Remembering 9/11

Even though 9/11 isn't technically in the curriculum I really wanted to spend the day teaching it to my students...especially since they were only babies when it happened. It was very interesting, exciting, and sad to teach all at the same time. It was a little hard to express to them in words what it is like to be able to teach such a huge event that I got to experience.  Most things in history I have to teach based on what I learned and what is in history books.  September 11 is something I can actually tell to them in my perspective and what I remember about the day.

Since my students can't remember the events of 9/11 (some weren't born and most were under a year old) I thought it would make more of an impact if they each chose someone to interview.  As their homework they were to interview someone they know about September 11.  We had a variety of people from parents, step-parents, grandparents, teachers, and neighbors.  A few students had relatives that were only 10 miles away from the attacks.  A lot of them really got into it and interviewed multiple people and wrote down complete stories.  I only required them to answer the basic five questions that we came up with together.
1. How old were they?
2. Where were they?
3. What were they doing?
4. How did they find out?
5. How did they feel?

I also got to share my story with them too.  I was in 8th grade English class when another classmate came back from an appointment and said he heard about it.  All we did the whole day was watch the news footage.

We also watched a short clip on the twin towers and I read them a timeline of 9/11 and facts of the day.  I'm hoping that all of the students now have a better idea and appreciation for 9/11.

http://www.history.com/topics/9-11-attacks/videos#911-timeline
Here is the clip that I showed to my students. 

Here is a quote that a student shared from her grandma and grandpa that summed up September 11.  "You can rebuild buildings, but you can't rebuild the lives that were lost."