Thursday, September 2, 2021
As we head into September of 2021, we face the 20 year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon, as well as the crash of Flight 93 in Pennsylvania. There are many trusted partners who are pulling together resources to teach about this historic event.
Education resources specific to the 20th anniversary of the attacks:
- The 9/11 Memorial and Museum offers "20 Years Later", a retrospective of the attacks.
- This year's Anniversary in the Schools webinar will take place online on Friday, September 10, 2021. The program will be on demand, and the live chat is available from 9am to 3pm EDT on September 10 and 11, 2021. The program is free, but you do need to register. Student questions can be posed in the live chat and will be answered by 9/11 Memorial Education staff (note they cannot guarantee that all questions will be answered due to the potential volume of participants). The 9/11 Memorial and Museum Anniversary in the Schools also has pre- and post-viewing guides for grades 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12.
- The official commemoration will take place on September 11, 2021, starting at 8:30am EDT (7:30 am CDT). They will read the names of every victim of the attacks, and have six moments of silence to acknowledge when each of the World Trade Center towers was struck and fell, and the times corresponding to the attack on the Pentagon and the crash of Flight 93.
- PBS NewsHour Extra presents "The 9/11 Anniversary in the Classroom", which includes a one-page background text for middle and high school students along with curated resources including articles, videos, lesson plans, slideshows, and timelines.
- The National Geographic Channel will be hosting a seven-hour documentary series through first-person narratives (note, this is not free, you do need access to Nat Geo Channel through your cable provider).
- "Generation 9/11" outlines stories of children whose parents died in the terrorist attacks (PBS).
- The FBI has a webpage devoted to how the 9/11 attacks shaped today's FBI.
- PBS Frontline presents "America After 9/11", airing September 7, 2021.
- The History Channel will present four shows on September 10 and 11, 2021 - "9/11: The Legacy", "Rise and Fall: The World Trade Center", "9/11: Four Flights", and "9/11: I Was There". Note that this is not free, you do need access to The History Channel through your cable provider.
- AmeriCorps has a really interesting page about 9/11 Day, which encourages a day of service in memory of the attacks of September 11, 2001. More information can be found at 9/11day.org.
- The National Park Service is offering virtual learning sessions for teachers through the Flight 93 National Memorial
- Virtual Learning Session for High School Teachers is Tuesday, September 7, 2021 at 7pm EDT (6pm CDT)
- Virtual Learning Session for Middle School Teachers is Wednesday, September 8, 2021 at 7pm EDT (6pm CDT)
*Note - there are other streaming services producing shows on 9/11 and the 20th anniversary, but I was unable to find individual links. Find more information in this article from The Mercury News, including events on Apple TV+, Netflix, Fox News, CNN, Reelz, ABCNews Live, the Smithsonian Channel, and others).
There are more listed on the Deadline.com website - I could not find individual links, but they include programming from World News Tonight, Good Morning America, 20/20, Amazon Music, Discovery+, HBO, and Vice TV.
General resources about the September 11, 2001 attacks:
- Did you know there is a 9/11 Wisconsin Memorial? It is in Kewaskum, WI, and they have a section of their website for lesson plants and field trip activities. They will be having an in person memorial on September 11, 2021 at 10am.
- The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial has Teacher Resources for teaching about the events of September 11, 2001. They also have a portal of education materials searchable by keyword, grade level, subject, and resource type, covering all three regions affected by the terrorist attacks (the Pentagon, New York City, and Pennsylvania).
- The Library of Congress has an amazing collection of primary source documents entitled "September 11, 2001, Documentary Project". This includes audio file interviews, poetry left at the memorial, student art, and written narratives.
- C-SPAN Classroom has clips of the events of September 11, 2001 in real time.
- 9/11 Memories offers the opportunity to read accounts of the terrorist attacks, and encourages students to utilize digital literacy skills as they learn more about the events. It is housed by and funded through the Media Education Lab of the University of Rhode Island.
- Kasey Short, writing for MiddleWeb, outlines resources for educators about 9/11, including potential trade books.
- Although the article is from 2016, I found it an interesting piece in terms of teaching the events of 9/11 to students who weren't born when it happened. This is from US News and World Report. nprED has a similar article from 2017. Facing History and Ourselves has an article entitled "The Challenges and Opportunities of Teaching 9/11" from 2014.
- The September 11 Digital Archive: Saving the Histories of September 11, 2001 is the work of the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media and the American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning. They have collected, curated, and present the history of the terrorist attacks with almost 150,000 digital items, including emails and first-hand stories.
Note that these are not meant to be an exhaustive list of resources for our teachers, and DPI does not endorse specific resources for use. Educators should review suggestions and determine what best meets their students' needs.