MHJH Room 121 - IT's a CommUNITY - Day 3

The week wrapped up in Room 121 going through the final day of our three-part series on building a commUNITY in our English classroom.  After highlighting the events from the previous two days and explaining to the students a little about what they were going to be a part of today we were off and running.

The lesson began with a little talk about September 11, 2001, and where I was when the news came through of what was happening in our country on that fateful day.  I remember it like it was yesterday, but it was sobering when I realized my current students weren't even born yet.  They were the most attentive and quiet as I recalled that day.  I shared with them the video clip from NASA of the September 11th Airspace Shutdown, the accompanying timeline, and the Cleveland connection.

Youtube Video of the September 11th Airspace Shutdown

I'm sure all of you are thinking, "September 11, 2001, is an odd connection to respect and community", but in all reality, there's nothing odd about it.  In fact, out of that tragedy came one of the greatest, yet little-known stories ever.  Being a fan of the Olympics ever since I was a wee one (and that's been a long time) I've spent weeks of my life watching and following both the winter and summer Olympics ever since 1980.  It was during my viewing of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada that I learned the importance Gander, Newfoundland played to the world that unimaginable day.  Tom Brokaw did a 43 minute special on Gander and the events that unfolded on September 11, 2001.  If you have the time, please take a moment to watch the report he shared.

"Operation Yellow Ribbon" Gander, Newfoundland

This Olympic report led me to the book, The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 Gander, Newfoundland, by Jim McFede.  It was in this book that I was introduced to Werner Baldessarini, fashion designer and businessman, and former chairman of Hugo Boss.  He was on one of the international flights diverted and ordered to land in Gander when the U.S. airspace was shut down.  It was here that he would spend 72 hours waiting for airspace around the United States of America to reopen.  It was also here that he learned the true meaning of community, and it is here that I finally came to the end of a quest to find a clear definition of what community means thanks to the words of Mr. Baldessarini.   Read the excerpt from the above book that is the epitome of commUNITY:

“There was no hatred.  No anger.  No fear in Gander.  Only the spirit of community.  Here, everyone was equal, everyone was treated the same.  Here, the basic humanity of man wasn’t just surviving but thriving.  And Baldessarini understood that he was a witness to it and it was affecting him in ways he’d never imagined.

His assistants in Frankfurt thought he was crazy when he called to cancel the private jet.  He tried explaining that flying home while the others were left behind would have been an act of betrayal of everything that had happened over the last seventy-two hours.  Wherever his fellow passengers went, that’s where he would go.  However long it took them to get home, that’s how long he’d be gone.  He was in this until the end.” - page 194 - The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 Gander, Newfoundland by Jim McFede

The above is how I make sure learning happens in my classroom. I watch over an environment where there is no hatred, anger, fear, etc.. It is an environment where everyone feels safe to be who they are. I guarantee 52 minutes of safety, care, and kindness to anyone who is a part of Room 121. It is a constant work in progress, but because reading and writing are such personal subjects, where students are asked to dig deep and share, I have to make sure the place they do their learning is one of respect and commUNITY. The class motto encompasses all that Room 121 is about: "We don’t have rules … we have a mutual philosophy of RESPECT for ALL."