Finding a Teaching Moment in bin Laden's Death

The subject of Osama bin Laden’s death was the topic of conversation in Jeff Bedore’s second period military history class at on Monday.

Bedore, a history teacher, said he expected that his other classes would have as much interest in the subject. The topic wound up dominating the entire class period.

“We wound up having a very wide-ranging discussion with the kids about you everything from how the operation might have worked to presidential decision-making,” Bedore said. “It was sort of all over the map and that is pretty much of what I expected.”

The kids asked many different questions, and Bedore said he tried to answer as many as possible.

“But the bottom line is my role in the discussion is to point out that so soon after the event you really have to wait until facts come in that we don’t know a lot about it per se other than fact that Mr. Bin Laden is apparently dead," he said. "So that is where we are at.”

Parents prefer to discuss more difficult subjects with their children when they are in elementary school, said Susan Rice, District 203 director of communications. Rather than have teachers discuss such complex topics in the classroom, elementary teachers defer to parents.

At the junior high level, teacher Brian Bakke spent time with his students sharing information about Osama bin Laden and his history with the United States. He used a video from CNN to help provide biographical information about bin Laden.

Bakke, who teaches seventh grade world geography at , said he wasn’t sure how much the students knew about bin Laden but that he believed felt his students were old enough to understand the situation.

During class he provided a timeline from bin Laden’s days during the Soviet war in Afghanistan, his founding of al-Qaida to his interaction with the United States. Bakke also provided context through speeches from Presidents George W. Bush and Obama.

The students were particularly interested in Obama’s comments, he said. Most of the students were not able to stay up and watch the president’s address to the nation Sunday night.

In each of his classes, a few students asked two or three questions, Bakke said. Those questions ranged from why when CNN interviewed bin Laden wasn’t he captured to a discussion about the soldiers who captured bin Laden and if they would receive the bounty offered for his capture.

“The other thing they asked about is, does this mean there will be a retaliation,” Bakke said. “I explained to them ... that this may disrupt their network. … But that we need to be very vigilant.”