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Remember
September 11
(6-12)
Circle
of Feelings
(n29)
Subject
All
Objective
Give
students the opportunity to discuss and have validated
their feelings about the events of september 11
in a non-judgmental discussion circle.
Time
Needed
One
class period
Materials
None
Lesson
The
technique used for the following discussion provides
a non-threatening and non-judgmental environment
for students to share how they genuinely feel
about the events of September 11. The teacher’s
role is minimal, essentially serving as a facilitator
to ensure that students abide by the rules of
the discussion, which are:
* Only one student may talk at a time
* Students must listen to what others have to
say because students will have to paraphrase what
a student has said in the conversation
* Students may not comment on another student’s
statement; rather, they must only respond to the
question that the teacher asks
* Students should not repeat what has been already
said.
Students should sit in a circle for this discussion.
The teacher begins by asking the following question:
“What has been the impact of the events
of September 11 on you personally or on society
as a whole?” Allow students to respond to
the question for about 10 minutes. At the end
of the ten minutes, ask individual students to
paraphrase what each student offered in to the
conversation. If a student summarizes a speaker’s
comments incorrectly, allow the original speaker
to clarify the point that was made. When all original
speaker’s comments have been summarized,
ask the following question, telling students that
the question might seem strange. The question
is the same original one: “What has been
the impact of the events of September 11 on you
personally or on society as a whole?” Because
students will have had time to process their ideas,
the second round often allows students to think
in much more depth about the topic. After students
have responded, complete the paraphrasing activity
again.
Debrief the discussion by asking the following
questions:
* How did you feel when your comments were paraphrased?
* What was different about this discussion from
others in which you have participated?
* Why was the second round of the discussion different
from the first?
* What did you learn as a result of today’s
discussion?
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