09/11/2026
I was teaching 3rd grade on 9-11-2001. I remember our principal coming around after we came in from a planned fire drill to tell us very quietly in the hallway what was happening in our country. At lunch, my fellow 3rd grade teachers gathered in my room to watch the news coverage. We didn’t tell our students what was going on that day because we wanted families to share that news with their own children. After dismissal, our principal read a reflection and said a prayer for all of us and told us to go home to our families. I taught at a school near DFW airport and I just remember how quiet and still it was outside. I went to my house and gathered a few things and then went and spent the night back with my parents. This day changed our world and I was living through history much like my dad and mom lived through history when JFK was shot. And I also remember that joy can be found in deep grief because a very good friend gave birth to their first child that same 9-11-01.
I now work at a college where we teach students history that have no real connection to 9-11 but they know through our stories and experiences. I ended a faculty meeting today with a charge to my faculty to remember the fallen, honor the heroes, and do something good today for a neighbor, child, family member, or a stranger. May we never forget 9-11 and may we always be prepared to teach future generations of that day and the days, months, and years after that historic and tragic day.
