Remembering 9/11 in the Classroom

So many teachers have asked the question. How do we teach 9/11?  While others ask How do you NOT teach 9/11?

For several years after, students wanted to discuss the day. They remembered it. But then came students who had very foggy memories of that day. They didn't ask to talk about it . And I have to admit, I skipped it. I let the history classes deal with it. Wasn't a school assembly enough?The day was such a life changer for many of us. And now we are teaching students who may have been so young that they don't remember it. How do we teach something they can't remember? A seemingly simple answer, the same way we teach everything else.

For years I have required my students to read Anne Frank's diary written during the Holocaust. We read about church bombings and the deaths of innocent children during the Civil Rights movement. From Paul Revere's midnight ride my students learn of the American Revolution. While reading The Giver we discuss the Civil War. What is so different about these events and the events of 9/11?

For years historians and authors have given us resources and materials that enable us to teach tragic events from history. With just a little research we can find a plethora of primary and secondary sources from which our students can learn of the life changing events in our past. Could it be that we have questions about teaching this event because we witnessed it? It is personal to us. It is still threatening us. It still scares us.

How many times do we complain because budgets don't allow field trips? Because we don't know someone willing to speak to our students? Because we can't purchase the materials we need to bring a unit to life for our students? And now WE can serve as a primary source. Students know us, and they want to know our stories. This week I will be sharing a post written after hearing of Osama bin Laden's death in May, 2011 wherein I discuss my memories of 9/11. My 7th graders do not remember the day, and to be honest NYC, 2001 seems very far away from rural Arkansas, 2011. But hearing my memories of the day will make the event real to them. To know that I waited for gas in a line that stretched from the little store next door all the way to the school's main driveway and onto the highway will bring a perspective that books and TV shows cannot.

Just as teachers of the '40s and '50s had to incorporate the events of  Pearl Harbor into their curriculum, we must include the events of 9/11 into our 21st century curriculum. Using personal accounts will grab the interest of students and maybe ignite an interest in history that will burn throughout the year.