AZ students are now required to learn about 9/11. Here's how schools are doing that

Corrections & Clarifications: A previous version of this article misreported who introduced House Bill 2325, which makes it mandatory to observe 9/11 in Arizona public schools. 

More than two decades after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, students across Arizona — who belong to a generation with no personal memory of the tragic day — are now required to commemorate and learn about 9/11 every year on its anniversary, starting this year.

Monday marks the 22nd anniversary of the pivotal day in American history in which the lives of nearly 3,000 victims were claimed. Since a bill suggested by former Gov. Doug Ducey and introduced by state lawmaker and former New Jersey Port Authority officer John Kavanagh was approved last year, all Arizona public schools are now required to teach about 9/11 and dedicate part of the school day to commemorate it.

The bill went into effect in late September, marking 2023 as the first year those requirements are observed.

While the impacts of 9/11 are considered to linger to this day, students in grades K-12 were born after the world-altering event, with current high school seniors born around 2005. Before this year, Arizona students weren't required to learn about 9/11 or observe the day in schools.

Many school districts across the state, however, have long observed the day, engaging students in various ways as an act of remembrance.

An Arizona Republic analysis found that at least seven of the 10 largest school districts in Arizona already included 9/11 in school curriculums prior to the legal mandate. Three of those seven school districts also reported implementing additions to the way they teach about 9/11 since the bill went into effect last year. The other three school districts did not immediately respond to The Republic's request.

Planned school activities for Monday across the more than 2,000 public schools in the state include assemblies, moments of silence observance, essay readings, patriotic song performances, special classroom lessons and tributes to local first responders and service members.

A bill that helps 'strengthen' how 9/11 is taught

The Chandler and Dysart unified school districts along with Gilbert Public Schools have observed 9/11 long before it was required to do so. The recent bill, however, has "strengthened" how they teach and observe the day.

"The new law made us, in the curriculum structure department, really focus on how can we support our sites to make sure that there is emphasis in the observance of 9/11," said Jessica Edgar, executive director of curriculum and instruction at the Chandler Unified School District. "We have several sites that already have celebrations to recognize that day, but there have been some additions as far as making sure we allot time during that day reflecting upon its impact in our lives."

Edgar said each school across the district prepared different activities for Monday, with events ranging from commendations to first responders and flag pole ceremonies to participating in a moment of silence and taking time to reflect on the importance of the date.

Renee Ryon, spokesperson with the Dysart Unified School District, said schools across the district are hosting assemblies, wearing red, white, and blue and having students write thank you notes to first responders. This year, more schools within the district planned events involving all students and implemented lessons that connect different learning subjects, ensuring everyone has an opportunity to learn about 9/11, Ryon said.

Angela Esquibel, Gilbert Public Schools spokesperson, said more lessons that are age-appropriate have been implemented since the legal mandate was approved.

"(The bill) didn't really change the fact that schools have always talked about 9/11, but now they just integrated age-appropriate instruction across the board, and they'll probably do it mostly in social studies classes," Esquibel said.

Schools in Gilbert also have several patriotic celebrations and tributes to first responders planned for Monday. Additionally, high schools across the district will also learn from first-person accounts, Esquibel said.

Similarly, the Phoenix Union High School District, along with Paradise Valley, Peoria and Deer Valley unified school districts, have planned activities and lessons for 9/11 and have observed the holiday since before it became a legal requirement, but they did not specify if any adjustments were made this year due to the new bill.

For Suzanne DeStefano, who presides over the Great Hearts Archway Classical Academy in Glendale, implementing activities to commemorate 9/11 into the school's curriculum was a no-brainer, especially given her personal experience.

DeStefano left New York in July 2001 to begin her teaching career, after having worked at the World Trade Center for two years. She said that many of her co-workers perished in the attacks.

DeStefano said it is important to pay tribute and remember those who lost their lives during the attacks, and she hopes to transmit that to students at the school she presides.

Great Hearts Archway Classical Academy has consistently put out an announcement and observed a moment of silence on the anniversary of 9/11 for the past several years, DeStefano said. The recent bill has only emphasized the significance of the date even more, she said.

Teaching 'may have saved my life': Arizona educator left her World Trade Center job just before 9/11

Teaching 9/11 through historical empathy to high school students

Among the Arizona teachers who have consistently covered 9/11 since its first anniversary is Annie Shanahan, who teaches at Maryvale High School's Gifted and Talented Academy in Phoenix.

Every year for the past 21 years, she has prepared an activity for her students on the anniversary. She said her priority when teaching about 9/11 is allowing students to immerse themselves in what happened that day and its aftermath by bringing primary and secondary sources' recounts, photographs, audio and video, among other resources.

"It gives them a more in-depth look when you bring in those personal stories," she said. "Even though my students weren't alive at the time, they're feeling the impact even though they weren't there."

Shanahan teaches U.S. history, world history, government and economics at the high school and she makes sure to include 9/11 in all of her classes' curriculums.

Every year, she asks students their prior knowledge and what questions they have, and then she tailors her lessons based on the subject she's teaching and based on what her students want to know.

This year, Shanahan's students will be participating in the 2023 9/11 Anniversary Digital Learning Experience, hosted by the 9/11 Memorial Museum, where students watch a film that has first-person accounts of the attacks and their aftermath and live chat with museum staff who will be answering questions in real-time.

"I notice in my classes, students are more interested in things that are more interactive," she said. "That helps to build historical empathy. When they hear it, see it, they are more inmersed in the experience."

Just like most people who were in the U.S. in the moment of the tragedy, Shanahan remembers exactly where she was and what she was doing when she heard the news.

"I remember it so clearly," Shanahan said. "I was student teaching in Minnesota at the time. I was in the classroom, the students weren't in the room, and I remember the English teacher said 'you need to turn on the TV, something's happening in New York.'"

That day, Shanahan and the other teachers agreed to shut the television off by the time students came back in and resumed the lesson as normal.

The next year, Shanahan moved to Arizona, where she made the decision to teach about 9/11 to her students every year on the anniversary of the incident.

"Teaching about 9/11 is important because it was one of those watershed moments of American history," Shanahan said. "It's a marker that we use to describe life in America. It's something that occurred in our nation that changed pretty much every aspect of life, from government, to our economy, to security. It just infiltrated into so many aspects of American life."

For elementary students, the focus is on the heroes

Unlike teaching about 9/11 in high schools, talking about the details of a day that generated pain and distress for many Americans at elementary schools is a challenge, according to John Mahnke, a physical education instructor at Bright Beginnings Elementary School in Chandler.

"We discuss in P.E. a little bit about 9/11, but don't focus on the attacks at all," Mahnke said. "Instead, we talk about being heroes and the heroes that emerged that day."

Kids at the school created an American flag using their handprints for the observance of 9/11, and the school planned a Patriot Day assembly for Monday where students will participate in the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence.

Additionally, the assembly will mark the start of the annual toy drive the school has hosted for the past three years for the Arizona Cancer Foundation for Children. Two students at the elementary school are cancer survivors, and Mahnke said the initiative helps students learn more about being heroes during Cancer Awareness Month in September.

While the school has observed 9/11 for at least the past 10 years, recently, the toy drive has given more meaning to the date.

"We use this toy drive to show them another way to be a hero," Mahnke said. "I tell them 'You can bring in a toy, and you can be a hero by giving up something of your own to help somebody else.' We focus on building heroes by having them doing the work, doing the donation and the sacrifice, rather than asking mom and dad," he said.

This year, the school will also get a chance to meet crews from the Chandler Fire Department. Firefighters will talk with the kids about who their heroes are and why they decided to become firefighters, Mahnke said.

DeStefano said she uses a similar approach at Great Hearts Archway Classical Academy.

"Especially for K-5, it is important to focus on the way our heroes emerged that day and that our country came together that day," she said.

Both DeStefano and Mahnke said they have noticed that when young kids learn about 9/11, they show curiosity and acknowledge the importance of the sacrifices made that day.

"They have questions because they are reflective and curious and they have a desire to learn about impactful memories in our history," DeStefano said.

"They relate the events of 9/11 to their own lives," Mahnke said. "We can use the examples of the people who were heroes that day to make ourselves better, and that way, by being kind, and using kind words and kind actions, we also make the people around us better."

Reporter Laura Daniella Sepulveda covers breaking news for The Arizona Republic. Reach her at laura.sepulveda@arizonarepublic.com or on Twitter @lauradaniella_s.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: How Arizona educators teach K-12 students about 9/11 attacks