Students learn about 9/11 victims, families and heroes

Students across the grade levels learned lessons honoring the 9/11 victims and their families as well as the heroes on Wednesday, September 11.

Diane Kilbride delivered a lesson to her Park Avenue Elementary School third graders, softly explaining that the day is special in U.S. history. Unfortunately, she told them, it is because many people died on that day. She focused on the heroes of the day.

“It’s important that we learn about it so we can remember the people who were there that day,” she told the students. “But, instead of focusing on the bad things that happened that day, let’s focus on the good things that happened. On that day we had some heroes. When you think of a hero, you may think of some sports person, but we have heroes all around us and we don’t realize it because they are just doing their job.”

She referenced some examples of heroes they see in school, such as nurse Kathleen Priebke and School Resource Officer Kat Hulak, who both keep people healthy and safe.

Then, they watched a narrated video of the book Fireboat: The Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey, written by Maira Kalman. The retired fireboat was brought back into service and responded to the scene, pumping water to fight flames for more than 80 hours because many of the sources of water – the fire mains – in the area had been damaged.

At Warwick Valley Middle School, Warren Patafio taught his seventh-grade students about 9/11 using a video about Welles Crowther – The Man in the Red Bandana. Crowther, an equities trader in the South Tower of the World Trade Center and a volunteer firefighter, is known for saving as many as 18 lives during the September 11 attacks.

Mr. Patafio’s class learned about the purpose of political cartoons and the symbols in them. He explained to the students what primary source documents are for the purposes of research, and he allowed them to read newspapers from the day after the tragedy. He also explained how simple procedures of the world changed as a result of the terror strike, like how boarding a plane became long and complex to ensure everyone’s safety.

He showed them President George W. Bush’s speech on the night of 9/11, giving them context that the whole world was watching to see what the U.S. was going to do next and to show them the tension and sadness that was felt throughout the nation.

The students then shared their stories of what they know about 9/11 from their families and friends. Madison Candia said it was her mother’s first day of work at a school in New York City as a counselor and she needed to try to find out if students’ parents were OK. One of her fellow teachers had a husband in the World Trade Center. Others shared how people they knew were near Ground Zero or on a plane or even in one of the towers.