Elizabeth Schaefer on the Impact of 9/11 in the Classroom

Date Published
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Photo, September 11 memorial, September 28, 2005, FatBusinessman, Flickr
Article Body

Early in the year, teachers scramble to put back on their 500 hats and begin the year on the right foot. For the past two years, I have used a September 11th interview project in my 8th-grade U.S. History class to meet many early-in-the-year needs. With a week of instruction and one project, I have been able to better understand the level and lives of the students, communicate with families early on, set the tone for thinking historically within my class, and most importantly, gotten the students engaged and excited about American history.

Project Design

The original idea began simply with concern that my 13- and 14-year-old students did not understand what actually happened on 9/11 or its relation to our presence in Afghanistan and Iraq. Simultaneously, I knew I needed to meet standards and could not linger too long on a timeframe outside of my content area. Based on this balance of social studies duties, I ended up using 9/11 as a lens to teach the beginning of the year’s "history tools and vocabulary" unit. The consequential project design ended up looking like this during the first full week of school (ideal for a pre-Labor Day start time):

Monday - Students are introduced to primary and secondary sources and basic vocabulary. They work in groups to perform a primary source analysis on four different pieces: New York Times Sept. 12 cover, a photograph of people crying, a photograph protesting the backlash against Muslims, and the transcripts from 911 conversations. I found the conversations through my local NPR website. The students record descriptions, inferences, and questions.

The original idea began simply with concern that my 13- and 14-year-old students did not understand what actually happened on 9/11...

Tuesday - The students take guided notes on what happened during the day of September 11th, a simplistic statement about "why,” and basic bullet-pointed effects. I include the people that died from a variety of countries and positions in life, the economy, changes in transportation, the related wars, and increased hate crimes against Muslims.

Wednesday - The interview project itself is introduced. Students brainstorm a possible person to interview about their September 11th experience. In class, the students create two sourcing questions (find out about your subject), four experience questions (find out about his or her experience) and two opinion questions (find out about his or her thoughts or life after). Questions are modeled to demonstrate open-ended and information-based questions.

Thursday - The students bring in a minimum of 10 questions which they should have developed for homework (including the eight from the day before) and the class conducts peer edits based on open-endedness and knowledge.

Friday - Check back in with all students to make sure they have an interview plan. Model how to ask an adult to interview and set them up to turn the project in successfully with a grading rubric. The grading rubric involves an outline including an introduction to the interview, a question/answer section, and finally a four-part conclusion including a connection they made with their subject, a surprise, an additional question, and finally a reflection on the experience.

Due Date - In my classes, the interview project has been due on or next to the anniversary of 9/11. The students take a mini-quiz on the topic and then the students each share-out about their interview. This has been a very special day both years that I have done this project.

Improvements

As this was my second year using this project, several major adjustments were made. First, I fully committed to the mini-unit and had no qualms about using a full week to make sure that it integrated practical history skills and provided time for clarity. My students have been very interested in this subject and have many questions. When you are approaching this, there needs to be an outlet and plenty of time for an excess of GOOD questions.

This year I mentally prepared to get political and stick to the historic facts.

Secondly, this year I mentally prepared to get political and stick to the historic facts. The knowledge students have on this subject largely comes from their families. They have surprised me with their in-depth knowledge of conspiracy theories as well as confusion about their parents' anti-Islamic statements. I recommend requesting a trusted person to observe you if this is a concern. I personally felt relieved after my mentor teacher viewed a session to ensure that I was teaching the students to be good, knowledgeable citizens of the world as well as inquisitive historians without veering off the facts.

Finally, I had come to accept that as a middle-school teacher I should be in the beginning of their education, not the end. Although the students and I both want to go deeper into the history and the causes of September 11th, I needed to give myself clear boundaries recognizing the pieces I could teach effectively in the time allowed.

Next year more changes will be needed. I plan to increase guidance on how to interview. In retrospect, a full model interview session would have been helpful. Although the student's questions improved year-to-year, I would also like to move my next group closer to thinking deeply about the unique perspective of their subject and formulating questions based on their location, job, or past. As of now, this is the only interview that my students conduct, but I am considering making it a gateway to a more advanced interview later in the year to make sure that the students are growing in inquiry skills instead of just information.

Results

Early in the year, the results of this one-week experience are powerful for the teacher. The excitement about history is tangible in the classroom and written in student reflections. The information gathered about families on the second week of school is invaluable in a way that a parent survey could never be. With a very structured project outline, the data gathered on student's writing, ability to reapply knowledge, and ability to follow directions is worth much more than the test averages from the year before.

The excitement about history is tangible in the classroom and written in student reflections.

As for the students, according to their quizzes, they no longer think that the Pentagon is in New York or that Iraq is directly responsible for 9/11. Their conclusions however tell of a much deeper impact:

"I can't believe something so big happened during my lifetime and I never really knew about it."

"I did not know that my mom knew stuff about history. I really liked talking to her about this. "

"My dad told me more about 9/11 than the questions but I didn't report it because it was too personal. He cried and that never happens."

For more information

Interested in teaching 9/11 yourself? Try the September 11 Digital Archive or September 11, 2001: Attack on America for primary sources.

Created for the Bracero Archive, "People as Primary Sources: Conducting Interviews" presents useful tips for conducting oral history interviews.

CIA Electronic Reading Room

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Logo, CIA, CIA Electronic Reading Room
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The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has digitized thousands of formerly secret documents declassified to comply with Freedom of Information Act requests.

Keyword search capabilities are provided for the complete site. In addition, there are eight collections designated as "frequently requested records" that total nearly 8,000 documents. These collections cover a number of Cold War topics: CIA involvement in the 1954 coup in Guatemala; convicted spies Ethel and Julius Rosenberg; the 1961 Bay of Pigs affair; and two well-known espionage incidents.

Additional topics include POW MIAs in Vietnam, human rights abuses in Latin America, and UFOs. A disclaimer notes that some material cannot be disclosed due to national security laws, and released pages often have material deleted or blacked out. Still, the material offered is voluminous and useful for studying Cold War foreign policy and military history.

Open Yale Courses

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Photo, Professor Joanne B. Freeman, Open Yale Courses
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Yale University has made a sampling of their courses available for listeners, viewers, and readers.

As of writing, the history subsection contains six courses—two of which relate directly to U.S. history ("The American Revolution" and "The Civil War and Reconstruction Era, 1845-1877") and one which touches on relevant issues, "Epidemics and Western Society Since 1600." Each of these courses offers links to individual pages for each lecture. Lecture pages contain short text overviews of the topic at hand; a list of any reading which was required for the day; and links to lecture audio, video, and transcriptions.

Our site links you directly to the Yale's history courses. However, consider exploring other topics as well. Maybe a lecture on Roman architecture will give you background for discussing monuments in Washington, DC, or an economics course will give you a new way of thinking about the American Revolution. Interdisciplinary possibilities are endless.

Fort Negley [TN]

Description

Fort Negley was the largest fortification built by the occupying Union Army in Nashville and the largest inland stone fort built during the Civil War. Measuring 600 feet by 300 feet, Negley covered four acres and was constructed from October to December 1862. The stronghold was constructed by conscript laborers, both slaves and free blacks, of stone, logs, earth, and railroad iron. More than 2,700 African American men worked to build Fort Negley; only 300 were paid for their labor. The Visitor Center features exhibits, monthly activities, annual events, and self-guided tours of Fort Negley Park.

The fort offers tours, exhibits, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).

Throughout the Ages

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Photo, A small boy with chicks on a farm. . . , 1932, New York State Archives
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Throughout the Ages was created to meet the primary source needs of New York state K-6 history teachers. The site collection includes more than 500 photographs, letters, paintings, advertisements, and maps.

To navigate the site, choose an area of interest and subtopic (for example "leisure" under the heading "community"), and scroll to a source of interest. The source will offer a caption. In some cases, historical context, focus questions, and the correlating New York state standards will also be listed. Be sure to click on each of these section titles, as items such as resources and historical background only display once selected.

One feature to look into is the automatic handout maker. For each image, you can automatically generate a handout by selecting any or all of the following categories: caption, historical background, standards/key ideas, historical challenge, interdisciplinary connections, and resources. For some images, these will already be filled out. For others, you can type anything you want for all, some, or one of those categories. Don't worry about deleting existing text if you don't want it on your handout. It will be back the next time you load your page.

Williamson County Historical Society and Museum [IL]

Description

The Williamson County Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Williamson County, Illinois. To this end, the society operates a museum of local history, housed within the 1916 jail and sheriff's residence. Rooms are set to period appearance. Settings include domestic spaces, a garment shop, a doctor's office, a country store, and a schoolroom. A military exhibit is also located on site.

The society offers period rooms, exhibits, one-hour museum tours, research library access, and research assistance. A fee is charged for research conducted on request.