holding space with student journalists on 9/11

One of the most important lessons I teach my high school journalists is the one I save for 9/11 — the role of journalists in crisis. I thought I'd take a moment today to explain what I do since it has evolved a lot over the years.

I teach mixed-grade, mixed level courses by choice. I love having my intro students in the same room as my second, third and fourth-year reporters — there's a richness to our discussions because of those grades and experience levels mixing together, and the young students are inspired by the older ones. For the first semester, we start as a whole class to do team-building or have conversations, and then my returning staff go off to work as a team on their publication while I teach traditional intro lessons (law and ethics, the First Amendment, interviewing, journalistic writing, photojournalism, and so on) to those new reporters. We slowly start to come together as a group in November when the intro staff get their first assignments, and we are fully melded into a production staff second semester.

For this lesson, I gave my returning staff a heads up that they would be staying for the first half of class, and I mixed them into table groups with the intro students. Here were the essential questions I posed at the beginning of class:

1. What is the role of a journalist during a crisis?​ Some would argue journalists are intrusive and unnecessary during times of crisis and trauma — how would you respond? How does this translate to our work on our publication?
2. How should an ethical journalist balance their duty to seek truth and report it with their responsibility to minimize harm to those experiencing a crisis? How does this translate to our work on our publication?

I started the main lesson this year with something new: I had the whole class read the editorial my '24-'25 Oracle editorial board wrote in the wake of the LA fires: "The role of service journalism in times of crisis." When my editors wrote that piece in February 2025, I felt a pride I can hardly describe. The staff's coverage of the LA Fires throughout that terrible time was truly outstanding, but this editorial told me I was doing something right. They got it. They really got it.

My instinct to include this editorial for the first time paid off. The discussion that followed was incredible. Older students who were on staff at the time of the fires shared their experiences, and younger students explored the piece and asked great questions. It was a great set-up for a more specific discussion of the role of journalists during 9/11. Before I sent the returning staff off to work, I was able to add another new element to the lesson — a complete, original copy of a USA Today published Sept. 12, 2001, which my friend Jerry sent me along with other old papers his parents had saved over the years from pivotal moments in our history. It meant so much to them to look through the paper and see the impact 9/11 had on all aspects of our country. When I showed them he also sent me sections of papers from the end of WWII, the Kennedy assassination, and the moon landing, they were speechless. They wanted to make sure I told you thank you, Jerry. Thank you.

After I sent my returning staff off to work, I then continued the traditional intro lesson I've done in the past, watching the 13-minute documentary about journalists covering 9/11 in Manhattan called "Running Toward Danger," which is housed on the Newseum's website. If you'd like to watch the video, just create a free account on their website. (I recommend all humanities teachers get a Newseum account — they have amazing resources.) This video is so powerful, though hard to watch, especially if it is a memory for you rather than the history lesson it is for them. I always prepare them for what they are going to see — nothing explicit, but real footage of the events of that day, which are upsetting — but I have never had a student who regretted watching it.

I do a version of this lesson every year, and it's always so powerful. This being the 25th anniversary made it especially poignant. One of my junior editors was inspired by the anniversary to write a feature where she interviews members of our faculty and staff about where they were and what they remember. We have faculty who weren't yet born or were too young to remember, faculty who were in school as students, and faculty like me who were adults, and she's hoping to show that range of experience. I was a 26-year-old English teacher teaching a senior English class in Connecticut when it happened. I'll never forget realizing I had to keep it together for my students when I wanted to fall apart. This is just one example of the many stories she will find as she interviews members of our community.

Anyway, this is how I keep my 9/11 vigil every year. I teach this lesson. I remind my students that the core of ethical journalism is to serve the public. I tell them that they are real journalists, even if they aren't professional ones, and I reassure my new students that they — just like the students who covered the LA fires — are capable of rising to the challenge of reporting in crisis situations.
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It's such important work. I'm privileged to do it.