Remembering 9/11 Curriculum
Get to know our comprehensive, NYS approved standards-based curriculum designed for students in grades 9-12.
Our Remembering 9/11 lesson plans can be tailored to meet the needs of your classroom
Educating about a traumatic, disastrous event like 9/11 goes beyond teaching about a single historical point in time. There are ongoing physical, mental, social, cultural, spiritual, and political impacts of this historic event. This reality makes it important to ensure that 9/11 and its aftermath are taught about in our schools in the most comprehensive, reflective, yet compassionate manner…in ways that truly honor our 9/11 heroes.
Connecting Through Reflective Learning Experiences
Our curriculum contains lesson plans based on the first-hand experiences of the people who responded to the 9/11 disaster. It was developed to foster critical thinking, conscious reflection and active learning experiences. It will encourage students to ask honest questions, and think about diverse ideas as they hear stories about the event in the words of WTC responders.
Personal interviews with WTC responders are central to this unit because they give insight into the minds of those who experienced 9/11 directly. Their stories raise questions about the nature of heroism, resilience, retribution, guilt, hope, camaraderie, civic duty, and politics. These lessons are designed to encourage students to ask sometimes difficult questions, analyze sources as empathetic historians, respect diverse views, and acknowledge when there are no easy answers.
Teaching 9/11 through the telling of the first-person narratives of WTC responders goes beyond shaping the way their legacy will be remembered. It will engage the next generation of critical thinkers who will shape the values, cultures, and policies of the future.
Students participate in action-learning techniques as they analyze key speeches, explore the nature of the Patriot Act, debate the Zadroga Bill for 9/11 disaster responder healthcare, and think about the best approach to responding to both international and regional debates about the nature of terrorism. This curriculum provides both students and educators with the tools to discuss and evaluate diverse complexities surrounding the topic, and how these events have affected various lives.
To learn more, please call: 631-638-0746
You can also view curriculum details by following this link to the Share My Lesson website
Below is a 2017 clip about teaching 9/11 through Oral histories (Click here to go to our Remembering 9/11 Page):