Do your students have blogs? Think about this. Today's seniors were in 6th grade when the attacks of 911 occurred. Wouldn't it be a great writing prompt to ask, "How have your feelings and understandings about the attacks of 911 changed?" I think it would be interesting to hear them write about their feelings from that day. I wonder, too, if we misunderstood the impact that those attacks had on them. Did we fail to address their fears? Are we misunderstanding their feelings about it today?

 

Yesterday, I listened as a senior girl stopped her government teacher long enough to present her reasons for why the day should be "Give a Hug Day." The reason, she said, is that, "Tomorrow everyone will be remembering the attacks and feeling badly about people. But, if we give them a hug today maybe they'll think back to that hug and think that we're not so bad, after all. Maybe we should give them another hug tomorrow, too." Do you think that girl was effected by those attacks? Do you think those horrible images will be on her mind throughout the day? I do, too.

 

Maybe today's writing prompt will tell us how to handle this should it occur again in the future.