Post by elementary on Aug 27, 2012 20:51:28 GMT -5
Dear Diary,
There was a school shooting in Baltimore today at a high school. As school shootings go, this was a minor one, and I mean minor in that as of this moment, I know of nobody who has been killed in the incident.
I found out about the shooting during lunch while researching material for a new part of class that I was beginning today. Essentially this new activity involves combining map skills with current events. As most people know, if you are curious about a topic, you tend to remember it more than if you are not. So what I did seems basic. I gave each student an unlabeled map of the world and a page broken up by day, with each day given three lines for three separate events. On the board, I marked three locations and labeled them. I then gave the students three 'News Titles' to write on their Event Page.
Originally the three topics were to be
1) "New Orleans Braces for Isaac" with New Orleans marked
2) "Quebec struck by Legionnaire's Disease" with Quebec marked
and
3) "Ventura gets First West Nile Virus Case" with Ventura marked.
From the list one might get the idea that I'm fascinated with outbreaks of disease, and they would be correct. Deadly diseases combine science and social response in a way that few other events are able to. They also, in a school setting, will get the students engaged faster than most any other topic, and that is the goal. Hands fly up and the questions come in rapid succession. How is it spread? Why is it dangerous? How do you treat it? Each of these questions drops right smack into the scientific process and involve 'cause and effect'.
My other topic invoked the ghosts of Katrina and it aimed for a different response - one developed from a discussion of an event of 'mythic' quality, which is an event just beyond their true memories but is spoken about, in reverential tones, by the society around them. Most of these events involve a substantial loss of life. For this generation of elementary school kids, Katrina and 9-11 fall squarely into this bucket, and to a lesser extent the Christmas Day Tsunami could be considered.
So when I popped onto Yahoo to get some information on Hurricane Isaac, the school shooting jumped right out, and if there is a topic that students will drop everything for, school shootings - for obvious reasons - are at the top of the list. I decided to change my lesson.
In working with this topic I had to make sure I didn't come across as trying to scare the students. My goal, educationally, was to place a city on a map, not paralyze the students with fear. My second underscored the importance of following procedures when an intruder is on campus and a lockdown is called.
A couple days ago I mentioned a type 2 lockdown, but I don't think I explained this security code in any detail.
In my district a Level 2 lockdown is called when there is a police activity in the neighborhood and there is the possibility of the school being placed in danger. During a level 2 lockdown, the doors are all locked but teaching still occurs as normal. We email our rosters to the front office, and no students may leave the classroom without an escort.
A Level 1 lockdown is called when there is an intruder on campus and the students are in immediate danger. The event in Baltimore triggered this kind of lockdown that lasted over an hour according the few reports I read. In this case, the lights in a classroom are turned off, the doors locked, and the students moved to the floor away from any doorway or unblocked window. The roster is emailed to the office with listings of who might of been out of the room at the time of the incident (speech, bathroom, office visit), and a green card (all students accounted for) or a red card (student missing outside of classroom - such as in the bathroom) is placed in the window. The students are to remain silent and no one leaves for any reason. The teacher is not allowed to bring into the room any student at that point, even if they are pounding on the door begging for help. That door is to remain a barrier, and it is possible that any cry for help might be a ruse. Until the police clear the room, this will be the living conditions of everyone in the room. No bathroom breaks. No water. No food. No talking.
We have even been given a portable toilet/tub with a pull around drape if a student is in immediate need of relief.
I am grateful I never have had need of this device.
The lesson was a huge success, and the vast majority of the room was fully engaged and asking relevant questions. Most teachers know that some clowns will try to spice up a slow lesson with comments or questions devised to provoke laughter or just be annoying. This didn't happen today. When I brought up West Nile Virus and mentioned that Texas had the most cases, one of my students asked if the disease could be found in Mexico. To answer him, I brought up the CDC website and did a mini-lesson on how to search for information, and we found a worldwide map showing the disease's distribution.
The whole experience was such a success today that I am really looking forward to tomorrow's topics, though right now I'm not sure what they will be, except for Isaac and his march towards the coast.
I may modify the format slightly, to save some time, and bring the number of topics down to two (or maybe one - depending on if we use up my allotted time for these discussions.)
In other news, we finished our class elections today and a girl I'll name Rabbit won, beating out a boy I'll call Silent. Both exhibited good responsible behavior and when given choices between catering to other students or doing what is best for the class, they chose the class. I'm really proud of them, and I believe they will do well in their positions.
I also gave out my first multiplication homework today, the work that is tied to my method of forcing (for lack of a better word) students to memorize their tables. We'll see how it goes and I'll explain the process more later.
Maybe tomorrow.
Welcome to Monday.
Lowell
There was a school shooting in Baltimore today at a high school. As school shootings go, this was a minor one, and I mean minor in that as of this moment, I know of nobody who has been killed in the incident.
I found out about the shooting during lunch while researching material for a new part of class that I was beginning today. Essentially this new activity involves combining map skills with current events. As most people know, if you are curious about a topic, you tend to remember it more than if you are not. So what I did seems basic. I gave each student an unlabeled map of the world and a page broken up by day, with each day given three lines for three separate events. On the board, I marked three locations and labeled them. I then gave the students three 'News Titles' to write on their Event Page.
Originally the three topics were to be
1) "New Orleans Braces for Isaac" with New Orleans marked
2) "Quebec struck by Legionnaire's Disease" with Quebec marked
and
3) "Ventura gets First West Nile Virus Case" with Ventura marked.
From the list one might get the idea that I'm fascinated with outbreaks of disease, and they would be correct. Deadly diseases combine science and social response in a way that few other events are able to. They also, in a school setting, will get the students engaged faster than most any other topic, and that is the goal. Hands fly up and the questions come in rapid succession. How is it spread? Why is it dangerous? How do you treat it? Each of these questions drops right smack into the scientific process and involve 'cause and effect'.
My other topic invoked the ghosts of Katrina and it aimed for a different response - one developed from a discussion of an event of 'mythic' quality, which is an event just beyond their true memories but is spoken about, in reverential tones, by the society around them. Most of these events involve a substantial loss of life. For this generation of elementary school kids, Katrina and 9-11 fall squarely into this bucket, and to a lesser extent the Christmas Day Tsunami could be considered.
So when I popped onto Yahoo to get some information on Hurricane Isaac, the school shooting jumped right out, and if there is a topic that students will drop everything for, school shootings - for obvious reasons - are at the top of the list. I decided to change my lesson.
In working with this topic I had to make sure I didn't come across as trying to scare the students. My goal, educationally, was to place a city on a map, not paralyze the students with fear. My second underscored the importance of following procedures when an intruder is on campus and a lockdown is called.
A couple days ago I mentioned a type 2 lockdown, but I don't think I explained this security code in any detail.
In my district a Level 2 lockdown is called when there is a police activity in the neighborhood and there is the possibility of the school being placed in danger. During a level 2 lockdown, the doors are all locked but teaching still occurs as normal. We email our rosters to the front office, and no students may leave the classroom without an escort.
A Level 1 lockdown is called when there is an intruder on campus and the students are in immediate danger. The event in Baltimore triggered this kind of lockdown that lasted over an hour according the few reports I read. In this case, the lights in a classroom are turned off, the doors locked, and the students moved to the floor away from any doorway or unblocked window. The roster is emailed to the office with listings of who might of been out of the room at the time of the incident (speech, bathroom, office visit), and a green card (all students accounted for) or a red card (student missing outside of classroom - such as in the bathroom) is placed in the window. The students are to remain silent and no one leaves for any reason. The teacher is not allowed to bring into the room any student at that point, even if they are pounding on the door begging for help. That door is to remain a barrier, and it is possible that any cry for help might be a ruse. Until the police clear the room, this will be the living conditions of everyone in the room. No bathroom breaks. No water. No food. No talking.
We have even been given a portable toilet/tub with a pull around drape if a student is in immediate need of relief.
I am grateful I never have had need of this device.
The lesson was a huge success, and the vast majority of the room was fully engaged and asking relevant questions. Most teachers know that some clowns will try to spice up a slow lesson with comments or questions devised to provoke laughter or just be annoying. This didn't happen today. When I brought up West Nile Virus and mentioned that Texas had the most cases, one of my students asked if the disease could be found in Mexico. To answer him, I brought up the CDC website and did a mini-lesson on how to search for information, and we found a worldwide map showing the disease's distribution.
The whole experience was such a success today that I am really looking forward to tomorrow's topics, though right now I'm not sure what they will be, except for Isaac and his march towards the coast.
I may modify the format slightly, to save some time, and bring the number of topics down to two (or maybe one - depending on if we use up my allotted time for these discussions.)
In other news, we finished our class elections today and a girl I'll name Rabbit won, beating out a boy I'll call Silent. Both exhibited good responsible behavior and when given choices between catering to other students or doing what is best for the class, they chose the class. I'm really proud of them, and I believe they will do well in their positions.
I also gave out my first multiplication homework today, the work that is tied to my method of forcing (for lack of a better word) students to memorize their tables. We'll see how it goes and I'll explain the process more later.
Maybe tomorrow.
Welcome to Monday.
Lowell