On Sept. 11, 2001, confusion, not education, ruled the day at area high schools.
It was a day of "controlled chaos," said Liz Johnson, chairwoman of the history department at Mount de Sales Academy.
Johnson, who was then in her third year at the all-girls Catholic high school on Academy Road in Catonsville, recalled having group discussions with her students and consistently providing updates about the attacks as it became available.
"The aftermath was more of the learning opportunity," said Kevin Applegate, now the social studies department chairman at Western School of Technology and Environmental Science, who was in his second year as a teacher at the school in 2001. "There were a lot of rumors and a lot of theories out there.
"The separation of fact and fiction was the challenging aspect."
But as the United States approaches the 10th anniversary of the attacks, the questions students ask and the way the event is being taught has changed.
Though they may not have the vivid memories of their elders, Applegate said, today's high school students still come into class knowledgeable of the event.
"It is significant on the news, they're not just hearing about it at school," Applegate said. "Kids are familiar with the event, although they didn't experience it themselves."
When airplanes crashed into the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and into a field in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, most of today's high school students were between 4 and 7 years old.
"As time has gone on, fewer of them remember," Johnson said. "Our incoming freshman and the current sophomores were too young, they don't really remember anything."
Kathleen Jauschnegg, who teaches American government at Seton Keough High School, said because students like those at the all-girls Catholic high school on Caton Avenue were so young at the time of the attacks, they may be less emotional about the topic.
"They've heard about it. They live with it when they go through airports, but they don't have any idea how sudden the change was for us," she said. "I guess that emotional connection isn't quite there for them."
Ryan Folmer, history department chairman at Mount St. Joseph High School, sees the students' age as a teaching opportunity.
"Once you start to have people who don't have any direct memory of those events, it becomes history for them. So how they view it is going to be a little different," said Folmer, in his seventh year at the all-boys Catholic high school on Frederick Avenue in Irvington.
"(It's) more like an opportunity to demonstrate how things can go from being an experienced event to starting to become a historical event," he said. "I wouldn't say it's an obstacle. It's more like a teaching tool."
Because memories of it are so strong for many whom the students know, and because the event's continues to have an impact on so many different aspects of life in the United States, lessons incorporating Sept. 11 have strong appeal to the students, the teachers agreed.
Finding that connection comes in the form of finding changes made in the country that affect the students.
"I started a discussion about going through the scanners (at the airport) because that's more immediate to them," said Jauschnegg, in her second year at Seton Keough.
Ninth- and 11th-graders at Western receive the most instruction about Sept. 11, Applegate said, because they study government and U.S. history, respectively.
"The various powers of the government, including wiretapping, is a continuous topic in our school," Applegate said. "They very much enjoy the fact that the government can look at what websites you are going to."
Still, as the event becomes less a shared experience for today's teens, students may not be as engaged as they once were.
"I think the questions have been fewer," Thomas said. "They definitely are more about what actually happened and the meaning around it because they have less of a memory."
Whatever aspect the students are in interested in, Folmer said, he gets the sense that students want to understand the situation better than they do.
"It's an important part of the curriculum," he said. "We end up trying to get the students to develop their own perspectives on the event and what that means for their lives and to understand that this was an important event that will affect their lives and will affect their lives for a long time."
"They're interested in it. They're talking about it, because it obviously has an impact on people around the world, in the country and on their lives as well," Folmer said.
"Maybe it doesn't come up quite as much as it used to."
History teachers at Catonsville High School could not be reached for comment for this story.
"Once you start to have people who don't have any direct memory of those events, it becomes history for them. So how they view it is going to be a little different."
Ryan Folmer, history department chairman at Mount St. Joseph High School