nmah5462.xml

nmah5462.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-03-07

I am an 8th grade Language Arts & Social Studies teacher in New Hampshire, and our teaching team had recently decided that current events would be a worthwhile focus for our Social Studies classes. My free period was at 9:15 that morning, and when the phone rang, I wasn't alarmed until I heard the tone of my husband's voice telling me what had happened. My first thought was, wow, this is some current event! I called our school librarian to get a TV for class, and I started notifying others. Schools are not unlike a cocoon, and daily news events usually don't penetrate our walls, so most people did not yet know what was happening. When we learned that at least one of the planes involved had come from Boston, we feared that some of our students might have family or friends ON that aircraft, so we decided we'd better not tell the kids. Word got out anyway, though, and when a bevy of 14-year-olds get passionate about watching the news, it's hard to resist, so we did let them watch. I don't remember which network we joined, but the situation was still getting bigger as we heard about the Pentagon, the crash in Pennsylvania, and the towers collapsing. One at a time, students started to fall apart with worry and fear, and all of us teachers became so busy, letting kids call parents for reassurance, and doing what we could to comfort them. We turned off the TV, and I remember bringing my Social Studies class back upstairs to my classroom. I let them sit together in small groups, and I put some music on the CD player. The random song I had unconsciously selected was "This Land is Your Land," and the kids all noticed its significance. In the days and weeks that followed, I felt very close to those students -- we had gone through something important together -- and we talked about it a lot , processing the information and its meaning in our lives. I will always associate the events of September 11, 2001 with those students.

The routines of my daily life have not changed, but the way I AM in the world is different. I think about safety and danger more now. I'm more aware of what's going on around me.

A bigger difference is in my teaching. I have been teaching a major unit on the Vietnam era, and it used to be that my 8th graders could not really grasp how crazy the world was in the 1960's (when I was their age). Now they really get it. They are experiencing the world much the same way I did those thirty-five years ago. They understand the meaning of the song, "Eve of Destruction."

It's difficult to say how history will receive these events. Much like Pearl Harbor, I suppose. While the tragedy of the day is central to everything else, I think it's also important to remember how our country rallied together, supported those in need, and worked to make good come from the evil.

We flew the American flag in our yard even before September 11th. Since then we have placed additional flag decals on our vehicles. I loved it that several days after September 11, there were no flags available to buy anywhere in stores -- they were al sold out! My 8th grade students told me that they became much more appreciative of the flag and what it represents. In New Hampshire, a law was passed to require all students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every day, and no one has complained about that!