I've put together some resources below that may help any teacher interested in sharing the historical moment with their students tomorrow.
Of course, these are resources that are also good for anyone seeking to better understand, and place in context, this historical moment. If you have some that I missed, please add them in comments!
A brief explanation of why I've done this, and the resource list below the fold.
7 and 1/2 years ago, I was teaching a 2nd period AP Psychology class. We were introducing cognitive dissonance, of all things, when a teacher from across the hall opened my door and told me to turn on the television, that something was happening. I asked "which channel?" and intuitively felt my heart sink when she replied, without hesitating, "all of them."
Within an hour, I was standing in a room built for 30 with well more than 60 students and 3 other teachers in it (several rooms had no working equipment, and I had sent 2 students up and down the hall to invite people into mine) watching a live disaster unfold before our eyes. There were people weeping. People making phone calls (some of whom had relatives or family friends either in NYC or in the towers themselves). People stared in clearly shocked silence.
Then, one of my students quietly asked about a minute after the second tower fell,
Did all of those people just die?
Now, I had been professionally prepared for many things in my teaching: writing and grading tests, breaking up fights, how to design a Jigsaw II collaborative lesson plan and adapt it on the fly, but no one had taught me how to answer this question.
As we were all in my room, all eyes fell to me and I said the first thing that came to my mind,
"Yes, this is real. This will change everything. If you have a cell phone, you have my permission for the next 10 minutes or so to call a parent or family friend to tell them you are safe and ok. If you don't have a phone, you can borrow mine or someone else's. When the bell rings, go to 2nd period, but don't expect every other teacher to have this on or even to talk about it, some will continue with the lesson they planned for today. Do your best to be focused on that and be involved in it. If you want to come back here later, for whatever reason, I'll have the television on for the rest of the day. Bring a pass from your other teachers if you need to."
At least, I remember the first two sentences of that exactly, the rest may not have been exactly word for word, but I know that I just sat and watched the tv the rest of the day, welcomed anyone who came in, and had between 10 and 40 students in my room until the final bell at 3:20.
Being in Alpharetta, GA (north of Atlanta about 10 miles) we didn't cancel classes, and several teachers did ignore what was happening and forged ahead with whatever lab or quiz or lecture they had scheduled.
I also know that teachers across the country will be ignoring what is happening tomorrow in order to stay on schedule, or for lack of equipment, or because they resent that their team didn't win and will deny their students the chance to see history as it happens because they think it isn't "their" history (there was a NYT article this weekend explaining this, with interviews of school principals in Oklahoma, but I can't seem to find it now...).
I won't be doing that tomorrow.
Tomorrow is all about the inauguration.
After 9-11 and the extended/prolonged disaster of the Bush administration, this feels completely different.
I expect to cry again, for the second time in a classroom in my teaching career, but for a completely different reason. I'm considering standing in the back of the room so as not to draw attention to myself.
As for what questions my students may ask, and what answer I may have for them, I am in some ways as unprepared as I was on 9-11-01. But, I'll be using these sources of information to help explain what is happening and why it is such a different feeling event from other inaugurations, and from what we have experienced the past 8 years.
ONLINE INAUGURATION RESOURCES
The official webpage of the Inauguration Committee, with an abundance on the theme of Lincoln and why it was chosen, schedules of events and balls, and a live webstream of the main event (the NYT is also streaming it live, as are several other news outlets).
The Obama Team's inauguration website, with information, speeches, and updates, and another live webstream of the main event.
An absolutely excellent New York Timesinteractive graphic showing times and locations of the public events throughout the day tomorrow. HIGHLY recommended. (Notice the change in the Capital steps from the long view without the stage to the close-up with the stage!)
The Library of Congress Inaugurations Page (visuals, speeches, and miscellany from every presidential inauguration).
Wikipedia page with information on the "codicil" controversy.
A little trivia about locations, length of speeches, famous quotes, etc...
Any suggestions on what I should tell my students tomorrow, or any additional resources that may be helpful to me or others, would be very much appreciated.
Section 1, Article 2, U.S. Constitution: I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.