Lesson eerily on time

When newscasters announced the attack on the U.S. by terrorists who hijacked and crashed four planes, killing thousands, she was in the midst of teaching sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade social studies classes about suicide bombers.

An article in a current-events magazine the students use explained how young men in the Middle East sometimes grow up being taught that there will be a special place in heaven for them if they kill themselves while killing their enemies.

Harsh lesson

Initially, she said, "I used bits and pieces from the TV" during the lesson. "I worked very hard at staying calm and matter-of-fact. I think it was easier for me to maintain a certain level of calm because it was part of a lesson plan: `Isn't this unbelievable? This is exactly what we were talking about.'"

But when the buildings collapsed, she said, "I started to well up. I turned the TV off."

Time to pray

The students kept questioning how anyone could do such a horrible thing to the U.S. Mrs. Bullock tried to explain the history of American involvement in the Middle East.

She noted that the children's reaction echoed that of the adults around them: "Young people in junior high have excellent minds. They're a reflection of what you hear in society, with `we ought to bomb them off the face of the earth' and `wait, there are women and children who don't deserve it.'"

The next day, she had the students write in their journals about the tragedy, reminding them that decades from now, people might want to know what they thought about it. Mrs. Bullock thought most students handled the tragedy well emotionally, though she was concerned about a few.

Not too young

But the next day, she said, a few students had unnerving comments: "One little girl said, `My dad is down at the big fire. He's looking for dead bodies.'"

Another small girl asked Mrs. Ferris, "Can we watch the airplane thing on TV today?"

"I said, `No, that's something to watch with your parents,'" the teacher recalled.

As a teacher, Mrs. Bullock said, "it's a frightening time. You want to inform the students, not frighten them."

(09-20-01) [[In-content Ad]]