On this anniversary of 9/11, we wanted to share with our educator subscribers a program designed to teach children about that tragic day. The September 11 Educational Program, located at LearnAbout9-11.org, uses a personal approach. It tells stories from the perspective of those whose lives were directly affected to give children a point of entry, a way of understanding an event many are too young to remember. The site offers discussion questions, a presentation, and other teaching tools.
GreenBookofSongs.com® has catalogued nearly 70 songs about 9/11, several of which use a similar story-telling approach to convey the sadness and shock that gripped us all. Here are three examples of songs that might be used in a classroom:
The Bravest Tom Paxton
This frequently political folk artist leaves politics aside in this song about a man who worked in the Twin Towers. He escapes down the stairs, hastened by firefighters making their way up. Saved by heroes who died, he attends their funerals to honor their sacrifice. “They must have seen it coming / When they turned to face the fire / They sent us down to safety / Then they kept on climbing higher.”
Let’s Roll Neil Young
On Flight 93, ordinary individuals took extraordinary actions, banding together to resist the terrorists who had hijacked their plane. Young speaks here as one of those passengers, who ends a cell phone call to his wife and turns toward an uninvited fight. “I know I said I love you / I know you know it’s true / I’ve got to put the phone down / And do what we got to do.”
Land Of The Living Lucy Kaplansky
This New York-based folk artist describes a different aspect of life in the city in the aftermath of the attacks. As fires continue to burn, she meets a Muslim taxi driver who has been beaten up in blind revenge. “I’m not one of them, no matter what they say / I’m just worried about my family / My wife’s in the house and she’s scared to leave.”
Find more in our category DANGER & DISASTER: 9-11-2001.
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