Staten Island Advance/Bill Lyons"9/11: Reflections Then and Now" is screened for an appreciative audience at the JCC in Sea View last night. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Considering today's elementary school students hadn't been born on Sept. 11, 2001 -- and even older high school students were just 7 or 8 at the time -- teachers in all grades...
"9/11: Reflections Then and Now" is screened for an appreciative audience at the JCC in Sea View last night.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Considering today's elementary school students hadn't been born on Sept. 11, 2001 -- and even older high school students were just 7 or 8 at the time -- teachers in all grades can struggle with just how to broach a sensitive subject so close to their own hearts and lives with students who didn't live through or don't remember it.
"There's so many adults that haven't moved in time, like the kids have," New Dorp High School Principal Deidre DeAngelis said. "And the impact, especially on Staten Island and the members of the Staten Island community, were so large. It's like yesterday for us. It's not 10 years, its yesterday."
But beginning this year, teachers will have a little more guidance, although it comes at the last minute: The city is rolling out a new curriculum for dealing with the tragic attacks the week before the start of the school year.
COVERS GRADES K THROUGH 12
Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott announced yesterday the release of a new curriculum, developed by the Department of Education and the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, that schools can use when discussing Sept. 11 with students from kindergarten to 12th grade.
"The 10th anniversary will be an emotional, difficult time for many New Yorkers, so it's important that our students understand what happened that day," Walcott said in a statement. "With the help of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, we've created a guide to discussing these events with students in a meaningful way that is also academically rigorous."
The curriculum focuses on sacrifices made by first responders on that day, and provides broader context on the event as an attack on freedom that was experienced by all New Yorkers and Americans, according to the DOE. With the start of school less than a week away, teachers are being encouraged to integrate the lessons into their plans for the school year, in social studies, history, English and art classes.
The lesson plans were written with the help of city school teachers, and are divided into four categories: Historical impact; community and conflict; heroes and service, and memory and memorialization. They're also aligned with the Common Core State Standards, and will be aimed at improving writing and critical thinking skills.
"New York City is home to some of the best public schools in the nation and in working with their teachers, we hope these lesson plans will not only teach children about the history of 9/11, but also about the responsibility of being an American and maintaining the very freedoms that terrorists sought to destroy 10 years ago," 9/11 Memorial president Joe Daniels said in a statement.
Walcott sent a letter to all public school principals, superintendents and school support networks yesterday, providing links to resources schools can use when they return from summer break next week. School staff and students, especially those directly affected by the attacks or the rescue and recovery efforts, will also have access to counseling resources.
Even without a formal curriculum, Sept. 11, 2001, has been a classroom topic over the last decade -- though some teachers have sought to avoid it.
At the Tribute WTC Visitor Center, Wendy Aibel-Weiss, director of exhibits and education, has for the last few years helped educators figure out how to teach students about 9/11. Among the most common questions the center gets from teachers is, "How can I possibly explore this topic when I know I'm going to start to cry?" Ms. Aibel-Weiss said.
Others have told her it was the "the worst teaching day of my life" -- one that made them feel helpless to protect terrified students, some of them who were orphaned, terrified -- and a day they never wanted to relive.
But in the lead-up to the 10th anniversary of the attacks, and with the killing of Osama bin Laden, there was renewed interest in how to teach students about Sept. 11, she said. In years past, between 18 and 20 teachers a summer signed up for workshops held by the center. This summer, the number swelled to 150. When students didn't know who bin Laden was, she said, many teachers realized they had been remiss.
"We think it's a major component of New York City history, and it's ridiculous that we have kids coming from all over the country and the world eager to know what's happening here," Ms. Aibel-Weiss said, "but kids who -- it was in their own backyards -- are avoiding the topic."
And while many teachers believe they need to hide their own painful memories of the day from students, Ms. Aibel-Weiss said they've told educators just the opposite.
"We feel the way to get into this difficult material is to begin with a personal story," she said.
In addition to lessons on history, Ms. Aibel-Weiss said Sept. 11 is full of civics lessons, as well.
The topic is a hard one to teach at New Dorp, DeAngelis said, where many alumni were killed and many staff members lost family and friends on Sept. 11.
"We all have our connections to that, and it is difficult for teachers," she said.
But she said the school's history department was "one of the best" -- and they have worked hard to get through the topics with students in the past. Helping teachers bring the topic into the classroom, despite how hard it might be, is in part what the curriculum is designed to do.
"We are committed to building educational programs and providing materials to teach future generations about 9/11 in its depth and complexity," Clifford Chanin, education director for the museum, said in a statement. "No matter how old you are, this is an emotional and difficult subject. These lessons plans are proof that, while the subject may be challenging, it belongs in the classroom."