Last Thursday, I was conferencing with a student about “I Survived the Attacks on 9/11” As the student was summarizing the book, he said, “Ms. W, it was really crazy. The planes crashed into the World Trade Center and a ton of people died. It was really scary. I am so glad it was just a book.”
*pause, deep breath* “I know it is really crazy, but this book is Historical Fiction. It is based in truth. 2001 was before you were born, but these attacks actually happened. It was very scary and a lot of lives were forever changed on that day.”
So today, September 11th, I taught about 9/11. For better or worse, I taught it. Although it was not in my teaching ‘game plan’ or our district curriculum map, I made it fit. At some point as teachers we have to say, “Our teaching must be relevant.” Yes, teaching perfect verbs is important (well…….), but so is the day that dramatically changed our country. This is a day that changed the way our students live, and they should know it is not just a crazy plot for a book.
Since, we are just beginning our learning about main idea and key details, I wrote a nonfiction article about how 9/11 changed America. You may grab the article here for free. Before delving into literature, I needed to lay the foundation – what was 9/11?
We watched most of the FREE BrainPop video of September 11th. Note – I skipped the section from 3:30 – 4:45.
Then, we read an article about how America has changed since 9/11. After reading the article individually, we worked as a class to ‘map’ the article. We started with the topic (the attacks of 9/11), moved to the main idea (the attacks on 9/11 changed America), and focused on the key details the article used to support the main idea.
At the end of one of my classes we had a few moments, so we went to Google Earth and viewed live images of the Twin Towers Memorial, as well as, the Pentagon Memorial. Honestly, I am glad this moment only happened with one class. It was probably the most emotional part of the day. We pulled up the Twin Towers memorial and saw all the names of those who died in the towers engraved in the stone. It was overwhelming – for me and the students – and for a little bit, we just sat, taking in the moment.
Overall, it was a wonderful day. I am so glad we took the time to integrate my standards (main idea) and September 11th. While the world just became a little more real for my students, I feel blessed to have a classroom of learners who are engaged and eager enough to want to learn more about their world.
Note – At no point did I go into specific or gory details about the attacks. This lesson was more of an overview of the attacks and how our world changed as a result of them. While I did field questions from students, I felt very comfortable referring many questions to their parents. Please, believe me – as a first-year teacher, I have no desire to start fires.
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Matt Sutton says
September 12, 2013 at 2:13 amThis is great. Just great that you were able to share this with the class. At my school I don't know how many classes talked about it—but I hope some did.
My first grade daughter came home today and wanted to talk about it and know more. I'm very appreciative that her teacher talked with them.
Thank you for doing the same
matt
Digital: Divide & Conquer
Melissa says
September 12, 2013 at 12:54 pmIt's crazy to think that most of these kids come into our classes with NO idea what happened, or they think it's just a story when it is SO VIVID to us! I forget that even though I see older elementary, they were not alive when the towers fell (even when I started teaching, they were too young to have even been in school).
Yesterday, I was in a 4th grade class where a student said his grandfather was killed (or at least that's what it sounded like) near the Pentagon while riding his motorcycle. Not sure if he had all of the details correct, but it made me realize that some of my kids may have been directly affected since we're only a few hours from DC.
It's so important to start these conversations with our kids on an appropriate level for them to understand. I think you did a great job introducing it to your fifth graders!
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Bethany Hunter says
September 12, 2013 at 9:02 pmI showed this video to my kiddos yesterday too. A few of my kids started that I Survived book today, because they wanted to know more about what happened.
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Becky says
September 12, 2013 at 11:06 pmI think it's great that you took the time to teach your students about such an important event. Yes, it's tragic, but like you said, it is a historical event that changed our country forever.
Way to be brave. I am sure it was hard to teach about something so intense.
Becky
Compassionate Teacher
MsAPlusTeacher says
September 15, 2013 at 4:02 pmNick News (just google, Nick News 9-11 video) also has a great video (it's about 20 minutes, I think) that discusses 9-11 in a very kid friendly way. It explains why it happened and exactly what happened and answers a lot of our students questions. We have been showing it for the past two years just because our students were either so young or now, weren't even born at the time. Then we play John Mayer's Waiting on the World to Change and talk about how we can make a positive change in the world by doing little acts of kindness and helping each other. We have students journal about ways they can change the world for the better 🙂 It's a really positive spin on the events that happened and leaves the students with ways they can help shape our world into a better place 🙂
Thanks for sharing your lessons with us!
Amanda
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Unknown says
September 11, 2015 at 1:34 pmI think it's awesome that you did this. Thank you for sharing! I am doing this with my fifth graders today. On this 14th anniversary, it's important to keep the memory live of those who gave their lives and fought so hard to keep our country safe.