As today is the anniversary of the attacks made on September 11, 2001, I wanted to share where I was during the attacks and the aftermath.
I was on my prep hour in my portable classroom at Colon Jr./Sr. High School when the planes struck the buildings. A student of mine knocked on the door. He told me that I needed to turn on the television because we were being invaded and New York was being bombed. This particular student was not the most trustworthy of students, but this seemed to be a rather tall tale even for him. I didn't believe he was serious, and I told him so, but I wasn't able to figure out what he thought he would gain by getting me to to turn on the television.
I calmly explained to the student that it wouldn't be possible for bombers to make it to the United States and that we certainly weren't being invaded. (Classic example of an adult thinking that he knew more just because he was older.) I told him to go back to his class, and I turned on the TV as he left. I punched in the channel for CNN and was immediately mesmerized. They had just switched back to a live shot because the first tower was collapsing.
I can't fully express what I felt. I was horrified, as I believe most of us were. I was also intrigued, like a gawker at a traffic accident, my eyes and mind wanted to see more due to my natural human curiosity. The savage within me called for immediate war against whomever might have done this.
The bell rang and I forced myself to turn off the television. An announcement came over the PA requesting that all teachers turn off their TVs and continue school as usual, that the office would keep us updated. Of course, that made it so most rooms turned on the TVs right away and kept them running. I wish I could say that I was one of them. Instead I tried to keep my scheduled lesson plan running.
I regret that. I feel that I deprived my students from seeing some of their own history that day. Maybe I at least provided them with a shelter from the news that was otherwise bombarding them that day, but as a teacher of history I feel I did them (and myself) a disservice.
I was on my prep hour in my portable classroom at Colon Jr./Sr. High School when the planes struck the buildings. A student of mine knocked on the door. He told me that I needed to turn on the television because we were being invaded and New York was being bombed. This particular student was not the most trustworthy of students, but this seemed to be a rather tall tale even for him. I didn't believe he was serious, and I told him so, but I wasn't able to figure out what he thought he would gain by getting me to to turn on the television.
I calmly explained to the student that it wouldn't be possible for bombers to make it to the United States and that we certainly weren't being invaded. (Classic example of an adult thinking that he knew more just because he was older.) I told him to go back to his class, and I turned on the TV as he left. I punched in the channel for CNN and was immediately mesmerized. They had just switched back to a live shot because the first tower was collapsing.
I can't fully express what I felt. I was horrified, as I believe most of us were. I was also intrigued, like a gawker at a traffic accident, my eyes and mind wanted to see more due to my natural human curiosity. The savage within me called for immediate war against whomever might have done this.
The bell rang and I forced myself to turn off the television. An announcement came over the PA requesting that all teachers turn off their TVs and continue school as usual, that the office would keep us updated. Of course, that made it so most rooms turned on the TVs right away and kept them running. I wish I could say that I was one of them. Instead I tried to keep my scheduled lesson plan running.
I regret that. I feel that I deprived my students from seeing some of their own history that day. Maybe I at least provided them with a shelter from the news that was otherwise bombarding them that day, but as a teacher of history I feel I did them (and myself) a disservice.
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