Professional Development Opportunities for Teachers at the 9/11 Memorial Museum
Teaching students about 9/11 presents a variety of challenges for educators. Common questions from teachers include: “How do I deal with this emotionally difficult content?” “How can I explain the complexity of the content to my students?” and “How does this fit into my curriculum?”
To help educators tackle these challenges, the Education Department at the 9/11 Memorial Museum offers a variety of Professional Development opportunities for elementary, middle, and high school educators.
Since 2015, 420 educators have travelled to the Museum for professional development, sometimes coming from as far away as Massachusetts and Delaware.
The Education Department offers three different types of workshops.
Full-day Foundational Professional Development focuses on answering the question “What happened on 9/11, and how does it fit into my curriculum?” through hands-on activities, a short exhibition tour, and discussion with colleagues.
Full-day Conference-Style Professional Development accommodates a greater number of educators, due to our overwhelming demand. In this expanded program, educators select sessions that they would like to attend from a roster of offerings that address the 9/11 attacks through a variety of lenses and themes. Sessions are offered in both hands-on workshop and seminar-style formats.
Afterschool Professional Development sessions are two-hour programs that concentrate on giving educators teaching tools to address specific content areas. Past topics for these thematic programs have included: Young Learners, Repercussions, and Media Literacy.
For interested educators, we are offering an afterschool professional development for third- to fifth-grade educators entitled ‘Teaching 9/11 to Young Learners’ on April 17 from 4:30-6:30 p.m. A previous attendee remarked that the workshop ‘was perfectly paced . . . hands on, and immediately usable.” To register, click here.
By Rebecca Rosen, 9/11 Memorial Education Specialist and Jennifer Lagasse, 9/11 Memorial Manager of School & Teacher Programs
When U.S. airspace was closed following the 9/11 attacks, flights carrying more than 6,500 international travelers were diverted to the small town of Gander, Newfoundland, nearly doubling the population of the town within hours.
Each year on March 17, the Irish and “Irish-at-heart” celebrate St. Patrick’s Day all over the world. Beginning first as a religious feast day for the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day has become an international celebration of Irish culture.