Question:
September 11 has come and gone for another year. While many adults may still recall it as if it were yesterday, today's students may not have any memory of that day at all. What, if anything, did you do to heighten your students' awareness of this anniversary? What do they say and think about Sept. 11? SHOULD we mention it in our classrooms?
Replies:
Vermont
As a 6th grade student, I would like to say that it is VERY important to me that 9/11 is mentioned in classrooms. It may not be a positive subjecct, but not everything in life is positive. Classroom life is usually very fake, and I think that talking about 9/11 brings some much needed reality to students lives. I hope that it is not offensive to anyone that an 11 year old has opinions about these things, but sometimes teachers seem to forget that we are truely alve. These are my houghts, and I hope that they were helpful.
Ella
Teresa Messing - Port Orchard, WA
I bounce back and forth about 911. My students were only six and they really do not know that much about it, nor has it had any impact on them. Our school had a moment of silence and I shared with my students what I was doing when the attack happened. I was beginning my student teaching. I also shared with them that I had a friend who worked on the 100 floor of one of the towers and he called in sick that morning because he could not shake a weird feeling he was havine. He thought he was catching an early flu and he did not want to make his coworkers sick. For me, it is still really heartbreakening to see the 911 videos, and I do not know if hashing this up every year is really good for the mental health of our country or students. We will never forget, but sometimes I think it is time to let this go and instead focus on what we can do to keep our country safe and to bring peace to our world.
MN
Yes, September 11 should be discussed in the classroom. It was an un-imaginable event that we should never forget. Students discussed this in current events. This is a good discussion topic as there are many differing opinions as to what really happened that day.
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