

Preview your expectations or reminding your class about norms.In addition, consider doing the following: Read Learning for Justice's article “Debunking Stereotypes About Muslims and Islam” and incorporate media literacy education as you confront misinformation. Check out “Trauma-Informed Teaching Strategies” and consider how you might design lessons that engage with hard history with a trauma-informed lens. We encourage educators to explore the wealth of resources provided in this lesson plan, to examine their own unanswered questions and biases, and to reflect on pedagogical practice before bringing in traumatic and provocative images of 9/11.

Teaching 9/11 on its anniversary has its merits, as does teaching 9/11 within the curricular context of American and global history. Today’s generation of students does not share this collective memory, with today’s high school seniors being born a few years after 2001. A note on teaching hard history: Most educators can recall exactly where they were and what they were doing when 9/11 unfolded. (Photo by Robert Pirillo/Ovoworks/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images) For a Google version of this lesson click here.
