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Lesson 4

We will consider how documentary films also use narrative techniques and elements to tell their stories. We will study several documentaries that use different approaches to tell the story of the 9/11 terror attacks. Noting key narrative details, elements, and approaches in each of the documentaries, we will compare the storytelling forms in the documentaries to Hampton Sides’s historical narrative.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I note key details and analyze the narrative approaches in a set of documentaries about 9/11?

  • Can I make valid, text-based comparisons about the approaches to telling the 9/11 story in two of the works I have watched or read?

Texts

Core

  • Digital Access
    • “9/11 Timeline: The Attacks on the World Trade Center,” The History Channel, The History Channel, 2011
    • “New Yorkers Remember 9/11, Fifteen Years Later,” The History Channel, The History Channel, 2016
    • “Too Young to Remember: How Kids Comprehend 9/11,” NBC News, NBC News, 2016

Optional

  • Digital Access
    • “First Response (Full Episode) — 9/11: One Day in America,” Dan Lindsay, T.J. Martin, and David Glover, National Geographic, 2022
    • “Seven Documentaries Worth Watching about 9/11,” James M. Lindsay and Anna Shortridge, Council on Foreign Relations, 2021

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: View – Discuss

We will consider how documentary films use narrative techniques and elements to tell their stories as we watch a film that chronicles the timeline of the 9/11 attacks.

Watch a short documentary about the September 11, 2001, attacks, "9/11 Timeline: The Attacks on the World Trade Center." You might use a VideoNote-Taking Tool to record the sequence of events that are chronicled in the documentary.

As a class, discuss relationships between the video’s timeline and the events and stories chronicled in Sides's narrative, "Points of Impact." Note how this documentary is told chronologically, while Sides's is more episodic and non-linear in its organization.

Activity 2: View – Discuss

We will watch and discuss a second history Channel video from 2016, which focuses on the lives of survivors 15 years after the 9/11 attacks.

Watch a second documentary about 9/11, "New Yorkers Remember 9/11, Fifteen Years Later." Pay attention to how the story is told, taking notes on the details it presents on the many individuals in the film.

As a class, discuss how this 9/11 documentary differs from the other one, even though they address the same subject. Focus the discussion on the different ways the two films tell their stories. Discuss the relationships between this film and Hampton Sides's historical narrative.

Activity 3: View – Discuss

In pairs, we will rewatch one of the two documentaries.

Team up with another student to rewatch and discuss either "9/11 Timeline: The Attacks on the World Trade Center" or "New Yorkers Remember 9/11, Fifteen Years Later." Take notes on the details you notice and focus on the following questions:

  1. How does this video tell the story of 9/11? From what perspective and with what narrative approach?

  2. What important details does it present? How do those details affect you as a viewer?

After discussing the 9/11 documentary, join another pair who rewatched the other documentary; compare what you observed about the videos and how they have affected you as a viewer.

Activity 4: View – Discuss

We will watch a 2016 NBC News video about students who are too young to remember 9/11.

Watch a third documentary, "Too Young To Remember: How Kids Comprehend 9/11," which focuses on the 9/11 attacks, this time from the perspective of students who were not alive when the events occurred.

With the class, discuss your reactions to the documentary and how it compares to the other two in terms of the story it tells, as well as its narrative approach.

Activity 5: Write – Discuss

We will discuss the NBC News video and our own memories and understandings of the 9/11 attacks.

React to "Too Young To Remember: How Kids Comprehend 9/11" by writing your response to the following question in your Learning Log:

  1. What is the meaning of the 9/11 attacks to me and my generation?

After writing your response, share and compare what you have thought about with other students in the class.

Activity 6: View

We will extend our learning about the 9/11 attacks and how historians have documented them by watching a full-length documentary and engaging in independent research.

As directed by your teacher, watch a documentary to get a deeper understanding of the 9/11 attacks and the ways in which documentarians have told the story of those tragic and horrific events.

To extend your research, find additional videos or online texts that tell the story of 9/11; there are many to choose from.