TeachersFirst's September 11 Resources
Other TeachersFirst Special Topics Collections

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.
(Image credit: This photo used under Creative Commons license. Source http://www.flickr.com/photos/slagheap/132105494/)
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Teach + Learn: National September 11 Memorial and Museum - National September 11 Memorial and Museum
Grades
K to 12In 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, Teach and Learn 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.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Center for Civic Education - Center for Civic Education
Grades
5 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): branches of government (54), civil rights (142), constitution (91), democracy (16), elections (76), electoral college (18), lincoln (67), martin luther king (32), presidents (119), sept11 (14), washington (25)
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. View videos on your interactive whiteboard (or projector). Assign videos to groups of students to view 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.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Remembering 9/11 - CBS News
Grades
7 to 12In 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.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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While America Slept - The True Story of 9/11 - CBS News
Grades
7 to 12tag(s): sept11 (14)
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 Lucidpress, reviewed here, or an infographic using Visme, reviewed here, showing the conflicting roles of government.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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September 11 Teacher Awards - Tribute World Trade Center Organization
Grades
K to 12In 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 ThingLink, 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.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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September 11 Timeline of Events - Tribute World Trade Center Organization
Grades
4 to 12In 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 PodOmatic (reviewed here). Alternatively, have them narrate an image using ThingLink, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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September 11,2001 documentary project - Library of Congress
Grades
7 to 12In 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 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 student to conduct an interviewing project of their own, perhaps of local history.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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September 11 Digital Archive - Center for History and New Media
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
Preview carefully for younger students. Use the site in your discussions of current events and terrorism-related topics or share it as a resource for high school students doing research projects. As politicians talk about Sept 11, this site can help fill the gaps in your students' background. You can easily demonstrate primary and secondary sources with these engaging examples.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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September 11: Bearing Witness to History - Smithsonian
Grades
10 to 12In the Classroom
The portion of this site with the most impact is the video posted with live footage of the ABC broadcast as the events of 9/11 were unfolding. Open the site on the interactive whiteboard or projector, and play the video for students as a way to introduce the topic. What's nice about it is that 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 News Anchors and Civilians alike on that day. Use the video to lead into a lecture or conversation about what followed the report.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Graphic Witness
Grades
9 to 12tag(s): sept11 (14)
In the Classroom
Use the images to create a visual discovery activity in your classroom - for example, use the collection of drawings to teach the events of 9/11 to your students. Share the images on the interactive whiteboard or projector, with students filling out reflections about each image. Reflections should focus on what they observe, infer and predict about each image. After showing a few of the more powerful images, have a class discussion as to what students wrote in their reflections. Going back to each image - what did we learn? What can we assume? What does this picture tell us about this event? You would be surprised about the emotional impact students learn, in addition to the content. This would be a good activity to do as a review, when students are able to use the information on class to project about the images. A great resource for a US history course.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Remember, Rebuild, Renew - Lower Manhattan Development Corp.
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): sept11 (14)
In the Classroom
What do your students think the best memorial would be?Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Library of Congress 9/11 Acquisitions - Library of Congress
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Use this site as a learning center or station during a unit on September 11th, focusing mainly the images and posters available. The images could be used for a picture walk or to accompany a lecture.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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September 11, 2001 - New York Times
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
Try using it with students as a springboard for writing or other creative expression.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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