A sensitive lesson in history

The eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks falls on just the third day of school this year. Teachers have different plans to mark the day, and say they need to be sensitive to the age of the students. Kindergartners, first-graders and most second-graders weren’t even born yet when the towers fell, and high schoolers were still in their elementary years.

Lynn Sollin, a kindergarten teacher at the William L. Buck School, said that each year on Sept. 11 the day starts off with a school-wide announcement from the principal asking all to observe a moment of silence. “They have to know why they’re doing what they’re doing,” she said.

Sollin said she doesn’t want to send her students home scared, so she keeps the details about the day’s events to a minimum. “I don’t want to make them even more nervous or afraid,” she said, noting that many children already have separation anxiety. “I keep it very, very simple. If they don’t say anything, I move on from there.”

In 2001, Sollin was in her first year teaching kindergarten, and one of her students lost her father in the terrorist attacks. “It’s a very horrible memory for me,” she said. “If I talk too much about it, I get very emotional. I don’t want [the students] to see me get upset.”

At South High School, each grade will commemorate the anniversary. Seventh-graders will be making American flags to give to a local nursing home. The older students will be doing service activities, such as a school supply drive being led by the 12th-grade government classes.

History teacher Pete Mastrota was teaching at a school in Manhattan across from the World Trade Center when the attacks happened. He was outside when the second plane hit the towers. The school was closed and classes relocated for months.

“I share my story with the students,” Mastrota said. “It’s a story that needs to be told. With my older students, I’m pretty candid.” He shares with his South High School students the writings his students then compiled the week after the attacks. “Their stories speak volumes,” he said. “They’re so honest and emotional.”

Mastrota said that with the seventh- and eighth-graders he teaches, most were too young to remember the attacks so for them it really is a history lesson. “In a way,” he said, “they’re kind of being introduced to what happened.”

Marie Healy, a first-grade teacher at the Robert W. Carbonaro School, said she starts her discussion about the day by reading a book called “September 12th.” It is a story, written and illustrated by first-graders, reminding everyone that on the day after the attacks the sun still came up, the birds were still chirping and the world still continued.

Healy then talks about different American symbols and tries to keep a patriotic vibe in her classroom that day. Her students this year were born in 2003 so Healy said she doesn’t know how much they will understand what happened. “These kids weren’t even born,” she said. “They’re really far from it.”

Diana Neiss, a second-grade teacher at Clear Stream Avenue School, also uses the book “September 12th” in her class because it was written by children. Her students are 7, going on 8 this year, and Neiss expects their familiarity with the event to be limited. “Some of them have some background knowledge about that and some of them have no idea,” she said of her classes in years past.

Neiss said she tries to talk about the positive aspects, such as the dedication of the rescue workers. One year, Neiss had her children write letters to police officers and firefighters to thank them for all they do. 

Christine Livolsi has taught sixth-grade for the past two years at Clear Stream Avenue school and now is teaching first-grade. Her sixth-graders were either in kindergarten or Pre-K when the attacks occurred. She said her discussions with them were pretty light and focused on what they knew. “Some of the kids remembered seeing the news,” she said. “They had little tidbits of memories from that day.”

Livolsi also read the book “Fireboat” about the John J. Harvey fireboat, which had been retired but called into service again on Sept. 11. She won’t be reading that to her first-graders, however, as it has images of the planes going into the two towers. She will, however, read “September 12th” to her class. “I want them to focus on the positives,” she said.

This year, Livolsi said she will let the students lead the discussion. “If they want to talk, they can talk,” she said. “I think it’s important for them to know what happened because it’s a part of our history but it has to be done in an age appropriate way.”

In Joseph Moniaci’s U.S. history classes at North High School, the events of Sept. 11, 2001 are not just a one-day discussion. “It’s not something that you only talk about on 9-11, because it’s affected every aspect of our lives,” Moniaci said.

On the anniversary, he reads Billy Collins’ poem “The Names,” which was written in 2002. The poem includes one last name of a victim for each letter of the alphabet. “It seems to be a pretty moving experience for many of the students,” he said. “It’s a nice poem.”

Samantha Tants, a senior at Valley Stream North High School, was in fourth-grade at the James A. Dever School when the terrorist attacks happened. She said shortly after being dropped off at school, she was picked up by her aunt. Her parents both worked in lower Manhattan and walked home over the Brooklyn Bridge that night.

“Whenever we talk about it in school, it hits close to home,” she said, recalling the time she spent just sitting with her aunt and brother eight years ago, waiting to hear if her parents were OK.

Tants said at that time, she wasn’t old enough to truly grasp what had happened. Now that she is, she wants it to be discussed thoroughly before, on and after Sept. 11. “I think it should be talked about a little bit more,” she said. “Most of us were little when it happened.”

At Central High School and Memorial Junior High School, there will be a uniform curriculum for Sept. 11. Amy Pacifico, chairperson of the social studies department, said that in considering the age that students were when the attacks happened, the focus this year will be on the National Day of Service. Students in grades 7-12 will be asked to write letters to people who serve their community, such as police officers, firefighters, rescue personnel and those in the military with a connection to Central or Memorial.

Pacifico said that students will also be asked to think of a way they can help their community and she hopes this will lead to some future service projects. “We wanted to take the theme of service that students can draw upon throughout the whole school year,” she said.

Howell Road School teachers say that it is tough to talk about the horrific events of Sept. 11 with younger students, especially with those who weren’t born yet. Instead, teachers look for something positive to discuss.

Kindergarten teacher Alba Verambeck said that one of the school’s greatest assets is its cultural diversity. During lunch, when many students bring in cultural foods to eat, she talks about how to have respect for each other’s differences.

First-grade teacher Lisa Mulqueen noted that the school will begin a book drive on Sept. 11, as way of teaching the children to give back to the community. Barbara Farrell talks about caring for one another, which is one expectation in her classroom throughout the whole school year.

Farrell said she will only talk about the facts of the day if the students ask questions. “It’s difficult because there are people that do think it should be addressed directly,” she said.

The teachers say at some point, districts will have to make a decision on how to incorporate lessons on Sept. 11 into the curriculum. For those who are teaching, Sept. 11 remains a strong and not to distant memory. “It’s within the generation,” Mulqueen said, “so it makes it still raw.”