9/11 Lessons

The best 9/11 film for grades 8-12

Ric Burns’ New York: The Documentary from PBS’ American Experience Every fall, I watch this film… sometimes with my classes, sometimes on my own at home. In my opinion, Season 1, Episode 8 of New York: The Documentary is the best film you can show students to help them understand the facts and aftermath of…

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The Best 9/11 Lesson Ever: Visit a Local Memorial

A 9/11 field trip helps students better understand the attacks and identify with the tragedy in a way that’s more tangible than reading about it in a textbook (and way more verifiably truthful than learning about it on YouTube!). Find a memorial near you with these links.

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Sept. 11 Book Selections

Here are two more excellent books for remembering 9/11. Tomorrow is September 11, and to remember that day I plan to read from two important books on the subject. I also did this last Friday with two other books: Vigilance by Ray Kelly and 102 Minutes: The Unforgettable Story of the Fight to Survive Inside…

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A Sept. 11 Artifacts Poetry Display

Personal 9/11 artifacts and acrostic poems recall the depth of human loss Today, I’m posting some photographs sent to me from a fellow high school teacher, Joe Wolf, who last week tried my “The Stories the Artifacts Tell” lesson plan featured in this 9/11 lesson post. Wolf teaches at Hollister High School in southwest Missouri…

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Top Sept. 11 Resources and My 9/11 Poetry Lesson Plan

Plus a new 9/11 resource for distance learning I never thought I’d say this, but I’m going to scale down my September 11 lesson plans this year. My students usually spend a solid week or more reading and responding to survivor accounts, historical articles, and other texts. We often watch an accompanying video, such as…

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9/11 Poetry Lesson Plan: The stories the artifacts tell

Artifacts link the 9/11 attacks to the loss of a single human life I believe in teaching students about the September 11th terrorist attacks. It seems that up until a few years ago, students had an intrinsic desire to understand it better. Still, it seems that their desire to learn about 9/11 is waning, especially…

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Teaching 9/11 Twenty Years Later

If you’re needing a round-up of resources for teaching 9/11, you’re in a good place. In this post, I’ve compiled links to all my 9/11-related articles. Hopefully, one of these will give you some ideas as you make plans to remember 9/11 in your classroom this year.

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Our Field Trip to a Local 9/11 Memorial

Plus: a few things my students didn’t know about 9/11 On Wednesday, Sept. 12, I took my eighth-grade students to a local college to view the 9/11 memorial there. I have wanted to do this for a couple of years and finally, this year the stars aligned: my lesson planning fell into place, a few…

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