N.J. State Police Sgt. Bill Fearon, a former Kearny resident, shares his 9/11 experience with Washington School students.
HARRISON –
Most of the eighthgraders at Harrison’s Washington Middle School weren’t yet born when the 9/11 tragedy unfolded in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.
But now, they’re beginning to understand all the ramifications as a result of a unique learning experience that began not long after returning to school for the fall term.
It all started when language arts teachers Kim Madalena, Amy Morillo and Sharon Catrambone teamed up to create a lesson plan around a concept created by the 911day.org website which observes Sept. 11 by promoting “performing good deeds that help others.”
“The goal of 9/11 Day is to keep alive the spirit of unity and compassion that arose in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, providing a positive, helpful way for people to annually remember and pay tribute to the 9/11 victims and honor those that rose in service in response to the attacks,” is the challenge presented by the website’s organizers.
So, taking their cue from the site, the teachers developed a script for their eighth-graders to follow, Madalena said.
“We decided to create a ‘Hallway of Heroes,’ ’’ Madalena said.
Students were asked to think about “what is a hero for them, think about who would make good examples of heros in the community at large and then write letters to them explaining how they felt about them,” Madalena said.
What their heroes would have in common is that they all would have had some connection to the 9/11 tragedy, she added. Family members could be included in the hero selection process, Madalena said.
“We had the children work in groups to create poster boards to display their letters acknowledging their heroes and we were going to hang these up for display in the school,” she said.
But then, Madalena noted, something new and exciting was added to the process “when the students asked if they could talk to [their heroes].”
Student Michelle Calles
with Jersey City Fire Battalion Chief Joe Menendez.
This element added a whole new dimension to the lesson, she said, by introducing “a great example of project-based learning where students have to answer engaging questions with real-world connections, meaning, in this case: who is a hero, finding out more about them.”
Now, Madalena said, “the project took off and became much larger in scope.”
Once teachers and administrators were onboard with the new concept, it was off to the races. The goal was to invite students’ heroes to Washington School on Friday, Sept. 18, to talk about their experiences on 9/11.
“The students had to go on the computer and look for addresses of their heroes to send their letters and now, also search for contact phone numbers,” Madalena said.
Harrison Police Officer StanTitterington displays the boots he wore at ground
zero as retired Harrison Police Officer John Bishop (2nd from r.) and Det. John
Lesiak (r.) stand by.
Students were permitted the use of school phones or their cell phones to make the calls and teachers helped them “develop a phone script” of the questions for their heroes, such as, whether they’d be willing and available to talk to the kids, to tell about their occupation, how 9/11 impacted their job.
“We ended up with 32 heroes coming to school on the 18th,” Madalena said. “Students had a clipboard with a schedule of when each guest was scheduled to arrive and as each of their heroes arrived, I had a walkietalkie which I used to alert classroom teachers and we’d bring the students and heroes to the auditorium for their presentations and to a ‘hospitality suite’ we created in our media center where the heroes were treated to various food items brought in by students, parents and teachers.”
Because the entire instructional staff was focused on incorporating lessons related to 9/11, the constant back and forth did not really disrupt the normal school day, Madalena said.
Among the visiting heroes were veterans representing the Navy, Army and Marines, local police and firefighters, public health officials, social workers and educators.
There was Jennifer Nieves- Thomas, who was working as a Weehawken restaurant manager that took in many folks streaming in on ferries and boats from the stricken WTC site. She told the students she was so moved by the experience, she decided to become a nurse.
Harrison Police Officer Stan Titterington, who responded to 9/11 along with other members of the HPD Swat Team, Dean Magee, John Bishop and Tom Lesiak, showed the students the boots he wore that day. He had stowed them in the basement of his home and, only recently, his wife had come across them while cleaning. He confided that he had never spoken about his experience at ground zero until now.
“Most of the heroes deflected the good wishes they received by turning it back on the students,” Madalena said, “when they told them, ‘You can be an everyday hero now.’ ’
The kids seemed to get the point, Madalena said. “Our students were the most respectful audience I’ve seen in my 18 years of teaching.”
“Next year,” she said, “we hope to get entire school (grades 6, 7 and 8) involved.”
Students have asked if their Hallway of Heroes poster boards – there are four, covered front and back – can be exhibited at municipal buildings and Madalena said it is hoped that can be done, on a rotating basis, starting in October.
In the meantime, she said, the school will be submitting a summary of project, along with photos and a short video to the 911day.org website for possible prizes to finance an educational field trip, possibly to the 9/11 museum.
