N.J. introduces 9/11 teaching curriculum

MILLBURN, N.J., July 14 (UPI) -- New Jersey educators said they have created a curriculum for teaching about Sept. 11, 2011, terrorism in time for the attacks' 10th anniversary.

Mary Vazquez, a retired Millburn Middle School and Holocaust studies teacher, said schools reacted to the event in different ways as they struggled with ways to handle the news for their students, The (Newark) Star-Ledger reported Wednesday.

"School systems were very uncomfortable talking about it. We didn't know how many families this would affect. We didn't know much ourselves," Vazquez said.

The kindergarten-through-12th-grade curriculum is titled, "Learning from the Challenges of Our Times: Global Security, Terrorism and 9/11 in the Classroom," and includes lesson plans on such topics as "Impact of Hateful Words," for elementary students to "What is Terrorism?" for middle school children, and "Reaction to and from the Muslim and Arab Communities" for high school students, The Star-Ledger reported.

The curriculum was devised by a volunteer group called the 4 Action Initiative, which is comprised of Families of September 11, the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education and Liberty Science Center, former Gov. Thomas Kean and dozens of New Jersey teachers, the newspaper said.