[ncte-talk] from a NYC teacher

["Gail N. Ferguson" <obutterfly@hotmail.com>]

Dear Friends,

I hope and pray that each and every one of us finds the strength to cope
with the demands of this day and the wisdom to teach our students how to
rise above and eradicate this scourge of terrorism.  Last week had been my
first week at a NYC high school in Long Island City, Borough of Queens.  
I was so thrilled with my classroom and the view of the WTC from the wall
of windows on one side that I took a picture of it.  Yesterday, my
students took pictures with the same camera and the same roll of film
through the same windows.

When I walked into my first class (2nd pd) at 9:53, one of the students
said "The World Trade Center is on fire."  We saw the smoke coming out of
the first building.  Then at about 9:02, we witnessed the burst of flames
about a third of the way down the second building; and I will never forget
the shouts of "Oh my God" from all of the students.  We watched the
buildings crumble and collapse. The kids were amazing, brave and kind,
more worried about the people and the students close to the disaster than
about themselves.  We had to continue with our classes as all through the
rest of the day parents came to pick up their children.  Many of the
teachers and administrators remained long after to make sure the students
would all be able to get home safely. Amidst the shock, grief, fear and
anger was a gratitude to be alive and part of such a caring community.  
In some of my classes, there was unspeakably intense emotion, so we wrote
about this historic catastrophe into which we were unwillingly thrust.  
We wrote about what happened, what we saw, felt and thought.  We
documented, like Samuel Pepys did the fire of London, the events we were
experiencing as history and as shear emotional release because sometimes
what else do we have but words to overcome the threat of powerlessness?  
In classes where we were able to talk as a group, there was palpable
respect for each speaker in his turn and solemn prayers expressed for the
victims of the tragedy and their families. On the way home, I walked with
many people who had come over the bridge from Manhattan on foot and were
covered with ash, talking to eachother like we had known eachother all our
lives.  In the morning, the same people had not spoken a word to their
fellow travellers, but now we were bound together. God bless my fellow
teachers on this list and across the country, and God bless America. Love,

Gail