Some students will interview family members about where they were during 9/11 Watch video
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP - Several schools in the Washington Township School District have activities planned for the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the United States. Those activities include:
Bunker Hill Middle School
In Cathy Zeoli's eighth-grade classes on Friday, students will take a pre-assessment to see what they know about 9/11, and then will be reassessed to see what they learned by watching the Flocabulary on 9/11. (Flocabulary is a web-based learning program for all grades and subjects that uses educational music to engage students and increase achievement.)
Kathy Jeffries' eighth-grade social studies classes will be working in pairs to read two passages; one describes the events of Sept. 11, and the other describes what happened at Pearl Harbor. Then, using a Venn Diagram, they will write down specific things related to each event and tell what they have in common.
Jess Jupin's sixth-grade resource classroom will begin learning how to analyze artifacts by using objects found in the rubble of the towers. Students will visit an online museum and learn the true context of the artifacts after developing hypotheses.
Emily Conaway's first-, second-, third-, fourth-, seventh- and eighth-period students (social studies and humanities) will look at primary sources from 9/11 at their tables. Each of the tables will have something different -- images of toys, a text message conversation, George W. Bush's address to the nation, etc. Mrs. Conaway will check their homework, which was to interview a family member about where they were during 9/11. Students will share their homework with classmates before watching a 30-minute documentary about 9/11. Afterwards, they will discuss security and societal changes from pre- to post-9/11, in the past 15 years.
Kevin Appleby's eighth-grade social studies classes on Friday will be comparing and contrasting 9/11 and Pearl Harbor. They will complete an educational skill lesson, with half the class reading about 9/11, and the other half about Pearl Harbor. Student will then apply the skill to the readings.
Kristine Mallet and Missy Weikel's classes will commemorate the 15th anniversary of 9/11 by having students read a summary of the events that took place that day. The focus will be on heroes -- specifically how everyday people became extraordinary heroes. The class will be using technology by viewing a documentary about the 9/11 rescues called "Boatlift."
Chestnut Ridge Middle School
Nancy Benninger's sixth- and seventh-grade classes (period 2, 3, 6 and 7) will engage in a three-part lesson. They will first look at a timeline of the events of that day. Then, they will read a firsthand account written by an architect who worked in the World Trade Center. Finally, they will watch a video that shows the WTC construction and the 9/11 attack on the WTC.
Orchard Valley Middle School
Jeff Snyder's eighth-grade humanities students on Thursday, Sept. 8 (periods 3, 5 and 7), are going to debate a few topics (Patriot Act, use of torture, and airport security) and decide whether these changes post 9/11 were good or bad. After a discussion, students are going to write about whether they think terrorism can ever be completely eliminated.
Washington Township High School
Bob Barnshaw's U.S. History classes will share impressions (certainly not memories) they have of 9/11. Barnshaw also will share his own memories of the day. Students will read several written recollections Barnshaw has collected of student memories at that time, and they will watch some video Barnshaw shot during a school trip to Ground Zero in April 2002.
This item submitted by Matthew Pesyna, Washington Township School District.