The War on Terror


Social Studies American History Contemporary United States The War on Terror
Students first create a class K-W chart about the Sept. 11 attacks. Then they learn the basic facts about the attacks. Next they examine the U.S. response and rewrite in their own words an excerpt from President Bush’s speech to the nation. Finally they learn about the role of first responders and write a letter to a crew of firefighters.

This learning experience is designed for device-enabled classrooms. The teacher guides the lesson, and students use embedded resources, social media skills, and critical thinking skills to actively participate. To get access to a free version of the complete lesson, sign up for an exploros account.

1:1 Devices
Teacher Pack

The Pack contains associated resources for the learning experience, typically in the form of articles and videos. There is a teacher Pack (with only teacher information) and a student Pack (which contains only student information). As a teacher, you can toggle between both to see everything.

Here are the teacher pack items for The War on Terror:

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Overview

In this experience, students first create a class K-W chart about the Sept. 11 attacks. Then they learn the basic facts about the attacks. Next they examine the U.S. response and rewrite in their own words an excerpt from President Bush’s speech to the nation. Finally they learn about the role of first responders and write a letter to a crew of firefighters.

The Student Pack contains a link to the 9/11 Memorial website, which contains an extensive set of primary sources and timelines of the attacks and recovery. You may use this experience as background, and then use the site to extend the lesson to additional activities, for example primary source analysis, interviews, writing narrative, or creating a class newspaper for September 12, 2001.

Estimated duration: 40-50 minutes

Vocabulary words:

  • hijack
  • presence
  • smuggle
  • fuel
  • cockpit
  • debris
  • extremist
  • chaos
  • beacon

Objectives

  • Describe the events leading up to and including the 9-11 terrorist attacks.
  • Analyze the U.S. response to the attacks.


Engage


On September 11, 2001, a terrible event happened that had a big impact on American identity. Terrorists hijacked four passenger jets. They crashed two of the planes into New York City’s World Trade Center towers, which were the tallest buildings in the United States. One plane they flew into the Pentagon building, which houses the U.S. Department of Defense. On the fourth jet, passengers wrestled with the terrorists and the jet crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. In this lesson, you will learn about the events before and after this deadly attack, sometimes referred to as “9-11.”

Objectives
  • Describe the events leading up to and including the 9-11 terrorist attacks.
  • Analyze the U.S. response to the attacks.


two tall buildings against the sky with a ball of fire and black smoke arising from the top floors

One of the hijacked jets flies into the World Trade Center


In the table below, list something that you know about the September 11 terrorist attack. If someone has already listed what you know, try to post something else. If you do not know much about the event, that is okay—post a question that you have about it.



Students are not required to post to the chart in order to move on. Use the chart to get a reading of what students already know about 9-11. View any questions that they post and ensure that the questions are addressed, either directly or by referring the student to additional reading.


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