Online Teaching Resource: REFLECTION

     

FINAL PROJECT REFLECTION:

I chose to work on this project which was on the tragic events that occurred on September 11, 2001 because of the amount of stories I have heard about it from family members and other people I have come across in my life. Whenever I would listen to all these different stories from the people in my life, I would always hear many different perspectives, reactions and emotions that they experienced during that time. 

I have heard stories from people whos loved ones were in the Pentagon when it was attacked and how they were anxiously waiting for a phone call from them or who were there in the buildings themselves, stories from people who were watching it from the television and believing it was a movie at first and their initial reaction to it not being one, and from military personnel who were either deployed or on active duty during this time and receiving the news that America was under attack. These stories inspired me to continue learning about the events of 9/11 and how it unfolded and its impact on America and its people because I believe it to be significant.

 I chose to present this topic as an online teaching resource for the high school age group because (1) they are about old enough to be introduced to a significant yet tragic topic such as 9/11 and (2) since they are part of a generation that was not around for 9/11, it is important to teach them about how this event is important to reflect back on and understand as our country progresses.

The biggest takeaways from this project was truly just how impactful 9/11 was on America and how much of a role it played in the country changing over the years. The domestic policies that we are implementing in our country that we must abide by and how strict our national security is majorly resulted from 9/11 and it is now much more understandable to me and I appreciate them even more. 

The biggest challenge from this project was my emotions getting the best of me as I did my research. I did not realize how difficult it was going to be to listen to oral history interviews from survivors and first hand responders. I could tell just from their voices how challenging it was to recall their personal experiences and say it out loud like they are reliving it again. Watching the videos of the planes crashing into the buildings were also very difficult for me to watch because I was imagining the utter fear of the people who were in and around those buildings. The frightened reactions of the people on the streets and from home watching the buildings crash down is just so unimaginable for me. I have to admit, I cried a couple of times while watching the videos, listening to audio recordings, and reading articles about 9/11 because of how emotionally impactful that whole day was for so many. 

I plan on preserving the files on the Blogger website under my account, and I also plan on archiving my project into my computer files so I can continue to look back on it.

 I do not have any questions, criticisms, or suggestions for you professor. Thank you so much for a great semester, I truly learned so much from your class. I hope you have a great winter break! I will also include down below the surveys I have responded to.

Surveys I have Responded to in HIST 390-DL1:

1. Erick Sanchez (Consuming Political Campaign Media)

2. Kayla Make (GMU Parking Pass)

3. Napa Ouneaim (How much do you know about World War II?)

4. Jorgen Bauer (Opinions on Stop Motion Animation)

5. TyKara Thompson (Stonewall Rebellion)

6. Zheliad Schmidle (Leadership)

7. Isabella Schmecko (Student Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic)