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:
- assign an exploratory question to each group,
instructing each group to investigate how the four
authors address their assigned question;
or
- 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.
We welcome comments from teachers on the usefulness of
these lesson plan ideas and suggestions for other effective
ways of using these essays in the classroom. Send comments
to 9.11@ssrc.org.