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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRehearsing for death: A pre-K teacher on the trouble with lockdown drills
Remember that activity when we all get in the closet and pretend were not even there, so our principal cant find us? I choose my words carefully as I prep my pre-kindergarten students for the lockdown drill scheduled for that afternoon. These drills have become routine at Arlington elementary schools, and at schools across the country. After the latest school shooting, on Oct. 24 in Washington state, schools will no doubt be running through drills yet again. What can we do about all these shootings?, teachers ask each other. Lock the doors, were told, and assume the worst is coming.
When youre guiding 4- and 5-year-olds through a drill, your choice of words can mean everything. Activity, not game, because we laugh during games, and I cant risk introducing laughter. I dont say police, because some little kids find police officers scary, and I cant risk introducing tears. Instead, even though our principal isnt there this day, I want them to picture his kind but purposeful face when they hear the police officers and administrators hustling down the hallway, testing the doorknob of each room. I dont say quiet, because I cant risk them shushing one another while they are crammed together, practically sitting in each others laps. And because its not quiet thats required for this drill, but rather complete silence. As silent as children who arent there at all....
I stand, make purposeful eye contact with my preschoolers and gesture with my hands that we are going to the closet, right now. My expression here must be just so. Too much smile, and theyll ask questions and laugh. Too much severity, and theyll balk, rebel or be fearful. Make a sound with my hands or feet, and they will, too. Tip-toe too slowly, and they will, too. All is well, I must convey, but I am not kidding.
We get the children into the closet. My assistant lowers the window blinds, submerging our bright classroom in an odd, midday twilight, while I go to the classroom door. I quickly check for any children in the hallway, anyone I could pull to safety in my room. Thats part of the protocol. But who do I think would be there? The whole school is doing this drill. It is, in fact, just a drill, I reassure myself. I lock the door, pull a paper shade over the glass and, silently, step back to the closet....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/rehearsing-for-death-a-pre-k-teacher-on-the-trouble-with-lockdown-drills/2014/10/28/4ab456ea-5eb2-11e4-9f3a-7e28799e0549_story.html
As a preschool teacher, "activities" like this are part of my job.
HockeyMom
(14,337 posts)Not drills. Man shot his wife in apartment complex next door. Armed robbery down the street. We took the special needs 4 and 5 year olds and locked ourselves in the classroom bathroom. Both schools also had armed deputies on campus. So much for that? In the second instance we were in lockdown for an hour and a half. Want to know what that was like with these little kids? Oh, right, if someone in the classroom was armed we wouldn't have to do this?
mia
(8,360 posts)Just in case.
adigal
(7,581 posts)I teach 12th grade, and we have to do this, too.
My hope is that since my generation wasn't scarred by having to go into the hallway and put our hands over our heads to keep the nuclear bomb from killing us. I hope today's kids are as resourceful.
mia
(8,360 posts)I agree that it's sad that we have to do this.
A HERETIC I AM
(24,362 posts)Keep this in mind;
The same kids that had to do the "Duck and Cover" drills are the same ones that grew up and have pretty much made sure the chances of nuclear war are remote.
Perhaps today's little ones will grow up and find a way to remove their current threat.
adigal
(7,581 posts)HockeyMom
(14,337 posts)30 miles from Ground Zero. Of course we didn't call them that to the kids, especially since some had family members who were in the towers on that day.
Sad, very sad, that this has to be done for either reason.