9/11 Lesson

The Attacks on

September 11th, 2001

​How have the attacks of September 11, 2001 changed America’s outlook on terrorism?

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What is 9/11?

​“9/11” is shorthand for four coordinated terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda, an Islamist extremist group, that occurred on the morning of September 11, 2001. Nineteen terrorists from al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial airplanes, deliberately crashing two of the planes into the upper floors of the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center complex and a third plane into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. A fourth-hijacked plane was crashed in a field in Pennsylvania by it's heroic passengers.

​Learning Objective:    All students will be able to identify the key events of the September 11^th attacks and relate the key events to real time through the completion of a timeline activity with 100% participation.

Multiple Choice

Was the Pentagon struck BEFORE or AFTER the World Trade Center?

• Before

• After

Open Ended

What stories do these numbers tell? What stories don’t these numbers tell?

CONTENT ELABORATION: The post-Cold War period and the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, presented new domestic challenges for the United States. Issues impacting national security include:

• the dynamic of balancing national security with civil liberties (USA PATRIOT Act);

• the creation of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA);

• an increase in Islamophobia and xenophobia;

 • increasing fears of domestic terrorism

​USA PATRIOT ACT = antiterrorist bill; The law made it easier to wiretap suspects, track Internet communications, and seize voicemail.  Authorities were permitted to conduct secret searches and seizures.

• Proponents of the Patriot Act claim it provides necessary tools to law enforcement in combating terrorism.

• Critics of the Patriot Act say the law infringes on constitutional rights of privacy.

TSA = Designed to prevent similar attacks in the future. 

Open Ended

What are the famous last words of Flight 93 passenger, Todd Beamer , before he and other passengers stormed the cockpit and hijackers?

​Islamophobia = is an extreme fear of and hostility toward Islam and Muslims which often leads to hate speech, hate crimes, as well as social and political discrimination.

Xenophobia - extreme dislike or fear of foreigners, their customs, their religions, etc.

​Soon after the 9/11 attacks, Xenophonia and Islamophobia levels spiked

Multiple Select

Throughout its history, the United States has had to confront serious challenges. Identify the challenges faced by the United States since the September 11, 2001, attacks. Select all that apply. ​ • You do not need to use all the challenges.

• competing in the space race

• countering the use of terrorism

• Balancing national security and civil liberities

• protecting aginst possible attacks in the United States

• preventing the spread of communism

Multiple Choice

​The cartoonist is critiquing 

• Increased government surveillance of U.S. citizens under provisions of the Patriot Act 

• The failure of the Department of Homeland Security to gather information about terrorism

• Terrorists were infiltrating U.S. security forces

• Citizens security was too dependent on electronic innovation

​The post-Cold War period and the attacks on September 11, 2001 impacted the military in the following ways: 

• increased defense spending as a result of the war on terrorism;

 • role of the United States and United Nations in addressing political and social unrest in the Middle East;

 and • the control of weapons of mass destruction in areas of the world perceived as a threat to world stability (President Bush warned the United States “will not permit the world’s most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world’s most destructive weapons.”)