for the American future. I was very depressed because I had to move from Colorado to Missouri, no job, no mountains..feeling so sorry for myself. Really kicked my ass into reality. I think I watched it for days on end on Fox. Just like Katrina, I sat on the couch feeling helpless watching the tv. I don't personally know a single person who lost someone in 911, but I feel as if I do.

[SeattleC]

I was on a flight to Denver from Seattle that left at 6AM that morning, so 9AM NY time. We turned around near Mt. Rainier after we were about 20 minutes out and headed back on a very low flightpath, and then the pilot came on and said we were returning and all planes in the country had been grounded, and that they didn't know much, but apparently a plane had hit the World Trade Center. The route that plane took back to the airport was unlike anything normal for commercial air traffic around here, and the plane was very quiet on the way back. I got out of the airport, to my car, and home as soon as possible.

 

My kids were then starting kindergarten and 3rd grade... now 7th and 10th grade. Their brother in law was visiting and had turned on the TV that morning as the kids and their mom were getting ready to leave for school while I was flying to Denver. Up to that point, my kids had never seen TV news really, certainly nothing like what was happening, because we didn't and still don't usually get our new from TV. But thanks to my brother-in-law's TV itch, all four of them watched as events unfolded in NYC, where my wife's mother lived at the time.

 

While in theory responsible parents would've sheltered their kids, I can't blame my wife and brother-in-law for not turning off the live coverage as it was unclear, and then very clear, about what was going on. We sheltered them afterwards from all the replays, but my kids got a very different view of the world that morning, and I struggled for a long time to talk about it with them. Nothing compared in my upbringing for a world event. When I realized sometime in my pre-teens about what was going on in Vietnam, it opened my eyes, but it wasn't a sudden thing, like this was for them, and for all of us. This is a complicated thing for us to teach about, and I wish you all the best with it. I also can't help but feel much worse for the direction our president and his advisors took the country afterwards. The terrorists were far more victorious in damaging this country based on the Bush administration's follow up, then they were in the actual tragic event.

 

 

I was truly amazed with these buiildings (and to be in NY) when I stood at the base of the South Tower and took this photo in 1989:

 

[uncool2pillow]

I can't imagine any teacher trying to go on with tests or anything else like that!

[Beltmann]

I can't imagine any teacher trying to go on with tests or anything else like that!

I was teaching sophomore English that day, and we halted all plans and just spent each class talking about what happened and what it meant to us. It was pointless trying to pretend everything was normal.

[kwall]

I can't imagine any teacher trying to go on with tests or anything else like that!

a friend of mine and his wife were at disneyland that day with their two small kids. they evacuated the park which forced them to spend the rest of the day at the hotel. as much as they were dying to watch the tv coverage, they couldn't until the kids went to sleep because they didn't want them to be affected and they had to entertain them somehow. the next day, disneyland was open again so they went back. they said they felt like they were the only ones there.

 

luckily, they had driven down there and not flown or they would've been stranded as well.

[Doug C]

I was teaching a psychology 1 class of mostly juniors and seniors with a few sophomores. The teacher next door came in and yelled, "Turn on your TV!". I got it on just before or just after the second plane hit. Strange that I can't remember. I do remember that shortly after I got the TV on we saw the 2nd plane. Live? My memory...

 

It was surreal watching the endless replay of both planes hitting the Towers. The reaction of the students was subdued. They talked about how it didn't seem real. Some actually commented that it seemed like they were watching a movie or something. That class period was extended and we were on lockdown for at least an hour, probably more. I was in a room with the TV on with the same students for at least 2 hours. It was difficult to get them to grasp the gravity of what had happened. It was bizarre enough to me. I can't imagine how odd it would have felt to a teenager for who war and mass scale violence was such an abstraction.

 

The TV remained on all day and that is all that the remaining classes talked about. We have a relatively large population of Muslim students - the largest mosque in Tampa is across the street and we are a magnet school (choice). That is the main reason for that - and was an issue throughout the day as the information about who may have commited the act came in. Some students made negative, though somewhat understandable comments, that I diffused as best I could. Some students said things to the effect of, "I know so-and-so, they aren't a terrorist'. All in all the day went as well as could be expected with some postive dialogue but still very little emotion. Again, it seemed difficult for most of them to grasp the tragedy.

 

Best wishes on your lesson.

[watch me fall]

I learned a huge lesson from 9-11. I realized that not everyone loves America and there are even some out there who would love to see us destroyed. I never knew of their absolute hate for us and our lifestyles. I guess I was just naive or either lost in my own little world before but that was definitely a wake up call for me. Since that day I have paid much more attention to politics and have probably grown up a little, too.

[So Long]

Yep, I was in 8th grade American history class when the first two planes hit.

 

I was in 8th grade English. Seems so much longer than 7 years...

[quarter23cd]

It was the first time I really feared for the American future. I was very depressed because I had to move from Colorado to Missouri, no job, no mountains..feeling so sorry for myself.

My wife and I had just moved in with her sister, in Westchester, just north of NYC. That was a surreal time to be "settling into" a new area. The morning the planes hit I was on my way to my first day of some lousy temp-job telemarketer gig in Yonkers. I walked in the door and it was just total silence. I wandered around saying "hello? hello?", looking for the guy who was supposed to be my supervisor there--nobody looked up from their computer screens. Finally, somebody told me what had happened and told me to go home. I knew a plane had hit the trade center, but I was assuming it was a small private plane or whatever at the time. On the drive home I listened on the radio as the second plane hit. I remember trying, unsuccessfully, to call my parents and sister in DC after the Pentagon plane. I remember lying awake at night listening to the sound of fighter jets circling overhead for weeks afterward. And I remember that everybody who lived there knew somebody who was lost.

[sweetheart-mine]

Yep, I was in 8th grade American history class when the first two planes hit.

this is quite a coincidence, because i was in 8th grade history class when JFK was assassinated. true story.

[Good Old Neon]

My wife and I were in the car and on our way to work, listening to Stern when, I think it was Gary, reported that an aircraft of some sort had collided with one of the Towers

[watch me fall]

I knew a plane had hit the trade center, but I was assuming it was a small private plane or whatever at the time.

 

That's exactly what I thought at first. I was working out of town at the time and we had no tv/radio/internet where we were working. One of my coworker's mom's called and said a plane had hit the WTC and I just assumed as you did.

[Lammycat]

I was teaching fifth graders in another district and we had a t.v. on during most of it. As it was live, we made a judgement call to let them watch under our discretion. I turned it off when I saw people jumping.

 

Today, I'm in a different district but still with fifth graders. I always get a brief discussion going about the events from that day. It's important they know some general facts (non-political, etc.) about our history, no matter how sad.

 

ed. Two of my brothers were directly involved that day in NYC: one as a cop (at the time) and the other as a firefighter. It was surreal not only watching the events unfold on t.v. with a classroom full of 10-year olds, but not knowing if either brother was alright or not (they both were).

[Elixir Sue]

I was in college in London, in my Politics of the Middle East class. A difficult day for that professor, for sure. When class started, we didn't really know what was going on, just heard some rumors from other students. It wasn't until I had to take the train back home that I really understood the magnitude of what was happening...signs in all the Underground stations saying that all flights to the US were grounded. I'll never forget standing in Victoria station with hundreds of people just staring in shock at the giant tv screens, showing the towers burning (pre-collapse). I've never felt so far from home and isolated...a terrible time to be away from friends and family.

[bobbob1313]

I was teaching sophomore English that day, and we halted all plans and just spent each class talking about what happened and what it meant to us. It was pointless trying to pretend everything was normal.

 

The administrators in our school decided not to let us watch it.

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

I was 41 and at work.

 

I was leaving my office looking for one of my guys on the floor to discuss some issues. I had been listening to Howard Stern on the radio which was on tape delay so we were an hour behind the radio broadcast.

 

I found Gary talking to John huddled together. John was an old hand in my industry and a former staff officer in the Pentagon.

 

I asked them what they were talking about as they had a bit of an adversarial relationship (thinking I might have to referee again...).

 

John asked me if I had heard.

 

"Heard what".

 

"A plane just crashed into the World Trade Center."

 

"Really. A private plane or traffic helicopter?"

 

"NO...a freaking airliner"

 

Things got a little surreal there. I remember heading back to my office and listening to the news radio station as the second tower was hit.

 

I remember hearing the broadcaster describe shots of people jumping from the WTC.

 

I remember when the first building came down.

 

Second tower coming down...

 

Estimates of a up to 50,000 dead from the Television talking heads (concerns about the subway substation below the towers).

 

I remember shouting in my mind STOP IT. STOP IT NOW. Stunned, scared, angry. Knowing there was going to be Hell to pay.

 

The plane crashing in rural Pennsylvania.

 

The plane hitting the Pentagon. This one really shook John up as he still had friends there.

 

Leaving the office to look at some properties.

 

I remember stopping by a Methodist Church and sitting among some other stunned people.

 

I remember sitting at the dinner table with my daughter (who was 11) and my son (who was 7) and asking them how they felt.

They were amazingly unaffected.

 

Seeing it on television made it surreal.

 

The images of the people jumping to their deaths rather than burn to death is something I will NEVER forget. Never forgive...Never forget.