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Hernando Today

A Life-Changing Lesson: Students Learn About 9/11

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By LINNEA BROWN

Hernando Today

Published: September 11, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - Today's students can be divided into two categories: Those who remember the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and those who don't.

Across Hernando County, teachers will spend the day teaching a lesson they didn't have to teach seven years ago. Back then, the district was different, history books were different and there was no such thing as Patriot Day, the commemorative holiday designated in memory of the nearly 3,000 people who died that day.

"You're talking seven years ago," Superintendent Wayne Alexander said. "Most of the kids were very young. Their recognition and knowledge of what happened is waning."

Suncoast Elementary School teacher Emilie Hansen, who teaches fourth grade at the Spring Hill school, said she and her students will talk about what happened and share their feelings. Instead of focusing on the negativity of the attacks, they will focus on patriotism, she said.

"A lot of my students were born in 1998 or 1999, so they don't have that personal connection to (the tragedy)," she said. "They're growing up in a completely different world from the one I grew up in."

Hansen said she plans to conduct a Patriot Day assignment similar to one she did last year, in which her students discussed the meaning of each line of the Pledge of Allegiance, putting it into their own words.

At Powell Middle School in Spring Hill, social studies department head Kathy Marcucci - who teaches six social studies classes per day - said students may be a bit older, but even they are starting to forget.

"A couple of years ago when you mentioned it, they really knew," she said. "Now they're starting to lose that. That's why it's important to make sure they really have an understanding of what happened."

Marcucci said Powell's students will watch a National Geographic video clip of the attacks, followed by a discussion and commemoration. Students will also look through newspapers for articles about topics related to the attacks, which will be incorporated into further lessons.

Other schools may tread more carefully.

Students and staff at West Hernando Middle School are still reeling from the loss of Kaitlyn Harper, 13, an eighth-grader who died in an early morning car accident Tuesday. Her brother is a student at the school, and the school's administration wants to make sure teachers remain respectful.

"We're still dealing with the aftershock of losing one of our own," Principal Toni-Ann Noyes said. "I'm sure teachers have (specific plans), and we'll probably also have a moment of silence at the impact times, as we've done in years past, but we want to remain sensitive to students' needs."

And in high school - the one age group where most students are old enough to remember the attacks vividly - students may not have the amount of time that teachers wish they had for an in-depth discussion.

Hernando High School teacher John Miller, who teachers American history and psychology, said his 11th-grade American history class is so swamped with review work that it's all he can do to get through a proper review of the Civil War, let alone stop for a discussion on the Sept. 11 attacks.

"We're under such time constraints," he said. "We'd like to spend the whole day on it, but we don't want to get in trouble for not getting this material taught. I'll probably spend a few minutes talking about it and answering questions, but there won't be time for much more than that."

Miller said he will discuss the attacks later in the year during a discussion of Pearl Harbor, comparing and contrasting the two events.

But in his psychology class, it will be a different story, with time for a discussion of how memory is heightened when significant tragedy occurs. Miller will ask students to remember what they were doing when the attacks occurred, and said most can describe exactly where they were and how it felt.

"It's like a hook," he said. "I also usually tell them to ask their parents or grandparents where they were when President John F. Kennedy died, or when the Challenger space shuttle blew up. I tell them, 'I promise you, they'll be able to remember every detail,' and they do."

Marcucci remembered the feeling of watching footage of the attacks on TV while working in a doctor's office, and Miller recalled teaching at Hernando High the day of the attacks.

"It was a day like Kennedy's death. You never forget it, and it feels like it was yesterday," he said.

Hansen recalled that she was in school at the University of South Florida when the attacks occurred, and said she vividly remembers walking into the student union and seeing the images flashing across TV screens.

"I remember how shocking it was. It's amazing how poignant it still is, seven years later," she said.

However, Miller did not downplay the importance of gaining an in-depth understanding of the events of Patriot Day, what occurred and why.

"When students are in 11th grade, they'll be voting in a year and a half," he said. "Hopefully by then they'll have a clue what terrorism is, because it's not going to be going away anytime soon, that's for sure. It could happen again."

Reporter Linnea Brown can be reached at 352-544-5289 or lbrown@hernandotoday.com.

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