story1684.xml

story1684.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-03

I am a teacher for the Ft. Smith school district. I taught fourth grade last year. On the morning of Sept. 11th, the other fourth grade teacher ran into my room. Her sister had called and said a plane had hit the world trade center. We were horrified. Then a few minutes later she ran back in and said another one had hit and the pentagon and the officials new it was terrorists.

I resisted the urge to turn on the TV. I had 24 little 9-10 year olds who Ii was responsible for and I didn't want to scare them.

The teachers gathered out in the hall and were talking in scared hushed tones. "Who would do this?" was repeated several times. I told them i just was sure it was Osama Bin Laden. They told me a day or two later that it was interesting that I was "right on the money."

When my students went to lunch, I went back to my room and turned on the TV. I honestly had cold chills as Ii watched the footage of the planes hitting the towers. I choked back a sob, as tears ran down my face.

After lunch we were informed that one of our kindergarten teachers had left the building; you see she had a sister who worked in the Pentagon. Fortunately, later that evening the sister called to say she had made it out all right.

I think the toughest part of the day was staying calm for the students, and wondering if it was the beginning of many attacks. And in the following days how I would discuss with them the horrible images they would see on the news that evening.

Of course that day I went to work with an empty tank. I spent that afterbnoon waiting in line for gas, like many other frightened Americans. I don't ever want to be that scared again.