How or What do you remember?

Monday, September 11, 2006

We started reading about volcanoes today in reading. There seems to be tons of questions on the topic. English we are focusing on nouns. Today team one (the left side of the room) won by a land slide with a game of Name that Noun. We had buzzers and everything. The math test didn’t go as well as planned. It appeared people are forgetting all of the divisibility rules: 2 goes into the product if it is an even number, 5 goes into the product if the number ends with a zero or 5, 10 goes into it if the number ends with a zero, and 3 goes into the product if the sum of the digits is divisible without a remainder. Ex 123 is divisible by 3 because 1+2+3=6 and 3 goes into 6 evenly. The rule is the same for 9 except the sum of the digits must be divisible by 9. The last rule we learned is that 6 is a factor if the number is divisible by 2 and 3. We got brand new journals the other day. We write normally for 3-4 mins. Without stopping everyday before lunch. Today we talked about the students feelings of remembering 9-11. “Where were you when the airplanes hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon?” Most replied in kindergarten or preschool learning. They said they remembered seeing it on the TV a little bit and heard it on the radio. “How has this event effected your life?” It hasn’t? “What about those you know in the Armed Forces?” Response was Oh Yeah! “ What has changed in our country since that day?” 1 replied airport security has gone up….there was nothing else said. They were asked to go home and ask this question to their parents….and how did their parents feel, where were they when 9-11 happened? If not that situation have them think back to when JFK was assassinated. Teacher: I wasn’t alive when JFK was assassinated, but 9-11 I remember clearly. I remember I was a freshman in college leaving my parents house and commuting to school. I was driving when information came over the radio and no one was clear as to what was going on. I felt shocked and scared. I knew we had been in red alert. I remember trying to call my dad. He is in the service and I couldn’t get a hold of him. I was crying all the way to school. I walked in to my first class with a solemn look on my face. No body new what was going on and we found a tv with cable and turned to CNN. All morning not a TV was off, nobody attended classes hoping to do work. I remember not going to work that day because I couldn’t get a hold of my dad. I have family friends 3blocks from where the crash took place, I have friends and acquaintances in D.C.. I feared for their lives. I remember the days after 9-11 with SYAP a students’ right movement of prayer outside my old high school and a moment of silence that following week. My grandfather entered into the hospital after being glued to the TV. The thought of my father having to go off to war was setting at the back of his mind and was ultimately stressing him to the point where his heart gave out. He died later following the tragedy of 9-11.Question of the day: Where were you when the 2 towers fell, when people gave up thier lives for those of the unknown, when the side of the Pentagon was hit? How did if feel? How will you remember?