View Full Version : 9-11 in the classroom, a high school classroom.
Friday, i broke down our 50 minute period into two parts. We took a quiz at the beginning and the remaining time was a discussion and videos about September 11th. I must admit I was quite appalled at the understanding or lack of facts in regards to this day that my 5 classes, 170 some odd students lacked. Here are a sample of questions they had before and during some of the video clips. (we used the history channels "102 minutes" pre-show or preview clips, check them out, very good).
So, are the hijackers in jail now? :confused:
Follow on was, "then how did Osama live?" :confused:
There were two planes? (NYC portion of the video).
Why haven't they attacked again?
Someone said that this is why we're in Afghanistan now, is that right?
How did they evacuate everyone from the towers before they fell?
My dad said it was actually set up by our own government? :mad:
"With what evidence?" was my reply.
How come we don't ever talk about 9/11?
Why are they jumping from the buildings?
-----------------------------
My sharing is not to illustrate their unfortunate ignorance about one of the most historical events in the our nations history. They have been pampered, people were probably scarred to talk about it bc it might upset someone, stress them out. Had i known that they knew so little, i would have done the quiz on thursday followed by the discussion, gauged their understanding then prepared something more in depth and directed at their needs for all of friday. I still dont understand how they knew so little. Where is the disconnect? Anyways, thought i would share in case some of you have kids and wanted to probe their understanding of the event.
Also, I would be interested in knowing what were some of the activities in their schools or classrooms on Friday and how the school or teachers reflected on 9/11, if at all.
Surgicalcric
09-13-2009, 08:17
My dad said it was actually set up by our own government?
I laugh every time I hear someone say that our Gov't planned it.
My response is generally, President Clinton couldnt keep his extramarital affair a secret, Congress cant keep their closed door meeting a secret and yet you believe the US Govt orchestrated and carried out 9.11 and kept it secret...
Crip
alfromcolorado
09-13-2009, 08:23
I laugh every time I hear someone say that our Gov't planned it.
My response is generally, President Clinton couldnt keep his extramarital affair a secret, Congress cant keep their closed door meeting a secret and yet you believe the US Govt orchestrated and carried out 9.11 and kept it secret...
Crip
When talking to a liberal that believes that I start with a discussion about how long it would take to plan and set in motion such an operation... Once I get their agreement I aske them "So when exactly do you think President Clinton started planning this?"
When talking to a conservative that believes it I just shake my head and walk away.
Surgicalcric
09-13-2009, 08:32
I suppose we should just keep an open mind about the subject. After all it is another perspective on the issue.
At least, thats what Frank Zappa would do... :D
Crip
I suppose I can relate, in a sense. I was in the eleventh grade on September 11, 2001, and watched the events of the day unfold more or less entirely in the high school environment. Even at the high school level, people's reactions and commentary was extremely varied. It is nigh on impossible for me to fathom how the students mentioned in the original post in this thread, no older than ten years old at the time of the actual event, could possibly have interpreted it. So, I believe some of the disconnect is inherent. At ten you simply lack the cognitive capacity to really understand the gravity of anything that serious delivered to you at the remove of a television screen. I would compare this to my own memories of:
The Oklahoma City bombing - more than anything curiosity about the event, but for the most part ignored for many years following.
The original WTC bombing - I recall hearing it mentioned at the time.
Desert Storm - I recall being annoyed that whatever cartoons I was watching were interrupted.
My take on each of these things has developed and expanded over the years, but it is important to note that the original context they were presented to me in "set the stage", if you will, for my inherent understanding of them.
Unfortunately, at this point, it ceases to be the fault of youth, and becomes the responsibility of parents, educators, and leaders to explain why this event was important. As far as I can tell, this ball has more or less been dropped. Most kids probably hear nothing about it, and those that do have their parents politics foisted upon them and their views become even more clouded. In order to properly educate on the subject, there is really no substitute for a hefty block of time just spent giving context and explaining exactly what happened. It is a by-product of an ever-increasingly impatient and lazy culture that people cannot find the time to do this about something that is still very relevant, let alone the countless episodes of equal relevance in the more distant past. If I may deviate from my original point, slightly, this is exemplified perfectly in our (greater) culture's treatment of WWII. Students are essentially rushed through a slam-bang narrative of the basic events, given some cultural context and background, maybe asked to do a project or two, and then sent on their merry way. Meanwhile, probably ten times the effort projected to educate is presented in the drive to entertain, and kids are fed a steady stream of video games and movies that are becoming increasingly more fatuous in their depiction of a serious event in which millions died and served to shape the modern world into what it is today. These kids will not be able to see beyond the screen, and the most crucial event in the 20th century will be relegated to the status of a cheap laugh in their minds. This applies across the spectrum of history.
Anyways, my .02. Stickley, I like your ideas for teaching about 9-11. I would say give them a whole week of instruction, if you could.
Praetorian
09-13-2009, 10:34
What grade are you teaching in HS?
Assuming youre teaching seniors, the kids were in 4th grade when 9-11 happened?
If theyre freshmen, they were in 1st grade?
I have a first grader right now, and I certainly wouldn't have exposed him to any of that day. Even a fourth grader I would have intervened as a parent at some point (maybe when the people were jumping).
So I'm not really shocked that they have a limited grasp of the details of the day.
Thats why your teaching them is so important.
I was in the 2nd or 3rd grade during the Cuban Missile Crisis - living on a SAC base no less with B-52s.
I remember bringing in a pillow and blanket per student and the drills going into the utility tunnels under each classroom. The teacher would open the trap door, place her chair in the tunnel and the students would file into the tunnel and remain until the all clear. Everybody.....
Everybody except the kids who were within 1 minute walking distance from their homes. That was two streets of lower ranking officers kids and the mobile home park. They gathered at the school's front door.
(I had always wondered about the kids walking home. For some reason it didn't seem odd or out of place at the time. It was just assumed that Mother or the neighbor would be home.)
I remember everybody in base housing being requested to clear out the area under the basement stairs for a home made fallout shelter and stocking a few basic items.
I remember the drills but nothing about fear or terror. To us kids it was an interesting interlude in the life of a child - just another day.
...it ceases to be the fault of youth, and becomes the responsibility of parents, educators, and leaders to explain why this event was important. As far as I can tell, this ball has more or less been dropped. Most kids probably hear nothing about it...
9th Grade Global Studies (geography and culture). Sure, they may have been in 1 or 2nd grade, but as mentioned by VAV1500, parents and educators.
They're lack of explaining the truth, regardless of how politically incorrect or how it may make students uncomfortable, is why i believe we have so much sympathy to our enemies or the need to afford our enemies basic human rights, as the left continues to push for.
I can talk about any topic in my classes, anything. Well, maybe not 9th grade but my juniors and seniors, any topic could be discussed as long as I articulate and manage the room and leave it up to them to make rational and reasonable conclusions. However, I didnt show these kids the people leaping for their lives out of windows or the phone calls from the trapped people in the plane or the higher level flloors. Sure, i could have, but I intended to....present facts about the incident and leave the emotion up to them and have them decide what was right, wrong, how to feel, etc... in regards to what was presented.
Dozer523
09-13-2009, 11:54
If you are 8 years old or less, You have been at war your entire life, if you are about 12 or less you probably cannot remember a time when you were not at war. There is nothing particularly special to most kids about this war. The sun comes up, the sun goes down, the world turns, and Iraq and Afghanistan just are. As they always have.
I must admit I was quite appalled at the understanding or lack of facts in regards to this day that my 5 classes, 170 some odd students lacked. . . .
My sharing is not to illustrate their unfortunate ignorance about one of the most historical events in the our nations history. They have been pampered, people were probably scarred to talk about it bc it might upset someone, stress them out. Had i known that they knew so little, i would have done the quiz on thursday followed by the discussion, gauged their understanding then prepared something more in depth and directed at their needs for all of friday. I still dont understand how they knew so little. Where is the disconnect? Anyways, thought i would share in case some of you have kids and wanted to probe their understanding of the event.
A blunt question: since you hold your students to your personal expectations do you give them the opportunity to do the same?
They're lack of explaining the truth, regardless of how politically incorrect or how it may make students uncomfortable, is why i believe we have so much sympathy to our enemies or the need to afford our enemies basic human rights, as the left continues to push for.
I can talk about any topic in my classes, anything. Well, maybe not 9th grade but my juniors and seniors, any topic could be discussed as long as I articulate and manage the room and leave it up to them to make rational and reasonable conclusions. However, I didnt show these kids the people leaping for their lives out of windows or the phone calls from the trapped people in the plane or the higher level flloors. Sure, i could have, but I intended to....present facts about the incident and leave the emotion up to them and have them decide what was right, wrong, how to feel, etc... in regards to what was presented.
With respect, the two paragraphs above reflect the conflicting sensibilities that are evident in your posts about your experiences as a teacher. IMO, the tension is the result of your impulse to indoctrinate your students and your desire to educate them.
not impulsive and no where near indoctrinating. but thanks nonetheless.
IMO, the tension is the result of your impulse to indoctrinate your students and your desire to educate them.
Dozer523
09-13-2009, 16:26
Interesting.
I'd like a look at your lesson plan, specifically -- your learning objectives, terminal objective and how the relate to your States EALRs (Essential Academic Learning Requirements). Look, I'm not sharp shooting you . . .yet.
Materials
Text: McDougal – Littill, WORLD GEOGRAPHY
Chapter 8.1: Fight Against Terrorism.
History Channel: Excerpts from 102 Minutes That Changed America http://www.history.com/content/9-11
Essential Questions:
What happened in the September 11 terrorist attacks?
How great was the physical destruction caused by the attacks?
Who was responsible for the attacks?
On the international level how did the US respond to September 11th?
How did the US respond domestically?
State Standards/Benchmarks previous to this school year:
SS.A.3.4.10
SS.A.5.4.8
New as of 12/2008:
SS.912.A.7.15
Benchmark: Analyze the effects of foreign and domestic terrorism on the American people.
Standards: Understand the rise and continuing international influence of the United States as a world leader and the impact of contemporary social and political movements on American life.
Remarks/Examples: Examples are Oklahoma City bombing, attack of September 11, 2001, Patriot Act, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
-------------------------------------
9th Grade Global Studies (geography and culture). Sure, they may have been in 1 or 2nd grade, but as mentioned by VAV1500, parents and educators.
They're lack of explaining the truth, regardless of how politically incorrect or how it may make students uncomfortable, is why i believe we have so much sympathy to our enemies or the need to afford our enemies basic human rights, as the left continues to push for.
I can talk about any topic in my classes, anything. Well, maybe not 9th grade but my juniors and seniors, any topic could be discussed as long as I articulate and manage the room and leave it up to them to make rational and reasonable conclusions. However, I didnt show these kids the people leaping for their lives out of windows or the phone calls from the trapped people in the plane or the higher level flloors. Sure, i could have, but I intended to....present facts about the incident and leave the emotion up to them and have them decide what was right, wrong, how to feel, etc... in regards to what was presented.
May I ask if you have any students of military families in your classroom? If not, that may be one reason why the students have so little understanding of what happened that day.
If I may... my little girl was barely 4 years old that awful day. I had just gotten back from a 4 month deployment to Korea 3 days prior. That horrible day had my daughter seeing buildings burning on TV, her mom talking into sometimes 3 phones at a time, and my fiance doing the same, with tears streaming down both our faces. I honestly couldn't tell you if she saw any of the coverage of people jumping out of the buildings.
5 days later, on the way to drop my then fiance off at the airport once if finally opened so he could get back to Mcguire and deploy, we passed a Burger King. ANd as most Burger Kings do, there was "smoke" coming out of the top of the building, and my 4 year old ask if that building had been hit by a plane, and were we going to be safe? I will never forget that moment as long as I live.
I will also never forget the President of the United States getting on the TV and trying to calm the fears of a nation. But in teh weeks after that horrible day, President Bush also asked the American People to go shopping. Maybe he was trying to convince us all that our economy would survive, that we as a nation would survive this horrible tragedy. But when we went into Afghanistan, he should have asked more of the American people, we were a nation at war, and the only ones who knew it were us in the Military, and our families.
Military members kids understand what this war is about. I am sure other parents do what my husband and I do, every time we deploy. We sit down with our kids and try to explain to them why we are leaving again, and even though it is so very hard on them, we are doing to keep all mommies and daddies and kids safe. That some bad people did some very bad things that day, and that is why we much fight.
When you have that conversation with your kid, three, four, five times, they get it. But in a civilian environment, when the adults were asked to go shopping, and not sacrifice for the war, how can we expect their children who were in the 1st grade at the time, to understand the significance of that day, and what it means 8 years later?
TraininDummy
09-14-2009, 12:00
My mother is a seventh grade social studies teacher in a small Oklahoma town for about five years. Some of her students we not even born when the OKC bombing happened. However, she makes it a point to take every class to the memorial in OKC. I have helped her class go on these trips, and I will say the attitude on the bus ride there is copletely different than the ride back. Even though they are children that weren't even alive or just toddlers, they understand to a better degree than most their age the gravity of terrorism. It could just be due to the close proximity to a certain terrorist even, in which case I would like to see if a study has been done in the NYC area. Another option worth looking at is the demographics of her district as compared to stickys. My mom's town is small (3,200 population) and is very, very blue collar. There are a lot of veterans (both of police and military) in the town that have their children in the school system. I will say that even in her district, my mother is quite an exception to the rule for taking initiative. Probably her background. She was a poly-sci major in school and later worked for Charlie Wilson as an intern in the late 70's and early 80's. Plus the fact that she came from and married into a tradition of military service.
Dozer523
09-14-2009, 22:26
Essential Questions:
What happened in the September 11 terrorist attacks?
How great was the physical destruction caused by the attacks?
Who was responsible for the attacks?
On the international level how did the US respond to September 11th?
How did the US respond domestically?
I have to say that is a very ambitious one hour class!:lifter
I bet if you could have devoted an entire week to it you could have made a significant contribution to their understanding of the event. At least provided them with a knowledge base from which to move around the taxonomy. (Knowledge gets so beat up in Educational Psychology classes today.) So . . . what were the responses you were looking for?
I have to say that is a very ambitious one hour class!
Me, too. 50 minute class with quiz and follow-on discussion could not have done justice to either the topic or the stated goals - I doubt much of what was desired was actually accomplished.
Richard's $.02 :munchin
Me, too. 50 minute class with quiz and follow-on discussion could not have done justice to either the topic or the stated goals - I doubt much of what was desired was actually accomplished.
Richard's $.02 :munchin
I must admit, i think my expectations of their prior knowledge of the event caused me think that this was going to be more of a review and springboard into deeper parts rather than getting bombarded by questions about simple and basic facts, or what i considered basic facts that thought they already knew.
Regardless of the plan, the day/class was productive. The 55 minutes was the quiz and the clips, quiz took about 10 minutes and was on something completely different, so we had a solid 40 min on 9/11.
I must admit, i think my expectations of their prior knowledge of the event caused me think that this was going to be more of a review and springboard into deeper parts rather than getting bombarded by questions about simple and basic facts, or what i considered basic facts that thought they already knew.
A common error - I usually plan for a full class period to do a pre-assessment of prior knowledge from the class before beginning any new topic - purpose is to discover what they already know or don't know and to get them excited and thinking about the topic - but that comes from experience. ;)
Richard's $.02 :munchin
I must admit, i think my expectations of their prior knowledge of the event caused me think that this was going to be more of a review and springboard into deeper parts rather than getting bombarded by questions about simple and basic facts, or what i considered basic facts that thought they already knew.
Regardless of the plan, the day/class was productive. The 55 minutes was the quiz and the clips, quiz took about 10 minutes and was on something completely different, so we had a solid 40 min on 9/11.
Sticky,
Now that I am back in class at my U with some 18 y.o., I see your logic. And damnit all to hell I want to shove those I-pod-Blarckberry-You tube blaring things into the sink...so I can only imagine your frustration. That said, Our brilliant instrutor knows his shit, as seems you do as well. And why?
He does not plan ahead, per-se, but just flows with the environment in the classroom. For this, his students feel a connection to him. And I can say with ALL honesty it keeps them really excited about learning, and THAT skill must come with experience of some kind! ;)
Just my .02
Holly
ZonieDiver
09-18-2009, 13:35
He does not plan ahead, per-se, but just flows with the environment in the classroom. For this, his students feel a connection to him. And I can say with ALL honesty it keeps them really excited about learning, and THAT skill must come with experience of some kind!
Sometimes that appearance of a teacher who "just flows with the environment in the classroom" and doesn't seem to "plan ahead, per-se" takes an inordinate amount of planning and experience! I have found that students often discuss the most, and learn a lot, when they think they have the teacher "off-topic"!
Apparantly, others are following Stickey's lead.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h22hwOV1YWbvMi_L8U5NWQpNetowD9AJBT0G3
New program will teach students about 9/11
NEW YORK — Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani joined Sept. 11 family members and college professors on Tuesday at a hotel blocks from the World Trade Center site to unveil a plan to teach middle and high school students about the 2001 terrorist attacks.
The 9/11 curriculum, believed to be the first comprehensive educational plan focusing on the attacks, is expected to be tested this year at schools in New York City, California, New Jersey, Alabama, Indiana, Illinois and Kansas.
It was developed with the help of educators by the Brick, N.J.-based Sept. 11 Education Trust, and was based on primary sources, archival footage and more than 70 interviews with witnesses, family members of victims and politicians, including Giuliani and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a New York senator at the time of the attacks.
The curriculum is taught through videos, lessons and interactive exercises, including one that requires students to use Google Earth software to map global terrorist activity.
One of the main goals is to help students entering middle and high school, who may been too young to have strong memories of the attacks, to develop a tangible connection to what happened.
“In a few years, we will be teaching students who were not even alive at the time of the attacks,” said Anthony Gardner, the executive director of the Sept. 11 Education Trust.
The nonprofit group is run by victims’ families, survivors and rescue workers who worry that educators don’t teach about the attacks because they don’t have the educational tools to do so.
Giuliani said that the curriculum can help students to think critically about the attacks as both a historical event and one that shapes the present, noting the continued threat of terrorism and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“This is one of the critical subjects on which young people should develop some ideas and thoughts. They’re going to have to live with this for quite some time,” he said. “It gives young people a framework in which to think about Sept. 11, all that it meant and all that it means to the present.”
For the professors who helped to develop the plan through the Taft Institute for Government at Queens College, creating that framework to understanding how 9/11 affects today’s policies was critical to the endeavor, and part of the challenge.
“The real trick is to get kids to see that it’s not just a dramatic event like 9/11 that connects them to these issues, it’s connected to their lives in the everyday, said Michael A. Krasner, a political scientist at Queens College. He said a range of viewpoints are reflected in the curriculum, including from Muslim scholars, to enrich the discussion.
The curriculum was designed so that teachers could tailor it to their own classrooms, but it gives an open-eyed view of 9/11, Gardner said.
“We’re not sugarcoating the event,” said Gardner, whose brother died in the World Trade Center. “We’ve included images that are challenging.”
Students and professors are invited to participate on a Web site developed around the curriculum, where they can share their own videos, lesson plans and discuss the questions raised in their classrooms.
The curriculum was tried out in 2008 at the River Dell Regional High School, a roughly 1,000-student high school in Oradell, N.J., about 20 miles north of Manhattan.
It costs $99 per license through Sept. 18, 2009. After that, it will cost $129. The money will go toward the development of more teaching materials on 9/11.
The National September 11 Memorial & Museum has also developed educational materials for high schools, which are intended to augment classroom discussions, not to serve as an in-depth curriculum.
On the Net:
www.sept11educationtrust.org
www.learnabout9-11.org/
Last semester in my Crime Analysis II class, the majority of class time was spent discussing 9/11 planning, orchestration, and execution. The only required texts for the course were the 9/11 Commission Report and the Psychology of Intelligence Analysis. Both texts are available online. A large part of the course included "free-thinking" exercises and discussions. "Where were you?" was one of the topics.
I remember vividly where I was and what I was doing when the attacks occurred, however I cannot speak for the rest of the class (and this is a course geared towards Criminal Justice juniors and seniors in college). I was in HS when this happened so most of the people in my course were between the ages of 14-17.
I remember walking in the back door of our restaurant as I had been let out of school early and seeing my mom making a batch of chicken salad while listening to the radio. My dad was up front watching a small tv. My first question in my head was "Are we going after them yet?". I knew what it meant even at that age.
I feel that this is largely due to the fact that my father was in Vietnam 62-65, my mother was an Army brat and raised on base in Germany, I spent a lot of time as a young kid playing in the vicinity of Ft. Dix, and I had more toy M1's, Grease Guns, and M16's than most kids my age had.:lifter Military kids definitely get it more than the average ones do.
How a child is raised has a helluva lot to do with how they think. I was never pushed off on a babysitter and I had to work in our restaurants basically from the time I could walk. I was treated with maturity, and so I had more than most of the kids around me at that time. I feel that in today's society, kids are coddled too much and taught an attitude of passivity and appeasement that will last them their lifetimes. If more teachers started "waking these kids up" to the world, maybe we would have more appreciation and understanding of the military, the infrastructure of our country, what it takes to run our nation, and how great the US really is. Hopefully, kids would start maturing more.
I think that incorporating current events or events relevant to a kid's lifetime in the classroom is necessary for us to advance as a nation. After all, They can't live in bubbles forever. School has to end sometime.....