Remembering 9/11 with Tagxedo

It's getting harder and harder to teach 7th graders about 9/11 because as each year passes, younger students remember less about that tragic day.  Lessons about the remembrance of 9/11 used to involve personal anecdotes and raw emotion.  Now, 9/11 lessons are consumed with misconceptions and other peoples' stories.  My 7th graders have a hard time remembering where they were when the towers were hit and why that moment is significant.  This requires a different kind of approach. 

I found an awesome lesson idea on the TCI blog that asks students to write about what they remember about 9/11 and then create a word cloud using Tagxedo that can be posted in the classroom. 

I love this idea, but like I said, it is becoming difficult to ask the students to write recall their own memories of 9/11.  I think this might be a great opportunity to practice interviewing skills.  Students can ask someone else, someone older, about their memories of 9/11.  As a class, come up with effective interview questions.  Then, students can either transcribe the interview into Tagxedo, or they can write a summary of the interview.  When they are done, they can create their word clouds and post them around the room.  I think the most interesting part would be to see which words are used most frequently.  What common themes run through all of the memories of that tragic day?