Playing Away The Terror Of September 11, 2001: One Classroom’s Method Of Healing

In September of 2001, I and my 30 student teachers had the pleasure of volunteering on Fridays in Carolyn M.’s first grade classroom and working one on one with the children enrolled. Carolyn was a master teacher at a charter school in a classroom that utilized an Americanized Reggio Emilia approach of teaching children. Teachers using this approach really listened to students, brought in curriculum that reflected student interests and met the state frameworks for learning. We recorded student learning with dated daily documentation, by writing down children’s dialog, taking pictures of their projects and building portfolios of their work. When we started working with them, their interests included time and timepieces, gardening and magnets. We expected those interests to change over time, but not in the way that they actually did.

After September 11, 2001, several of our children began talking about what they had witnessed on TV. They were afraid that planes would crash through their houses and the classroom. We noticed that the theme in their play seemed to be focused on towers and airplanes. Realizing that children have a need to play through their fears in order to conquer them, we decided to document the process of them playing away the terror. We made a class book of pictures of their learning and their dialog during their 9-11 play. It became the children’s favorite book to read during the literacy component of their day.

I kept my own personal journal and pictures describing the play of three 6-year old children, Juan, Javier and Ramon, from November 16, 2001 to May 31, 2002. This journal documents just how long it took these particular children to work past their fears.

On November 16, 2001, we brought wood scraps and wood glue to the classroom for outside free choice time. The boys covered the wood with glue using a paint brush. They wedged the boards together to make towers on foundations.

On November 30, 2001, we brought more wood and wood glue for outside free choice time. The boys continued to make towers on foundations. They also glued wood into cross shapes, like airplanes and crashed them into the towers, knocking them down, then setting them up to do it all over again.

On December 7, 2001, we set up outside art on the picnic tables near the cafeteria. Juan painted on a mural. When asked to tell about his art, he said, “This is an airplane (in white) and this is the smoke from the crash (in green).”

On April 12, 2002, we brought soft white clay for outside free choice time. Shaping it quickly, before it stiffened, Ramon shaped a small tower and a turtle.

On May 17, 2002, during math, Javier and another child shaped an airplane from unit blocks.

On May 31, 2002, we brought straws and connectors for the children to build with. They begin to work cooperatively, building a tower. When it got too high for them to reach, they got on chairs. When we expressed concern for their safety, they laid the tower on the floor to build it longer, before raising it upright to touch the ceiling. They did not knock this tower down. It stayed up for a week.

It took nearly nine months for these children to heal from the images of 9-11 that they witnessed for days after the tragedy. Allowing them to express their fears during play helped them devise ways to understand what had happened at their own level of development and to move on to other interests.