Tribute to September 11, 2001
Personal Stories of Transformation
September 11th Personal Stories of Transformation is a classroom resource kit that
contains 8 videos. Each story is accompanied by discussion questions that guide students
to connect outcomes of the historic events of September 11th to the choices they make in t
heir own lives. The Tribute WTC Visitor Center classroom resources provide historical
context, research links, and community service projects for each story.
Directions:
(1)
Go to the following website:
http://tributewtc.org/programs/toolkit.html
(2)
Describe each of the individuals below.
(3)
Then, choose 4 individuals from the list below.
(4)
Click on each of the individuals (out of the 4 your chose) and
watch each video.
(5)
Answer the questions
(6)
Label where each person was during the attack on the map
Ada Dolch
Description:
1. Fact: On the morning of September 11th American Airlines Flight 11
and United Airlines Flight 175 both departed from Boston. Both flights
were headed to California and were hijacked by Al Qaeda terrorists who
flew planes into the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center, 17 minutes
apart at 8:46 a.m. and 9:03 a.m.
Personal Experience Question: How does Principal Dolch describe the
reaction of her students to what they were witnessing? How does
Principal Dolch know that her sister might be in danger? Instead of
trying to communicate with her sister why does she choose to
concentrate on evacuating her students?
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2. Fact: After the collapse of both towers, the sixteen-acre site was
covered in burning debris piles, some reaching 70 feet. Pockets of
fires burned for almost six months at high temperatures. Schools,
businesses and residents had to be relocated for a long period of time.
Personal Experience Question: How many months passed before the
students were able to return to their school? Why did they have mixed
emotions? What do you think some of their fears might have been about
returning?
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Mary Lee Hannell
Description:
1. Fact: On February 26, 1993, a truck bomb was detonated in the
underground garage of the World Trade Center by members of the same
Islamic extremist group that attacked the Towers in 2001. Six people
were killed. Smoke filled the elevators and stairwells and it took
several hours for people to evacuate.
Personal Experience Question: How did Mary Lee’s evacuation experience
in 1993 affect her response to the attacks in 2001? Do you think this
experience helped or hindered her when evacuating the World Trade
Center on September 11th? How do previous experiences help us make
decisions in the present?
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2. Fact: On September 11th, the 110 stories in each of the Twin Towers
collapsed straight down in about 10 seconds resulting in a massive
cloud of dust that covered Lower Manhattan. The cloud was composed of
the pulverized building and all of its contents.
Personal Experience Question: While evacuating Mary Lee was unsure of
what was happening to the buildings. How would you describe her
thoughts as she watched the place she had worked in disappear?
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Lee Ielpi
1. Fact: At 8:46 a.m., the hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 flew
into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. At 9:03 a.m. a second
plane, United Airlines Flight175, was flown into the South Tower. Within
102 minutes both towers collapsed.
Personal Experience Question: When Lee arrived at the site, he said it
looked like a horror movie. What happened to everything in the buildings
due to the force of the collapse?
Description:
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2. Fact: Fire and police departments have a history of generations from
the same family choosing to work in these demanding jobs. The “Band of
Dads” encouraged the careful search of all of the materials at the site,
so that as many victims as possible could be found. More than 20,000
human remains were found at the site, and DNA samples were used to try
to identify them. Fewer than half of the victims have been identified
thus far.
Personal Experience Question: Why do you think that the “Band of Dads”
who worked together for 9 months served as an inspiration to the other
people working in the grueling environment? How has DNA been used in
your community to solve a crime?
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Norma Hardy
Description:
1. Fact: The Port Authority police provide protection for facilities
operated by The Port Authority of NY & NJ such as tunnels, bridges,
airports and the World Trade Center.
Personal Experience Question: Norma Hardy worked at the World Trade
Center for many years and knew the complex very well. Why did she rush
into work when she realized that New York was under attack? Do you think
her training prepared her for the situation on September 11th? How do
you think law enforcement training has changed since September 11th?
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2. Fact: By 10:26 a.m. on the morning of September 11th, both the North
and South Towers of the World Trade Center had collapsed. The air in
Lower Manhattan was thick with smoke and dust from the pulverized
buildings.
Personal Experience Question: When she got out of her car in Lower
Manhattan, Norma was in a daze as she began walking towards a police
command post. Why was she unaware of her surroundings as she walked?
What words can be used to describe the sights she saw? __________
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Susan Retik
Description:
1. Fact: Through television, radio and internet broadcasts, it is
estimated that about one-third of the world’s 6.1 billion people
followed the attacks of September 11, 2001, as they were happening.
Personal Experience Question: How does Susan first hear of the attacks?
Does your family retain a memory of when they first learned of the
attack? What were their thoughts and feelings at the time? How did the
media first portray the attacks and how did the accounts change as more
information became
available?______________________________________________________________
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2. Fact: On the morning of September 11th American Airlines Flight 11
and United Airlines Flight 175 both departed from Boston. Both flights
were headed to California and were hijacked by Al Qaeda terrorists who
flew planes into the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center, (17 minutes
apart at 8:46 a.m. and 9:03 a.m.). Two other planes were hijacked that
morning to be used as weapons. As a result, over 3,000 children lost a
parent that day, and over 1,600 people lost a spouse.
Personal Experience Question: Susan says that she thinks the terrorists
had a mission to spread hate. Why does she feel that anger is not the
emotion that she wants to sustain? How will her mission counteract
spreading hate? In what ways can you counter aggression through positive
actions?______
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Mohammed Razvi
1. Fact: On December 7, 1941, the Japanese Navy deployed aerial attacks
on the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. As a result
from 1942-1945, over 120,000 Japanese Americans were forced to leave
their homes, schools, and businesses and were relocated to detention
centers administered by the U.S. government.
Personal Experience Question: How does this history relate to the
Description:
experiences of South Asians, Arabs
and Muslims in America right after September 11th? Can you identify
another period in history in which a group was unfairly
targeted?________________________________________________________
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2. Fact: The hijackers were Islamic extremists who performed this act of
terror in the name of Islam, despite the fact that the Qur’an and other
Muslim texts promote tolerance and respect for other religions and
emphasize the value of human life. Following September 11th, there was a
backlash of attacks ranging from bullying and harassment to acts of
violence on Muslim, Arab and South Asian communities across the United
States. The actions of the hijackers in the name of Islam negatively
affected thousands of Muslims, Arabs, and South Asians who do not
support such violence.
Personal Experience Question: When people in Mohammad’s community
started to come forward with problems of discrimination and hate crimes,
what did he do? Why do you think people who experienced discrimination
were afraid to come forward initially? ________________________________
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Tsugio Ito & Masahiro Sasaki
Description:
1. Fact: As a center of international trade, the World Trade Center
housed companies from all over the world. In addition, New York is a
city of immigrants, with 37% of New Yorkers being foreign-born. Citizens
of more than 90 countries were killed in the attacks of September 11th.
Families and communities around the world had relatives or knew people
who died in the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and Shanksville.
Personal Experience Question: Why does Mr. Ito find it important to come
to the World Trade Center site and encourage others to do so? Why is
visiting this site of terrible violence an important thing to do? What
other sites of violence around the world do people feel compelled to
visit?______
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2. Fact: Today, one might find strands of origami cranes placed wherever
there is a wish for peace around the world. At the Tribute WTC Visitor
Center a display includes origami cranes that were left at the World
Trade Center recovery site in the late fall of 2001, as well as new
origami cranes made by Japanese families who lost their loved ones on
September 11th.
Personal Experience Question: Mr. Sasaki read about the origami cranes
at the Tribute Center in the
Japanese press and decided to donate one of Sadako’s original origami
cranes to the Tribute Center in New York City as a wish for world peace.
What connection did Mr. Sasaki feel with the families of September 11th
victims?________________________________________________________________
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Jim Laychak & Gordon Felt
Description:
1. Fact: At 9:37a.m., as Pentagon employees in Washington, D.C. watched
the attacks in New York City, they were shocked as hijacked American
Airlines Flight 77 was deliberately flown into the Pentagon in
Arlington, Virginia. The 59 passengers on board the aircraft and 125
military and civilian personnel working inside the Pentagon were killed.
Personal Experience Question: Jim Laychak and Gordon Felt, both of whom
lost their brothers on September 11th, recognized that their families
were experiencing a personal loss, but that the whole nation experienced
9/11 as a collective loss. How do their actions reflect this dual
loss?______________
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2. Fact: After a delayed departure, United Airlines Flight 93 took off
at 8:42 a.m. from Newark, New Jersey en route to San Francisco,
California. Around 9:28 a.m. hijackers in first class attacked, gaining
control of the plane and turning towards Washington, D.C. Using cell
phones and airplane phones, passengers and crew members learned of what
was happening in New York and the Pentagon and decided to rush the
cockpit of the plane and overtake the terrorists. As the passengers and
crew struggled with the terrorists for control of the plane, Flight 93
crashed in an open field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania at 10:03 a.m.,
killing the 40 passengers and crew members on board.
Personal Experience Question: What were the passengers and crew trying
to prevent by overtaking the terrorists? Why were their actions
heroic?________________________________________________
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