Lesson Plan Idea #1 - International or cross-cultural dialogue
Estimated time required: Three class periods

Locate a teacher in another country who will have his or her students communicate with your students about the events that began on September 11th. Together with partner teacher, decide which of the subject areas students will study together. (If you do not have contact with a teacher in another country already, try "Intercultural E-Mail Classroom Connections" that helps K-12 teachers find teachers in other countries for electronic conversations. College level instructors can connect with teachers in other countries through established international exchange programs at their institutions, or through searches of particular university websites.)

Teachers in both classrooms should:

Introduce the subject area using the teaching guide introduction and assign selected essays to students.

Discuss one or more of the exploratory questions as a class or in small groups. Following the discussion, invite students to write a response to one or more of the exploratory questions in that subject area. This can be done individually as a homework assignment or in small groups during class time.

Have students in both classes send their written responses by e-mail to students in the other class. When responses are received from the other classroom, discuss the differences and similarities in perspectives of the students in the two countries.

Discussion of the differences and similarities in responses may warrant a second communication between the students via e-mail. Throughout the exchange, remind students of the importance of tolerance and cultural sensitivity towards students and teachers in other countries.

Lesson Plan #2 - Comparison of authors' perspectives
Estimated time required: Two to three class periods

Divide your class into groups and assign one of the recommended essays from a chosen subject area to each group. Instruct members of each group to read their assigned essays for homework.

For the next class meeting, select exploratory questions that are appropriate for each group's reading assignment, and distribute selected questions to each group. Groups should discuss how their assigned author would respond to given questions. They can also consider alternative responses to these questions.

In the second half of the period or in the following period, invite each group to present the perspective of their assigned author to the entire class. Encouraged students to look critically at similarities and differences in the perspectives of the authors.

Lesson Plan Idea #3 - Investigation of exploratory questions and key concepts
Estimated time required: Three class periods

Introduce one subject area and related essays, and use the introduction provided in the relevant teaching guide to teach about key concepts in the readings. Assign all of the selected articles to all students as homework.

After students have read the essays, divide the class into small groups and either:

1. assign an exploratory question to each group, instructing each group to investigate how the four authors address their assigned question;

   or

2. assign to each group a key concept covered in the introduction to the subject area. Ask each group to review the readings to determine how their respective concepts link to the arguments put forth by each author, and the broader subject area.

Have the small groups report on their question to the entire class. This exercise may not take the entire class period; therefore, presentations should be followed by class discussion of the subject area and its relevance to broader discussions about September 11.

Lesson Plan Idea #4 - Essay-writing
Estimated time required: Homework assignment - one week to complete

Assign one of the exploratory questions that touches on most, if not all, of the selected essays included in a particular subject area. Explain to students that they are expected to develop a response individually using all of the selected articles in that subject area to write a well-formulated essay that addresses the arguments and counter-arguments put forth by authors. Encourage students to communicate logically and clearly, drawing connections and oppositions between various essays, and offering their own views of the question based on their thorough readings. This exercise is an especially useful preparation for AP "document based questions" or other college level work.

Additional lesson plan ideas relating to September 11:

Other organizations have created lesson plans about September 11th and its aftermath that link to other sources and sites. Some websites with other lesson plans can be found by clicking here.