One of the toughest things to swallow about today is that the significance of it is starting to fade with each passing year for our young people. Each year my students remember less about 9/11/01 and this year, most of my kids were barely born when it happened. September 11th is now something they've heard about or read about in a history book. It isn't something they experienced. I feel personally that it is my job as a teacher to make sure that something this important is never forgotten.
I encourage everyone to share their stories about 9/11 with their students to make it real, make it personal for them. I was about their age when it happened. I remember the confusion in my classmates, the terror and emotion in my teachers, and the tears. I remember the panic in my parents trying to contact our relatives in New York City. I remember how the community college my grandmother taught it was evacuated and then closed due to damage from the dust and debris. I remember the smell at ground zero when I visited and the families still hoping that somehow a loved one that was missing would be found. I want my students to understand why 9/11 changed the world forever and why we "never forget." In a way, it's history teachers that keep the memories of the fallen alive and make them immortal. Enduring for all time. That's the way it should be for the thousands of Americans that died at ground zero, the pentagon, and in Pennsylvania that morning.
I encourage everyone to share their stories about 9/11 with their students to make it real, make it personal for them. I was about their age when it happened. I remember the confusion in my classmates, the terror and emotion in my teachers, and the tears. I remember the panic in my parents trying to contact our relatives in New York City. I remember how the community college my grandmother taught it was evacuated and then closed due to damage from the dust and debris. I remember the smell at ground zero when I visited and the families still hoping that somehow a loved one that was missing would be found. I want my students to understand why 9/11 changed the world forever and why we "never forget." In a way, it's history teachers that keep the memories of the fallen alive and make them immortal. Enduring for all time. That's the way it should be for the thousands of Americans that died at ground zero, the pentagon, and in Pennsylvania that morning.
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