{
  "id": 6477551,
  "title": "25 years later, teaching 9/11: How NYC educators navigate the anniversary",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/09/25-years-later-teaching-9-11-how-nyc-educators-navigate-the",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-09T20:38:07.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Chalkbeat",
    "slug": "chalkbeat",
    "url": "https://www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2026/09/09/nyc-teachers-reflect-teaching-sept-11-attacks-on-25-year-anniversary/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Twenty-five years ago, roughly one million students across New York City attended school on September 11, 2001, as hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania. Today, educators and parents, some of whom were not even born during the attacks, strive to honor the day. The City Council recently allocated $1 million for the 9/11 Memorial & Museum to provide free field trips for New York City students, with emphasis on eighth graders. The museum offers educational resources for teachers and on-site as well as virtual visits for students in grades 3-12. The New York City Department of Education provides an instructional guide with books, lesson plans, archival materials, and more.\n\nThis year, the anniversary falls on the second day of school, potentially complicating discussions about the attacks. However, many schools still plan to commemorate 9/11 with classroom discussions or moments of silence, as mandated by state law. Three teachers shared their experiences and plans for teaching about 9/11 to their students.\n\nMiriam Sicherman, a fourth-grade teacher at the Children’s Workshop School in Manhattan's East Village, teaches her students about the events after they leave the building due to safety concerns. She uses a block-building activity to help the children process their emotions and discusses the topic when they return to the classroom. Sicherman reads \"The Man Who Walked Between the Towers\" to introduce the topic and answers students' questions without delving into complex geopolitics or later events like the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.\n\nNancy Re, a fifth and sixth-grade English teacher at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Academy in Belle Harbor, Queens, starts her school year by teaching about 9/11. She reads several books, including \"Message on a Wing,\" \"The Little Trinity Church,\" \"Satko and the Paper Cranes,\" and \"Mychel Judge,\" a priest killed by falling debris. Re focuses on personal stories and survivors, encouraging students to write poems and discuss the attack without going into detail about the subsequent wars or other events.\n\nJen Chapin, a 10th-grade Global History 2 teacher at Brooklyn Prospect High School in Downtown Brooklyn, reflects on her own personal loss when her childhood friend Kristy Irvine Ryan died on 9/11. She contextualizes the attacks within her Industrial Revolution unit and invites guest speakers, such as a firefighter who lost her brother in the attacks. Chapin encourages students to write poetry and share their stories, emphasizing the importance of remembering the day and its impact on New York City.",
  "summary": "Twenty-five years ago, about 1 million New York City children were in school on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, when hijackers flew planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a Pennsylvania field. Today, some teachers as well as parents of children in the…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}