netTrekker Blog

A Day to Remember

Last night a group of us were reflecting on where we were, to borrow from Alan Jackson, “when the world stopped turning.”  I was at the District Office in Sumter School District Two, which serves Shaw AFB. As a military BRAT, we were used to exercises and high alerts, but parents and teachers were unsure how to handle the “real thing”. Parents flooded the schools to take their children home, as the jets took off to assignments that were no longer an exercise. Many teachers were undecided as to whether to turn the news on and watch the events unfold, or to continue the day. A numbness fell across many classrooms. And this wasn’t just at Shaw area schools, but schools all across the nation.

When students started to show back up, teachers were left to answer questions like “what is terrorism”, “are they going to attack us”, and “why would someone do that”. And these questions continue each year as we remember 9/11, and each year teachers have to explain the magnitude of this major event in America’s recent history.

netTrekker has some great lessons and websites already researched that are great and supportive to any teacher looking to teach and explain the attack and our response. There are BrainPOP movies on terrorism and about September 9/11. Many of the websites use primary sources, images, quotes from those who were there, quotes from the leaders that were involved. Sites range from PBS, Smithsonian, the BBC, CNN, and more. There are websites with time-lines showcasing the events leading up to the attack and after the attack. I even found memorial websites on how Americans plan to remember the three sites that the four planes hit.

September 11 is the day that we came together as a nation,  and we changed some of our ways. Parents hugged their children and shifted priorities back to the family.  Neighbors knocked on doors to reconnect. Those who serve(d) us as firefighters, police officers, emergency crews, in the military and as teachers worked hard to respond, rescue, protect and start the healing. It was the everyday American who stepped up to the plate to aide as needed. As Americans, we need to remember our backgrounds and embrace the cultural differences that make us one of the most unique nations in the world. If we continue to remember, to reflect, and to allow this major tragedy remind us just how precious life is and it changes how we interact with the world in a positive way, then a small triumph can be found. The greatest way to honor those who died that day is to find a lesson that teaches what happened on September 11, but also to teach the compassion that followed after.

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