EFL
In Bay Area classrooms, Sept. 11 isn't exactly Sept. 11 anymore. "Nobody feels the need to show students any more pictures of airplanes going into buildings," said Susan Stewart, who teaches 10th-grade government at Palo Alto High School. "I don't know that it's very constructive for people to wallow in that."
| "Best just to forget about it and move on. I mean, all those people are dead now..." |
On the first anniversary, classrooms everywhere imposed moments of silence, organized poetry readings or encouraged students to compose messages on butcher paper so that they might express grief for the victims of terrorism and anger at the perpetrators. On the second anniversary, there were the moments of silence but only the occasional butcher-paper exercise. Now, three years and a lot of military bloodshed after Sept. 11, teachers say they are more interested in having students consider the rapidly unfolding events of the day than to dwell on the tragedy. "To what extent are the events of 9/11 being used as a platform for the upcoming presidential election? To what extent should they be?"
| When did we become interested in children's opinions on "should"? |
Those are questions that teachers at San Francisco's Leadership High School came up with a few weeks ago as they thought ahead to the infamous anniversary. The questions are listed under the heading "Practicing Critical Thinking," and on Monday afternoon, the entire school will spend an hour considering those and similar questions.
| An entire hour? I'm so impressed! |
Amy Punkar, chairwoman of the social studies department at Jefferson High in Daly City, plans to pose two questions to her advanced-placement U.S. history class: "What has changed globally since 9/11?" and "What are some of the political consequences within the United States since then?" (Punkar's hint to students reading this -- think civil rights.)
| Okay. I'm thinking civil rights. Nothing comes to mind... No! Wait! Here's something! Islamists hate black people and consider them slaves. So I'll be the teachers are having them read up on the genocide in Dafur. Am I right? |
Elsewhere, teachers are looking for new ways of building global events into their curriculum. One of the more striking examples took place in Room 201 on Thursday afternoon at Washington High School in San Francisco, where teacher Martin Wolf deftly transformed a discussion of plot, setting and character in "The Lion King" into a focus on plot, setting and character on the world stage.
| "Don'tcha feel the lo-oo-o-o-ove tonight!" |
"In Iraq, we also have a setting," Wolf told the 10th-graders in his ethnic literature class, pointing out that the conflict, complications and climax of fiction are no less present in Baghdad and Washington. "Yesterday, George Bush said that the 1,000 soldiers who have died in Iraq died fighting terrorism," Wolf said. "I wonder -- did they? Does George Bush believe this? Let's go back . . . "
| Good idea! Let's go back!... Ummm... Regressing... It's three years ago... Aircraft slamming into twin towers... war in Afghanistan... riots in Pakistan... perfidy in Arabia... Jund al-Islam... Moscow theater... Bali bombings... Abu Nidal bumped off... Security Council... "Sammy, we'll defend you with our blood!"... inspectors... human shields... ultimatum... invasion... no more Republican Guard... the kiddy jail... the mass graves... Uday and Qusay, deader'n Guy Fawkes... Sammy at the bottom of an outdoor toilet... Zarqawi... de Melho dead... Yep. I'm sure Bush believes it. Pretty smart, those San Francisco teachers, explaining it to the kiddies this way... |
In perhaps his most dramatic segue, Wolf got the students to step into the minds of world leaders and terrorists, however briefly, by asking them to recall "The Lion King" protagonist (Simba) and its antagonist (Scar) and asking who the corresponding figures are in politics today. "George Bush and George Bush," said Victor Wu, 15, a born diplomat.
| Boy, the teachers must be quite a bit brighter than their students in San Francisco. That's a pretty dumb statement... |
Some students put Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry on one side and Bush on the other, while Wolf asked if Osama bin Laden might not be cast in the role of antagonist. "All that's missing is the denouement," he said, writing "denouement" on the blackboard.
| It hasn't happened yet. You'll have to be patient... |
Later, Gwendolyn Samson, 15, said she found the lesson valuable because she hadn't known that Iraq was not responsible for Sept. 11.
| No, child. Something else was responsible for 9-11. Sammy just happened to be on the same team as the guys responsible for 9-11. When you play football, you have to take out more than just the quarterback. When you play basketball you have to cover more than just the center. When you make war you don't take out only the enemy's forward elements. |
Students like Gwendolyn were his "target audience," Wolf said -- the reason the lesson was important. "We need to be an informed citizenry," Wolf said. "I'm planting the seeds. " |