TeachersFirst's September 11 Resources

This collection of reviewed resources from TeachersFirst is selected to help students understand the events of September 11, 2001, and to plan lessons or discussions so students can see the events of September 11 in connection with history, current events, and the challenges and balances of national security. Whether you stop to observe September 11 separately from your regular curriculum or include it through curricular connections to writing and social studies topics, these resources can help today's students imagine the events of a day before their memory but ever present in the American consciousness.

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Top 10 American Patriotic Songs | Iconic American Songs - U.S. Entrepreneur TV

Grades
4 to 12
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You may be surprised at these choices for America's top 10 patriotic songs. Most of them reflect more recent events in American History, though a few traditional songs are ...more
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You may be surprised at these choices for America's top 10 patriotic songs. Most of them reflect more recent events in American History, though a few traditional songs are represented, too. The music and video reside on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, it may not be available to you.

tag(s): july 4th (13), memorial day (12), sept11 (18), veterans (20)

In the Classroom

Choose a few of the more recent songs, and discuss why they are considered patriotic as a class. Then, use as background music when students work on projects for Memorial Day, the 4th of July, and Veteran's Day.

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Flight 93 National Memorial - National Park Service

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5 to 12
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The Flight 93 National Memorial serves as the final resting place for the passengers and crew who stopped a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. The National Park Service provides...more
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The Flight 93 National Memorial serves as the final resting place for the passengers and crew who stopped a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. The National Park Service provides visitor information and detailed information about the events of this tragic flight. Use this information to learn about the memorial site and the Tower of Voices monument dedicated to the flight's crew and passengers. The videos on this site reside on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable.

tag(s): sept11 (18), terrorism (41)

In the Classroom

Include this site with your other September 11 resources to share with students. Use Padlet, reviewed here, to curate and share resources in one location. Additionally, Padlet includes a timeline feature. Enhance learning by asking students to construct a timeline of events leading up to and beyond the hijacking and subsequent crash of the airplane as a visual tool for understanding this chain of events concerning other attacks that took place on September 11. Include links to images, videos, newspaper articles, and more on the students' timeline. Extend learning using Google My Maps, reviewed here, to create a virtual map of September 11 events that provides a broader look at the different locations and outcomes of the terrorist attacks.

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Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media - Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media

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6 to 12
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The Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media (RRCHNM) is a part of George Mason University's Department of History and Art History. As part of their Digital History Fellowship...more
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The Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media (RRCHNM) is a part of George Mason University's Department of History and Art History. As part of their Digital History Fellowship program, they create and share websites and other tools to enhance the understanding and appreciation of history. This page shares their many projects, including topics with names such as Eagle Eye Citizen and the September 11 Digital Archive. Select any of the shared subects to view a summary of the project and its' contributors. Then, follow the included link to visit the projects' main website and access all of the included features.

tag(s): 20th century (59), branches of government (62), civil rights (193), history day (40), primary sources (113), religions (75), sept11 (18)

In the Classroom

Bookmark and save this site as a supplemental resource for any history lessons and teaching units. One portion of the site leads to Teachinghistory.org, reviewed here, which is an amazing resource for finding teaching materials, best practices, and history content. Be sure to visit it often to find many ideas for effective teaching of history concepts. Other links are perfect for sharing with students to use for locating and learning from primary sources. For example, Papers of the War Department (1784-1800) contains a large collection of images and transcriptions that provide context and understanding into files once considered lost in a fire at the War Department. Create a collaborative Padlet, reviewed here, and ask students to share primary documents and add comments discussing their relevance to historic events being studied. Padlet also includes a timeline feature; use this tool to create a visual timeline of events for any time. Extend learning by asking students to create podcasts using Buzzsprout, reviewed here. Options for podcast topics could include telling the story of historical events from the perspective of a man on the street and sharing perspectives on an event from the viewpoint of different participants.
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NewseumED - NewseumED.org

Grades
6 to 12
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Make history relevant to the world today and learn more about First Amendment issues at the same time. Find lesson plans, a multimedia collection of primary sources and artifacts, interactive...more
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Make history relevant to the world today and learn more about First Amendment issues at the same time. Find lesson plans, a multimedia collection of primary sources and artifacts, interactive tools, and worksheets. These are searchable by type, topic, collections, and time-period. The focus of the lessons is historical connections, media literacy, and civics and citizenship. There are several EdCollections with titles like "Election 2016: Stumped!?," "Making a Change," "Women, Their Rights and Nothing Less," and "Freedom in the Balance." The latter focuses on teaching and learning about 9/11 and the attacks in Paris, France 2015, and adhering to the First Amendment freedoms and concerns for safety and the public good. All of this is free with an email sign up. Check back frequently to see NewseumEd's newest EdCollections.

tag(s): civil rights (193), elections (80), evaluating sources (28), freedom of speech (13), media literacy (102), politics (113), primary sources (113), sept11 (18), terrorism (41), terrorist (12)

In the Classroom

If you teach or even discuss civil rights, the First Amendment and its freedoms and ideals, current events, or the presidential elections be sure to look at the lessons provided here. The lessons will also help you show students how to tell facts from opinions in current events. Use ideas from the lesson plans to supplement your current teaching materials. Enhance learning and challenge small groups of students to create an infographic sharing their learning from the notes they took during a lesson. Use Infogram, reviewed here, to construct the infographic. If you plan on using one of the EdCollections ask students to enhance and extend their learning and develop a multimedia presention using Presentious, reviewed here, or an interactive poster with a tool like Genially, reviewed here, for one of the suggested Extension Activities.
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9/11 Memorial & Museum - Learn - National September 11 Memorial and Museum

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K to 12
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Learn about September 11 using interactives, timelines, lesson plans, and more from the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York. Learn all about the history of the World Trade Center, explore...more
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Learn about September 11 using interactives, timelines, lesson plans, and more from the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York. Learn all about the history of the World Trade Center, explore primary sources about 9/11, and much more. Do not miss the 9/11 Primer with six modules, all of which have lesson plans and many other resources. In a special section under Learn is Youth and Families, you'll find ideas for talking with children about 9/11. In addition, the site includes many media files: interviews, videos, and more to help understand September 11.

tag(s): sept11 (18), terrorism (41)

In the Classroom

Check the teacher lesson plans for ideas. The plans range from kindergarten to grade 12. Incorporate some of the interactives as part of your class commemoration of September 11. Have students record their own video or audio interviews. Try Spreaker, reviewed here, with adults who recall the day and add them to a class or school wiki memorial. Add a Speakpipe widget, reviewed here, to your wiki page so visitors can add their own recollections. If you do not have time to spend more than one class period on 9/11, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum will provide rich experiences and material for discussion. Be sure to allow your students time to talk and ask questions about this disturbing day in history.

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Center for Civic Education - Center for Civic Education

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5 to 12
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The Center for Civic Education offers this site loaded with information and resources that support the democratic process. Choose the Teaching Resources tab to take advantage of many...more
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The Center for Civic Education offers this site loaded with information and resources that support the democratic process. Choose the Teaching Resources tab to take advantage of many lesson plans for all grade levels on topics such as President's Day, voting, Women's History Month, 9/11 and the Constitution, and many more. Choose the More Lesson Plans link to see a list of all lessons sorted by grade levels from K-12. Also under Teaching Resources find the 60 Second Civics option, reviewed here. 60 Second Civics is a daily podcast accompanied with a short question. Previous podcasts are archived for access at your convenience. Subscribe with iTunes or Podcast Alley or visit the page to listen.
This site includes advertising.

tag(s): branches of government (62), civil rights (193), constitution (86), democracy (19), elections (80), electoral college (22), lincoln (59), martin luther king (43), presidents (120), sept11 (18), washington (24)

In the Classroom

Share a link to the podcasts via your web page or blog. Have students answer the daily question then respond with a short journal entry or with comments on your webpage. Use lesson resources to supplement your current curriculum or commemorate events such as 9/11, MLK Day, Presidents Day, or Constitution Day. Assign podcasts to groups of students to use, then report to the class. Rather than a traditional report, challenge cooperative learning groups to collaborate on a topic found on the site using Netboard, reviewed here, to share ideas and information.

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Remembering 9/11 - CBS News

Grades
7 to 12
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This collection of stories from CBS has information about the effects of 9/11 that range from 2011 to 2021. They also host information about the victims, coverage about the opening...more
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This collection of stories from CBS has information about the effects of 9/11 that range from 2011 to 2021. They also host information about the victims, coverage about the opening of the new Trade Center, and information about the results of the re-building efforts on ground zero. To see a montage of the events that led up to 9/11, check out While America Slept, at here.

tag(s): sept11 (18), terrorism (41), terrorist (12)

In the Classroom

Use this site as a cooperative learning activity during a lesson or unit on the events of September 11th or as part of a broader discussion on international relations, terrorism, or the role of government in balancing personal liberties and national security. Create a graphic organizer to guide students through the site (or have them create their own in small groups), highlighting what's most important and the important facts and details. For help creating easy graphic organizers, try using Holt Interactive Graphic Organizer, reviewed here, or bubbl.us, reviewed here.

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While America Slept - The True Story of 9/11 - CBS News

Grades
7 to 12
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Often times students only hear about the catastrophe of 9/11, and not the events that lead up to it. Although it's a little "plain vanilla," this site from ABC offers ...more
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Often times students only hear about the catastrophe of 9/11, and not the events that lead up to it. Although it's a little "plain vanilla," this site from ABC offers a contextual timeline about the events leading up to 9/11. Starting from August 11, 2001, the timeline details what America was doing and what the hijackers were doing, day-by-day, and shows how CIA analysts and FBI agents try to sound the alarm about the rising threat, and were ignored.

tag(s): sept11 (18)

In the Classroom

Use this site on the interactive whiteboard or projector to show students the context of the day. During a class discussion, display the timeline on a projector or interactive whiteboard for students to see and navigate together. Read the details aloud, or have student volunteers take turns reading the events aloud. Make sure that between each event you provide some sort of explanation, i.e. who the people mentioned are and what the significance was of each action. Include this discussion as you study the role of government in the protection of its citizens and balancing individual liberties with national security. Assign students to create multimedia posters using marq, reviewed here, or an infographic using Visme, reviewed here, showing the conflicting roles of government.

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September 11 Teacher Awards - Tribute World Trade Center Organization

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K to 12
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Are you looking for ways to inspire meaningful discussions of September 11th and to help make sense of this tragedy? The Tribute World Trade Center Visitor Center of New York ...more
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Are you looking for ways to inspire meaningful discussions of September 11th and to help make sense of this tragedy? The Tribute World Trade Center Visitor Center of New York City presents awards to honor teachers who have created exemplary educational projects for students to express and sustain the memory of September 11th. Using the menu bar on the far right, this site shares their projects from the globe and involving all aspects of the arts and humanities, including history, language arts, visual, media and performing arts. Although this site is mainly designed for grades 5-12, there are some activities for younger elementary students found in the "Resources for Your Classroom" section of the site.

tag(s): sept11 (18), terrorism (41), terrorist (12)

In the Classroom

Use these award winning ideas to commemorate September 11 in a lesson to demonstrate unity or build worldwide understanding. Use the concepts as a springboard to a collaborative project. Ideas vary from sending chains of origami cranes as a wish for peace, composing and singing a song for unity with an online tool such as Zeemaps, reviewed here, writing letters to local politicians, creating poems and transforming them into digital videos or multimedia presentations using Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, reviewed here, or taking responsibility for the environment while creating a sense of community by planting gardens. Choose from many ways to inspire students to recognize the importance of September 11 and to involve them in working together to become a more tolerant society. You might be so amazed with the results that you will want to submit your students' projects to be considered for next year's Tribute Center September 11th Teacher Awards. The annual award ceremony takes place on February 26, to commemorate the 1993 first attack on the World Trade Center.

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September 11 Timeline of Events - Tribute World Trade Center Organization

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4 to 12
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This tribute to 9/11 is a series of interactive photographs that highlights the episodes that transpired from shortly after 8:00 a.m. when the American Airlines flight was hijacked...more
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This tribute to 9/11 is a series of interactive photographs that highlights the episodes that transpired from shortly after 8:00 a.m. when the American Airlines flight was hijacked and struck the first tower of the World Trade Center, to the aftermath when the pile of debris that was once the Twin Towers became flooded with volunteer rescue workers doing the indescribable heroic work of helping the surviving victims and recovering the remains of the human lives that were destroyed. Move your curser over the photographs to read actual descriptions from flight attendants, survivors, firefighters, family members and others who were part of tragic history in the making. Under the photographs, on the lower right of your screen, you will see two small arrows; click there to see the complete timeline with short video clips. This is an opportunity to "relive" that day, almost minute by minute, as if you were actually there.

tag(s): sept11 (18), terrorism (41), terrorist (12)

In the Classroom

Display this pictorial interactive September 11th timeline of the attack on the World Trade Center on your classroom projector or interactive whiteboard. After reading real accounts of what happened, have students work with a partner to create podcasts (news broadcasts, mock interviews with survivors and others involved, or even a student perspective of how that day changed the United States forever). Have students create podcasts using a site such as Acast, reviewed here. Alternatively, have them annotate an image using Image Annotator, reviewed here.

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September 11, 2001 Documentary Project - Library of Congress

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7 to 12
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From the Library of Congress' American Memory project, this site links to a large collection of audio, video, text, and artwork related to the events of September 11, 2001. Search ...more
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From the Library of Congress' American Memory project, this site links to a large collection of audio, video, text, and artwork related to the events of September 11, 2001. Search by media, topic or title.

tag(s): new york (22), sept11 (18), terrorism (41)

In the Classroom

This site would be most useful to students doing research on the 9/11 attacks, but also could provide teachers with supplemental material for a lesson on the events of that date. Although teachers will remember the day vividly, most students were either not born yet, or young enough when it occurred that their memories will be clouded. Another use for this site is as an example of the power and necessity of primary sources in documenting any event. Compare these resources to accounts we have of Pearl Harbor and other major events as you ask students to conduct an interviewing project of their own, perhaps of local history. As an introduction and for students to get a feeling for the drama of the event you may want to use the video posted with live footage of an ABC broadcast as the events of 9/11 were unfolding. You can access the Encyclopdeia Britanica's version of the video on YouTube here.

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September 11: Bearing Witness to History - Smithsonian

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10 to 12
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This is the archived version of the virtual exhibit for September 11, 2001. It provides a collection of stories, images, and objects that represent a material record of 9/11. More ...more
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This is the archived version of the virtual exhibit for September 11, 2001. It provides a collection of stories, images, and objects that represent a material record of 9/11. More than just another 9/11 web site, this resource sensitively documents the people and stories behind the commonplace objects that survived and were carefully preserved. This is a thought-provoking, awe-inspiring site that could be used to generate a discussion about the value of material artifacts in historical interpretation. Use with AP or Honors level history students.

tag(s): sept11 (18), terrorism (41)

In the Classroom

The portion of this site that was the most impactful was the video posted with live footage of an ABC broadcast as the events of 9/11 were unfolding. You can access the Encyclopdeia Britanica's version of the video on YouTube here. Play the video on an interactive whiteboard or projector, for students as a way to introduce the topic. The advantage of this is it brings everyone to the same page, as some kids may not remember the details or may have forgotten the extreme emotion involved in that moment. It is a very powerful video, and really relays the significance and the pure shock on the part of airline personel (actual audio of First Responders, Air Traffic Controllers, Dispatch Personnel, Airline Employees ...) on that day. Use the video to lead into a lecture or conversation about what followed the report using the Bearing Witness to History site. Are you using blended learning in your class? Having students view the video at home and discussing it in class is perfect for blended learning if your district blocks YouTube. Whether viewing in class or at home you may want to use Moocnote, reviewed here, to add comments, links, and questions to the video.

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Remember, Rebuild, Renew - Lower Manhattan Development Corp.

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6 to 12
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The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's site offers presentations on the seven designs submitted for reclaiming the area once occupied by the World Trade Center buildings. You...more
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The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's site offers presentations on the seven designs submitted for reclaiming the area once occupied by the World Trade Center buildings. You can view slide shows for each proposal and read the architects' descriptions of how their design best meets the LMDC's three-part goal.

tag(s): architecture (64), sept11 (18)

In the Classroom

What do your students think the best memorial would be? Enhance learning and ask students to put thier choices in Dotstorming, reviewed here, where you can brainstorm then VOTE.

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Library of Congress 9/11 Acquisitions - Library of Congress

Grades
6 to 12
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This page offers an entry point to the various images and materials about the 9/11 attacks which the Library of Congress has acquired. The collection includes photos, newspaper accounts,...more
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This page offers an entry point to the various images and materials about the 9/11 attacks which the Library of Congress has acquired. The collection includes photos, newspaper accounts, books, and works of art inspired by the attacks. While there is likely no single definitive collection of this material, this one is an extensive resource.

tag(s): sept11 (18), terrorism (41), terrorist (12)

In the Classroom

Use this site as a learning center or station during a unit on September 11th, focusing mainly on the images and posters available. The images could be used for a picture walk or to accompany a lecture.

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September 11, 2001 - New York Times

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9 to 12
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This site is a collection of the New York Times biographical sketches of those who died in the 9-11 attacks. Poignant, simple, and inspiring, this is a site which invites ...more
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This site is a collection of the New York Times biographical sketches of those who died in the 9-11 attacks. Poignant, simple, and inspiring, this is a site which invites a response.

tag(s): sept11 (18), terrorism (41), terrorist (12)

In the Classroom

Try using it with students as a springboard for writing or other creative expression.

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