Schools in White Plains use creative methods to teach students about 9/11
By Carla Young
The White Plains School District observed of the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on Friday.
The district emphasized tolerance through education in statements read at White Plains High School and the middle schools at the start of the school day.
At White Plains High School, Principal Diana Knight read a statement over the loudspeaker after the Pledge of Allegiance.
The statement read, in part: “It is appropriate to mark this anniversary, that we as a school community pause and renew our commitment to use the educational resources available to us to find peaceful solutions to our differences.”
Lois Gordon, the district’s social studies coordinator, authored the statement. Gordon, also a 30-year teacher, has held that position for the past 10 years.
At the high school, Gordon’s senior law class held debates on three controversies that arose from the Sept. 11 attacks. First, she assigned the class to read “The 9/11 Dilemma: Freedom vs. Security,” the New York Times Upfront cover story published Sept. 5.
Six debate teams of four-to-five students faced off to tackle one of three topics: increased monitoring of phone calls and e-mails, the suspension of pre-trial rights for enemy combatants held at Guantanamo, and the use of “enhanced interrogations” for suspected terrorists.
For each topic, one team was assigned to argue for the U.S. government’s authority and another team argued for the protection of civil and human rights of terror suspects.
At the end of each debate, the rest of the class had the chance to weigh in as the American public. Some students were hesitant to take a stand, but all agreed that the U.S. government is responsible for protecting its citizens and preventing another tragic attack.
WPHS Student Michael Henry, 16, was assigned to the team arguing for the government’s communications monitoring.
“I think the world has changed a lot since 9/11 because security has been stepped up a lot,” he said.“People are still in panic mode even though it’s been 10 years, and people are even more panicked now because it’s the 10th anniversary and people are worried that they’re going to have another attack.”
Classmate Michelle Baird, 17, agreed, saying the world has changed “drastically in the fact that people are taking more precautions and sometimes it is to the benefit; sometimes it’s not.”
“The world’s always going to be in debate about what they think is right or wrong and I guess we just kind of have to live with it, for now, until we have someone who can come along to change [it],” said Baird.
At the White Plains Middle School’s Eastview Campus, a similar statement, based on the one Gordon wrote, was read during the morning assembly.
Eastview Principal Joe Cloherty said none of his 500 students fidgeted during the assembly and some even thanked him afterward for the reminder of the nation’s Day of Service.
Cloherty said the goal of the curriculum changes was to present the information in a way that is “comfortable since these students were maybe 2-years-old" at the time of the attacks. Cloherty wants to look at it "historically and appropriately as opposed to what some of us in this building lived through and worked through.”
“That’s really our goal: not to sensationalize this,” said Gordon.
Cloherty called teacher Michael Sanchez’s approach to incorporating the attacks into his American history curriculum “absolutely wonderful.”
“There was a discussion about 9/11 and three learning objectives on the board that called for definition of something, interpretation into it, and [to] analyze something,” Cloherty said, “calling for higher-level thinking skills as well as generic knowledge about it.”
Cloherty was also impressed by how Sanchez used Brain Pop, an animated education Web site, to lessen the fear element some students might be experiencing because of what Cloherty called the “hype” surrounding the anniversary.
Sanchez’s fifth-period class of eighth graders also watched the Brain Pop presentation Friday before a class discussion about Sept. 11.
Sanchez is a White Plains resident who said he was “born and raised through the White Plains School District.” An Army reservist and Iraq War veteran, he has been teaching in the district for eight years. At Eastview, he teaches seventh and eighth graders.
He said, “Because [these students] were not really cognizant of the things that were going on that day, we’re going to kind of quickly review the overall themes of 9/11.”
“Basically, they will be able to define terrorism, they will be able to analyze the goals of terrorists, and they will be able to identify and discuss the causes of 9/11, and they will be able analyze the impacts of the attacks on the U.S. and the rest of the world,” Sanchez said.
For the 10th anniversary activity, his students had to interview people who were at least 15 years old when the terrorists struck.
“Many of the kids, we find, are obviously talking to their parents, grandparents, older brothers and siblings, aunts and uncles, and even some students have interviewed teachers,” he said.
District schools also will complete service projects during the year. Gordon said the high school plans to plant flowers outside the entrance, among other activities. She said the General Organization, the high school’s student government, will meet to discuss ideas with faculty advisers.
“We were thinking of planting bulbs this fall that will bloom every spring. The idea would be that hope springs eternal,” Gordon said. “We don’t want to tell the kids what to do. ... Service comes from within.”
Cloherty said, “We wait until the election of our [student organization] representatives. ... They will help develop some of those service issues.”
“We want students to own it,” he said.
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