Teaching About 9/11

8/4/2019 Teaching About 9/11

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On September 11, 2001,lie in America changed.Ater terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in New Yorkand the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., many people beganto worry about the uture. They were and some still are,

even ten years later concerned about what might happennext.

But Americans learned a great deal rom that horric event. Wonderul stories came along with thescary ones. There were stories o heroes, stories o love and aith, and tales o the truth about theAmerican spirit. And these very stories, as well as others like them throughout our history, gaveAmerica a much-needed shot o hope or the uture. That hope, and the determination to rise romthe ashes o that day, brought America out o the darkness into the light o the next day.

A fag that hung across the street rom Ground Zero speaks volumes about America. Despite thedestruction all around it, that fag remained a symbol o how America dealt with the tragedy.The fag was damaged but still it few, with the eyes o the world upon it.

The 9/11 fag made the words o our national anthem,The Star Spangled Banner, come alive with new meaning.

And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proo through the night that our fag was still there.

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land o the ree and the home o the brave?

The answer to that question is a resounding YES. The fag still waves over the land o the ree andthe home o the brave. America stood united and strong on 9/11 and ater. But what makes Americaso strong? What does America count on when times are tough? Its a combination o all good things power, resilience, responsibility, compassion, diversity, creativity, and endurance. This section willtake a look at the traits that make up the American spirit and give our nation the strength to endure.Well look at times throughout our history when these admirable traits brought America throughdicult times.

As you read the stories about us in this section and in your local newspaper, think about what makesyou proud to be an American. Share your thoughts with your classmates and your parents.

This Hot Topics Hot Ser ials sect ion was:

Wri t ten by Debby Carrol l

Edi ted by Ken Bookman

Designed by Gi lbert & Associates

Hot Topics Hot Ser ials 2011

Look Back

With Pride,Look AheadWith Hope

It has been said that thenewspaper is the resh-est orm o history. Lookthrough today's newspa-

per and choose a storyabout the 9/11 anniversary.Write a fve-W summary o

the story, telling who, what,when, where, and why.

Common Core Standard: determinecentral ideas o a text, summarize keysupporting details and ideas

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Patriotic cover art avai lable in T-shirts and other i tems. V isi t : http ://www.zazzle .com/iamtheanswer


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On that September morning on the East coast, skies were exceptionallyblue, the air was crisp and clear, and all systems were go or a great day.Suddenly, the unthinkable happened. At 8:46 A.M., a plane AmericanAirlines Flight 11 crashed into the north tower o the World Trade Centerin New York. There was a deaening crash and a huge burst o fame, and

although no one quite knew what was happening, many people thought itwas an accident. Soon enough, theyd know it had not been an accident.

Earlier that morning, at 7:59, Flight 11 had taken o rom Boston on itsway to Los Angeles. At 8:14, United Airlines Flight 175 departed thesame airport with the same destination. At 8:20, American Flight 77 letWashington, D.C., headed or Los Angeles. And, at 8:42, United Flight 93let the Newark Airport bound or San Francisco.

At 9:03 A.M., Flight 175 crashed into the south tower o the World Trade

Center. At 9:37, Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. At 9:45, an operator gota cell phone call rom a passenger on Flight 93 reporting that the plane hadbeen hijacked and that the passengers planned to ght the hijackers. Almost20 minutes later, at 10:03, that plane crashed in a eld near Shanksville,Pennsylvania.

At 9:59, the south tower o the World Trade Center collapsed, ollowed bythe north tower at 10:28.

There were no survivors on any o the planes. Almost 3,000 people werekilled in the attacks on that day, more than 2,700 o them in the WorldTrade Center and the Pentagon. The people who died represented morethan 90 countries.

Within a ew hours, the FBI identied the 19 attackers. One hijackerssuitcase hadnt made it onto the plane with him. In it, the FBI ound paperswith critical inormation about the plan. The inormation pointed to theinvolvement and leadership o Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network

known as al-Qaeda.

The name al-Qaeda means the base in Arabic. Bin Laden ormed thegroup in the late 1980s with the initial goal o getting the U.S. armed orcesto leave Saudi Arabia and Somalia, using violence as needed. Bin Laden, aollower o Islam, was unhappy about the U.S. support o Israel and o othercountries that did not ollow Islamic belies.

Bin Laden made a public announcement o his war against America. He urgedMuslims around the world to join in attacks against the U.S. His network be-

gan recruiting and training young militant Muslims around the world. In 1991,a bomb exploded in the parking garage o the World Trade Center in NewYork. That attack was traced to al-Qaeda. In 1998, U.S. embassies in Kenyaand Tanzania were bombed, and again, the attacks were linked to al-Qaeda.

In 2000, suicide bombers attacked the ship U.S.S. Cole while it was in aharbor in Yemen. It was suspected that bin Laden ordered that attack.

Just ater the 9/11 attacks, bin Laden supposedly fed into the mountains

in Aghanistan. The U.S. and its allies began an attack on Aghanistan onOct. 7, 2001. Nearly ten years later, on May 1, 2011, President Obamaannounced that U.S. orces had killed Osama bin Laden. They hadound him in a compound deep in Pakistan.

What Happened on

September 11, 2001

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America and the

World Responds Aghanistanand Iraq

While the search or bin Laden and the ghting inAghanistan continued, Americas attention turned to

another country in the Middle East Iraq. Saddam Hussein,a dictator, had led Iraq since 1979. He had treated his own citizens poorlyand invaded neighboring Kuwait in 1990, allegedly committing atrocities.

Iraq was driven out o Kuwait by an international coalition. Following that,ongoing international inspections looked or suspected nuclear weapons.

By 2003, President George W. Bushsuggested that Hussein had nuclearweapons, also known as weapons omass destruction. Bush also said thatHussein had violated the U.N. SecurityCouncil resolutions that ollowed the

war on Kuwait. Bush urged other coun-tries to join the U.S. in an invasion oIraq. The mission began in March 2003.

Husseins government was toppled, andHussein was captured and ultimately execut-ed. Elections were held in Iraq, as democracytook root. But there were consistent violentuprisings by insurgents, or people in Iraqwho were opposed to the U.S. action in theircountry. Those actions have lessened, butghting continues in Iraq. No weapons omass destruction were ever ound.

The cost o the ghting in Iraq and Aghanistan, both in human lie (4,000to 5,000 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq and about 1,500 inAghanistan) and in dollars spent, has been huge. Ultimately, the war eortmay cost the U.S. as much as $1 trillion. Americans are divided on the bestway to get out o the military actions in Iraq and Aghanistan.

President Obama is workingvery hard to keep Americasae. Find a story about him intodays print or digital newspa-per. What is he doing today tohelp America?

Common Core Standard: Read and com-prehend complex literary and inormational

texts independently and prociently

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American history is ull o stories and events that make uspowerul. Consider materials that we believe are strong. For example,iron is strong, but steel is stronger because it joins iron with carbon to makesomething stronger than its parts would be by themselves. So it is with Ameri-cans; we are stronger when we work together, united. The American people

are strong today because we learn rom history. We blend what we learn withwhat we believe. It is the merging o our knowledge with our belies that gives

us power the power o steel.

Patriotism in Good Times and BadPicture this scene. The president learns othe attack on America. He goes to addressCongress about declaring war. As he enters,the announcement is made, Mr. Speaker,the President o the United States. Are youimagining George Bush in 2001? In act, thepresident in this scene is Franklin Delano Roo-sevelt, and the date was Dec. 8, 1941, the dayater an attack and the day that America de-clared war against Japan. While some people

thought the attacks on 9/11 were the rst onAmerican soil, they were not. The Japaneseattack on the Pearl Harbor naval base on the

Hawaiian island o Oahu was the rst. Although Hawaii didnt become a stateuntil 1959, when it became the 50th state in the nation, Hawaii was an Ameri-can territory in 1941, when the Pearl Harbor attack happened.

Ater the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt said, Yesterday, Decem-ber 7, 1941 a date which will live in inamy the United States o America

was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the naval and air orces o Japan.The United States suered terrible losses in the attack, but we had enormousmeans to strike back and to win the war. We had those means then, and allthroughout our history. We still have them today.

In times o peace, and especially in times o war, Americans love our country.It is that love, called patriotism, that gives us the strength we need to deendourselves.

We dont all agree with everything that the government does,but we do agree on one thing: America is a great country in

which to live.

The American

Spirit Iron and Steel

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Resilience means the ability to bounce back atersomething gets you down. Bouncing back ater 9/11 was in thenest tradition o America. Throughout history, Americans, especially thosewho immigrated to America have been resilient. When we Americans traceour ancestry back ar enough, we come to a startling realization. Almost

none o us black, white, Jewish, Navajo, Chinese, Spanish, Italian, Irish actually come rom here. We all are immigrants. We all descend rompeople who came rom somewhere else. Many o us can trace our heritageto the wave o immigration between 1890 and 1940; more than one-third otodays Americans can do that.

Some o us descend rom colonists who immigrated in the 1600s and1700s. Some come rom slaves and servants who were orcibly broughtto these shores. Others came much more recently and are the subject oheated debate in the United States today. We are a nation o immigrants,and much o our history even beore we were a country is the storyo new people coming in and trying to settle into the ways and liestyleso this land. In that history, there are countless stories to be told, learnedrom, and savored. Those stories abound with the resilience o Americansnew and old we bounce back.

Between 1871 and 1911, about 20 million people came rom Europe toAmerica. Most were poor and wanted to make a better lie. But they aceddaunting obstacles. Some didnt know anyone in their new country. They

had let their amilies at home. Most didnt speak or read English. Theycouldnt nd work in the ways they had in their home countries.

But resilience and determination, perseverance and persistence allcontributed to their success. The new Americans worked hard until theyhad enough money to pay or their amilies to join them. Many went onto live happy and successul lives.

Immigration is the backbone o this nation.

It is Americas story, and it changes daily.Immigration has changed the aces o America,too, and changed the way we see ourselves.According to the 2010 census, there are nowabout 50.5 million Hispanics. That means thatone o every six Americans is Hispanic, with

roots in any o 20 Spanish-speaking countries. O course, theyre not allimmigrants. Much o Americas Hispanic population was born in the U.S.

By the year 2050, projections indicate that non-Hispanic white people, whonow comprise two-thirds o Americans, will become a minority and willmake up less than hal o Americas people.

One thing about Americas people will not change.We will continue to be resilient and strong.

Were Comingto America Immigrationand Resilience

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America has been described as a melting pot, wherepeople o dierent groups blended together. But somepeople thought the metaphor was inaccurate, because,unlike a soup, where everything blends into one, Americawas more like a salad bowl, where everything maintainsits own identity while existing side by side with others.Now, another metaphor is popular, that America is like asymphony, where each instrument plays in concert withthe others to produce a beautiul sound but where eachinstrument also can stand alone. Which do you think is themost accurate description? Write an essay describing your

thoughts and supporting your ideas with examples romthe newspaper.

Common Core Standard: Introduce a topic and organize ideas, concepts,and inormation to make important connections and distinctions

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled

masses yearning to breathe ree."Emma Lazarus

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American history is overfowing with stories o creativity,

inventive thinking, and imagination all key ingredientsin keeping America strong. Thomas Alva Edison was one greatAmerican inventor. Because darkness was a problem, Edison ound a solu-tion. Someone else thought up the idea o the light bulb, but Edison ound

a way to make it work so that people could use it. He did actually inventlots o other things almost one invention each week. Among his inven-tions were the phonograph, the movie camera, and the copier. This kind ocreative thinking in many men and women today will help us nd ways tosolve problems and step into the light o the uture.

George Washington Carver was borninto slavery but ultimately earned ad-vanced college degrees in agriculture.

Ater the Civil War, Southern armerswerent able to successully grow thecrop they had grown or years cot-ton. The years o that crop had takenmuch o the needed nitrogen rom thesoil. Carver solved that problem byintroducing the armers to new crops

like soybeans, sweet potatoes, and peanuts. But there wasnt much needor those crops, so Carver had another problem to solve. With a great dealo work and research, Carver developed hundreds o products that used

those crops. Again, American ingenuity triumphed and moved the countryorward ater tough times.

And consider the computer. Computers work wonders in our modern age,but i there were no programs to enable them to communicate with hu-mans, they wouldnt be helpul. Grace Murray Hopper was an ocer in theNavy, assigned to work in the computer lab at Harvard University in 1943.Later in her career, she developed the rst program that translated Englishinto a language the machine could process. She went on to work hard to

get businesses interested in computers and to help people to understandwhat these machines could do.

American ingenuity reacted to the 9/11 attacks, changing air travel. Newtechnology lead to improved security measures to prevent uture attacks.

Think about how liberty andcreativity are connected toscience. Find a story in theprint or digital newspaperto use as an example.

Common Core Standard: present anopinion, sequencing ideas logically andusing appropriate acts and relevant, de-scriptive details to support main ideas orthemes; speak clearly at an understand-able pace

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America

Discovers,Creates, and

Solves Problems


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One o the American traits that elevates everyone is theability to rise up rom a simple start to achieve greatness. Abraham Lincoln was one man who truly understood that America imposedno limits. He was a poor arm boy with no schooling, but he had hopesand dreams. He taught himsel by reading books, he worked as a clerk in a

general store, he served in the Army, and he became a lawyer. Then, he waselected president. He was able to go rom such simple beginnings to themost important job in America because his path had no limits.

Recent history oers another inspiring story o someone who rose romsimple beginnings to achieve greatness President Obama.

Ann Dunham was a young girl inKansas. Her dad worked on oil rigs,and, ater Japan attacked PearlHarbor on Dec. 7, 1941, he joinedthe Army to ght in World War II.Anns mother worked in a bomberactory during the war. Ater thewar, her parents bought a house andmoved to Hawaii. While she was astudent at the University o Hawaii,Ann, who was white, met a youngblack student rom Kenya named

Barack Obama. He had grown up inArica, where he herded goats. When he won a scholarship,he was able to go to study at the University o Hawaii.

The younger Barack Obama, named ater his ather, was born in Hawaii onAug. 4, 1961. His parents separated when young Barry, as he was called,was only 2 years old, and they later divorced. His ather studied at Harvardand later returned to Arica. His mother remarried and took her son to Jakar-ta, Indonesia, in 1967. When young Barry was 10, he went back to Hawaii

to live with his mothers parents, his grandparents. His mother eventuallyreturned to live in Indonesia, but Barry stayed with his grandparents.

The amily didnt have much money. Obamas grandather sold urniture; hisgrandmother worked in a bank. Although he did see his mother rom timeto time, young Barry saw his ather only one other time, when he was 10.Barack Sr. died in a car accident in 1982.

Young Obama was accepted into one o Hawaiis top schools, PunahouSchool. He played gol and poker, sang in the choir, and wrote or the

schools literary journal. But he also struggled with his biracial heritage.While his amily at home was white, the world saw him as a black person.He was perhaps, a typical teenager; he played basketball and hung out withriends.

Ater high school, he attended Occidental College in Los Angeles. Hechanged his name back rom Barry to Barack, got involved in politics, andeventually graduated rom Columbia University. He worked or a while as acommunity organizer in Harlem, then moved to Chicago and did similar work

trying to improve living conditions in poor communities.

No Limits

in America

Find someone in today's

digital or print newspaperwho you think is destinedor greatness. Explain why.Then, add a paragraph de-scribing one great thing youhope to do someday.

Common Core Standard: Introduce atopic clearly, previewing what is toollow; organize ideas, concepts, andinormation into broader categories asappropriate to achieving purpose

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One o the most serious tests o American resilience hasbeen the economy and the pain it has inficted over the

last ew years. There has been much discussion in recent years abouttroubles in our economy, and people are worried about their money. Thiscertainly is not the rst time in our countrys history that money was a

serious problem. It may help you understand all this talk about the economyi you know a bit about the stock market. Stocks are shares o ownership ina company. I you buy stock in a company and that company becomes moresuccessul, your shares are worth more than what you paid or them, andyou make money. But i the company becomes less successul, thoseshares are worth less and you lose money.

Imagine what it must have been like in 1929, when the stock marketsuddenly crashed, meaning that almost all shares sharply dropped invalue and that millions o people who owned shares lost their money.Even those olks who didnt own stock panicked when banks also ailedand people lost their savings.

Everyone was worried about money, so they stopped spending money andbought only what they needed to live. This drop in spending put stores andactories out o business and let millions o people out o work. The timewas known as the Great Depression, but Americas government workedhard to create jobs and help banks to work well again. Eventually, theeconomy improved with some hard work by all.

More recently, in October 2008, the stock market ell signicantly, andmillions o Americans lost money. And it wasnt just the stock market thatdeclined. For a number o years beore 2008, people who really couldntaord to pay mortgages were given home loans. The banks that made thoseloans werent worried about losing their money because i the homeown-ers didnt pay o the loans, the banks could take back the houses, whichwere very valuable. But then housing prices ell so sharply that the houseswerent worth as much as they had been. Some loans were or more money

than the house was worth, so even i the bank took back the house, thebank lost money. Investment banks ailed and went out o business. Mil-lions o dollars were lost.

But, the government bailed out some banks by giving them money to keepthem in business. Slowly, the economy is turning around. The stock marketrose, and even the housing market is showing signs o improvement.

The American economy has its ups and downs,

but it is a strong one.

Difcult

Times inthe Economy

Take a close look at theBusiness section o thenewspaper. Locate a storyabout a successul busi-ness. Identiy three actsabout its success. Then ndanother story in the newsabout our economy andsummarize it.

Common Core Standard: know anduse text eatures to locate key acts orinormation in text

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America is diverse.Our population is made up o people rom a variety o ethnic and racial andreligious backgrounds. Each o us brings a unique set o talents and skills.Our diversity adds a lot to our American character and is one o the greatstrengths o America.

Sometimes our commitment to diversity is tested. Ater 9/11/01, therewere some people who blamed all Muslims or the attacks. But, over timemost Americans understood that the people who perpetrated 9/11 wereextremists, and that it's never right to blame an entire group or religion orthe acts o a ew.

As dierent as the American people are, they all have the same rights and the same wish to keep their country strong. Many people ought hardto protect the rights that are the oundation o our great country. As it says

in our Declaration o Independence, We hold these truths to be sel-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by theirCreator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Lie, Libertyand the pursuit o happiness.

People who celebrated Americas diversity were among the rst to workor equal rights or all Americans. Starting with the slave revolts more than400 years ago, Arican Americans struggled or respectability and or equalrights in schools, housing, and jobs. The ght was long and it oten seemed

hopeless, but they drove on. They ought with actions and with words, withviolence and nonviolence, and, nally, their determination paid o when theCivil Rights Act o 1964 passed. That law made discrimination illegal. Thestruggle or civil rights is a part o American history that inspires all o us tokeep ghting, even when the goal seems too ar away. The prize is worth

the work.

Witness to HistoryWhen you ask adults, such as parents or teachers,to tell you about an important and historic event thathappened during their lietime, they will probablyhave many to choose rom, including the events oSeptember 11, 2001.

Take a ew minutes to interview an adult about oneevent he or she remembers. Ask this person to tell

you some o the historical details he or she witnessed and how he or she

elt about them. On a separate sheet o paper, write about one event youthink you will tell your children about.

Finally, think about what you think Americas best traits are. Look at thefag and consider what living in America means to you. Here is one morebit o The Star-Spangled Bannerto consider as you write about what it

means to you to live in the land o the ree and the home o the brave.

Now it catches the gleam o the morning's rst beam,

In ull glory refected now shines in the stream:'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave

O'er the land o the ree and the home o the brave!

Diversity

andTolerance

Choose the top ve stories intodays print or digital news-paper. Rank them rom mostto least important. Take aclass vote to choose the mostimportant story o the day.

Common Core Standard: know and use texteatures to locate key acts or inormationin text

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There are many online

sites designed to help

you learn about 9/11 andits atermath. Start with

your local newspaper.

In it, youll nd storiesabout 9/11 and the

connections to the

place you call home.

The Foreign Policy Research Institute oers a page o young peoples questionsabout what happened on 9/11 with brie and straightorward answers. Theinormation about bin Laden is outdated but the acts about what happened on

9/11 may help provide a clear picture or students.http://www.pri.org/education/911webcast/answers.html

There is a comprehensive program oered by the September 11 Education Program http://www.learnabout9-11.org/

September 11 has been declared a national day o service.More inormation can be ound here: http://www.911dayoservice.org

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade CenterFoundation, Inc can be ound online at http://www.911memorial.org

Scholastic Magazine oers a comprehensive website about 9/11 athttp://teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/indepth/911/kids_character.htm

History.com has videos, photos and other inormation about 9/11.There are also interactive maps that teach about the events o that day.

Channel One News oers 9/11: Then and Now.The inormation could serve as an introduction to what happened.

Inside 9/11 is a video archive presented by National Geographic.

The CBBC oers a guide to 9/11 or young people. http://tinyurl.com/6awwv9e

The Biography Channel oers a photo gallery o that day.www.biography.com/proles-o-9-11/photo-gallery.jsp

From CBS theres The Day that Changed America. http://tinyurl.com/3lh23vy

On 9/11/11, check out www.newseum.org to see the ront pages o many

newspapers.

Resources to

Learn MoreAbout 9/11

Please note that websites change frequently so

some of these resources may not be available.

Documents

Teaching About 9/11