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Teaching a tragedy

Baldwin schools educate students on 9/11 impact and aftermath

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Sept. 11 will be etched into most people’s minds forever. Those who were alive to witness the tragedy of that day can paint a vivid picture of where they were and how the events unfolded.

For them, Sept. 11 remains almost a current event. As the years pass, however, that event is approaching a crossroads, a point at which the number of those who experienced it firsthand is dwindling and a new generation of children born after 9/11 view it more dispassionately, as a historical event.

This is where education is becoming the main touchstone for learning and processing the events of that day and the new world they created. The Baldwin School District is tackling 9/11 education by introducing lessons early on in students’ careers.

“Our school-age children were not even born when this tragedy struck our country,” said Baldwin Superintendent Dr. Shari L. Camhi. “So it is important for them to know and understand the significance of this event and to remember and commemorate that day in our history.”

Every year, throughout the district, there is a moment of silence commemorating the attacks in Lower Manhattan. Additionally, as part of the morning announcements at the high school, the students speak about 9/11. At the elementary schools, books are distributed to each grade chronicling the day and the events that followed.

“For them it’s not as intense as it was [right after the attacks] for elementary school kids,” said Cristina Schmohl, a spokeswoman for the district. “It’s something that we address at the level appropriately for their age through many books that they’ve procured over the years.”

Aiding Baldwin Schools, and many others in the tristate area, is the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. The organization teams with educators around the country to craft 9/11-focused lesson plans. Beginning with kindergartners, the plans help young students understand the events of that day through interactive learning. Teachers are encouraged to bring their classes to the memorial to see how the world was affected.

“It’s hard to understand the world they live in without understanding what happened that day,” said Noah Rauch, the memorial’s senior director of educational programs. “So it’s just a lens to view a lot of different themes. The attacks themselves and the response to the attacks highlight a lot of fundamental themes about humanity that are important for everyone to acknowledge.”

The lessons, which are in part of the Common Core curriculum, span a range of disciplines, from history to STEM education, in which students learn about the construction of the World Trade Center and some of the engineering challenges designers faced when they began building the towers in 1966.

The memorial also explores how the U.S. government responded in the days, months and years after the attacks. “Balancing national security with civil liberties is something that we talk about,” Rauch said. “We find that it’s geared toward high schoolers, but the teachers are craving for that, because in a lot of ways that’s sort of how that age enters into the story. Understanding the relevance to their daily life is something that we try to probe.”

The memorial will host a webinar on Sept. 12 and 13, during which students will be able to speak with a survivor of the attacks. Ada Dolch, the former principal of Leadership and Public Service High School in Lower Manhattan, will answer students’ questions. She was responsible for safely evacuating her students on 9/11 — while her sister, Wendy Alice Rosario Wakeford, was at work on the 105th floor of the North Tower. Wakeford was killed when the tower collapsed. In 2005, Dolch helped establish a school in Afghanistan in her sister’s memory.

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