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?
Follow on was, "then how did Osama live?"
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?
"With what evidence?" was my reply.
How come we don't ever talk about 9/11?
Why are they jumping from the buildings?
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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.