Commemorating 9/11

Where were you on September 11, 2001?  What were you doing or thinking? We are collecting the memories of members of the school community to create a Wall of Remembrance outside the library. I was living in Brooklyn, NY, only two miles from the World Trade Center. My recollections of that day are tied to every sense. I could see and smell the smoke. I could hear the towers fall and the helicopters overhead. We went home and shut all the windows, but it wasn't possible to shut out what had happened.

In the weeks that followed, I read the New York Times Portraits of Grief column almost every day, providing profiles, not obituaries, of the missing and dead. It felt important to understand the impact of the attacks through the loss of individuals.

With the 10th anniversary of 9/11 coming this Sunday, every media outlet is putting out their own retrospective. Here are a few that may be of use to teachers.

Teaching and Learning About 9/11 with the New York Times includes a wide range of resources, suggestions, and activities, all supported by materials from the Times. It includes:

• Key questions to pose to your students
• Front pages of the Times from the first 10 days
• Multimedia presentations, from then and now - these slide shows and interactive features would work well on a smartboard or projector in the classroom.
• Lesson plans from the past 10 years.

Front pages from 2001 to 2011 tell story of 9/11 decade, from WTC attacks to war on terror and bin Laden’s death shows graphics of front pages of newspapers from 2001-2011, relating to the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. From Poynter.org, a wonderful resource on journalism. There is a nice article on Poynter.org, Why short writing is so effective at helping us honor, remember people, that ties in well.

I would also recommend eSchoolNews, Teachers prepare for 10th anniversary of Sept. 11. 

The 9/11 Digital Archive is a vast trove of information, with over 150,000 items, including "more than 40,000 emails and other electronic communications, more than 40,000 first-hand stories, and more than 15,000 digital images." This is a great way to highlight primary sources and their importance!