September 3, 2021 — As students head back to school and the country approaches the 20th anniversary of September 11, 2001, the Sikh Coalition has been proud to partner with the University of Pennsylvania and several allied organizations to produce Teaching Beyond September 11th lesson plans–including a module specifically focused on the Sikh American experience, which is made up of two lesson plans. 

Teaching Beyond September 11th is a free multimodal curriculum for high school and college educators and students which addresses the ongoing global impact of 9/11, exploring themes like social justice, representation, solidarity, public opinion, democracy, and U.S. foreign and domestic policy. Each module focuses on a year between 2001 and 2021; the module on the Sikh American experience, which was written primarily by Sikh Coalition staff, is centered around 2012 and includes an exploration of the attack on the Oak Creek, Wisconsin, gurdwara during that year.

“It is essential that the Sikh American experience–not just the hate and discrimination, but the necessary healing, resilience, and advocacy in the face of that backlash–be a part of any effort to teach about 9/11,” said Pritpal Kaur, Sikh Coalition Education Director. “The Teaching Beyond September 11th curriculum is a critical tool to share with your child’s teacher to help them have inclusive, thoughtful conversations around such a significant anniversary.”

To explore Teaching Beyond September 11th and share it with your student’s teachers, visit the University of Pennsylvania’s website here. If you have questions about how to approach educators with this content, you can reach out to education@sikhcoalition.org for guidance.

“We are grateful for the Sikh Coalition’s partnership as we worked to develop content for these modules that represents and includes a wide range of communities,” said Dr. Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher, Director of the International Educational Development Program in the University of Pennsylvania’s Literacy, Culture, and International Education Division. “As educators are increasingly teaching students with no memory of 9/11, we believe they should talk about not just what happened that day, but how it affected so many different people in the United States and around the world for years after the fact.”

Additional modules in Teaching Beyond September 11th are still being released; you can sign up to receive more information from the University of Pennsylvania here. As a reminder, you can find all of the Sikh Coalition’s back to school resources on our website, including collections specifically tailored towards parents and educators. In addition, our most recent Vaccine ਵੀਰਵਾਰ discussion on Facebook Live featured a Sikh doctor and Sikh educator talking about back to school concerns amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

As always, the Sikh Coalition urges you to practice your faith fearlessly.