Discussions

GEC member Missy Gluckmann's recent blog post on ways to remember 9/11 has me thinking this morning. In what ways will you choose to mark this occasion with your students or with your community? What teaching resources will you use?  What do you remember about that day? 

Let me tap my memory.... Certain moments from that day and beyond stay with me. On September 11, 2001, I was pulling into a parking spot on the Midway Plaisance at the University of Chicago, heading to my computer science teaching job at the Laboratory Schools there. I was listening to WBBM-AM in Chicago, and heard the news that a plane had struck a building in New York. My first thought was that it had to be a small commuter type plane. Never in a million years did I think a jetliner had crashed purposely into the World Trade Center buildings. 

I also remember having our computer lab TV tuned to the news all day. The picture was fuzzy as we weren't hooked to cable, and colleagues and students streamed in and out all day for news. I remember watching this TV when the second plane hit and it was very surreal. I remember news sites on the Internet were virtualy inaccessible. I also remember thinking about how I would retrieve my child from daycare in downtown Chicago if my school or her facility shut down. And finally, I remember sitting in my sixth grade team meeting and hearing jets fly overhead. I went to a nearby fire escape and opened the door, just in time to see jets cruising along Lake Michigan. Again, I never thought that this sort of thing would happen.

A few weeks later, I also remember being very apprehensive about attending a wedding near the top of the Sears Tower in Chicago a week or so after 9/11. The Sears Tower, now called the Willis Tower, was  a site that had been considered by the 9/11 terrorists. Our world had changed, our safety had been compromised, and my feelings were somewhat irrational. This fear faded somewhat, visiting the Sears Tower with my family while 8 months pregnant with my son in 2002. 

Ten years later, the horror of that day hasn't escaped me, or any of us, I would imagine.  I often ask my NYC friends where they were that day. I can't bring myself to watch that United Flight 93 movie, but I recently spent time at the Newseum in Washington DC where there's is a very special exhibit dedicated to this day in history. One focus of this exhibit is the story of a journalist who headed to the NYC site after the first plane crash, took pictures and then perished with the collapse of the second building. His camera and film were found, and the photos and equipment are on display at the Newseum.  There's also another film shown in this exhibit that's incredibly moving and had me in tears. If you have a chance to see this exhibit, it's well worth it. Here's a link to more about the exhibit. 

You also might be interested in National Geographic's site about 9/11. You can share your story with their Facebook app and map and make sure to check out their programming for the next few days. 

Thanks for indulging me while I've randomly sorted through some thoughts and ideas on this topic. 9/11 is why the need for global education has never been greater. At the risk of stating the obvious, we need to provide better opportunities everyone around the world, including access to education and healthcare for kids in particular. We also need to understand and tolerate each other better. Progress towards these two objectives can happen through connecting educators and classrooms around the world, by exploring social justice issues together through global collaborative projects, and by simply taking a moment here and there to think of others. I know that I'll be thinking of everyone who was deeply involved in the 9/11 tragedy in the days to come....