We had our first real lockdown today right after school was dismissed. I brought in as many loitering kids from outside as I could....anyways everyone was fine in the end, but my stress and anxiety is through the roof right now.... How do you deal with this as a teacher...and how can I help my kids when they come back tomorrow? Iv never seen them so scared abd Im sure some will still be upset.
I wouldn't bring it up unless the students do; carrying on as usual will ensure everyone that everything is okay. If it does come up, just emphasize the fact that everyone is safe because they did exactly what they were supposed to do in that situation.
This is the new normal. I'd recommend focusing on the daily activities and being a listening ear to any students who need to talk about their fears. The ears are the best counseling tool. I'd recommend you find listening ears to talk to, also, such as other teachers, a local pastor, or relatives. I'd recommend taking time each morning or (I prefer) evening to meditatively calm down. Overall, though, stress and fear are good; they are the mind's ability to recognize that a problem exists and deal with it. The problem results from over-emphasizing fear, from dealing with it unrealistically, or from ignoring the fear. Courage is not the absence of fear; courage is managing while experiencing fear.
Why was there a lockdown? My school went into lockdown yesterday, too. They called the lockdown during lunch, and they didn't start releasing students until 6 PM. By the time we got the kids out of the building, it was after 7; I didn't get home until 7:30 or so. Ours happened because of a police incident nearby, not because of anything actually on campus. Lockdowns can be scary. They also can be pretty common. It's probably best to start developing some coping skills now, because you can't get super stressed every time you end up in lockdown. I have a teacher friend at another school across from like 3 banks and that school goes into lockdown about once per month whenever there is an attempted holdup or any kind of suspicious person in or around one of those banks. It has nothing to do with the school itself, but they do the lockdown as a precautionary measure anyway.
I'm sorry to hear you had to deal with this, Caesar! What did you do with the kids during that whole time?
We were in the library, so they had access to books and computers. We also played cards (I taught them how to play Egyptian Rat Killer), and they raided my stash of snacks and water. All in all, it was not the worst situation to be stuck in.
The best thing to do is to prepare. If this happens again, do you have a plan in place? Emergency contact information? Does your school have regular lockdown drills? The more preparation you can do, the better it is when an emergency takes place.
I feel like it would be even more stressful to deal with at dismissal time. We've never had a real lockdown before, only drills. I would just make sure you're as prepared as you can be. If it makes you feel better, you can look into extra training. I really felt better about handling situations after my ALICE training. How did it go today?
Honestly its been a rough week in all. The lockdown was due police activity outside the school. In addition, Last night some kid threatened to shoot up the school on twitter with a photo of him masked with a gun. Kids told teachers and law enforcement so the principal had to notify parents about the threat to the school...kid was arrested but only half our kids showed up to school today. Wednesday we had a middle school kid robbed at gun point across the street from our school and last Friday another middle schooler from our feeder school died during a basketball practice. I had his brother last year. Its all made me anxious. We live in the "safe" part of town and now all this is happening.
Where I grew up was probably the safest place to live in the 1960's. Parents didn't think twice about allowing their children to roam the neighborhood unsupervised. We were allowed to explore in the woods on our own; (and we had training in school and at home on how to survive if we'd get lost and how to avoid poisonous plants and snakes). Growing up, probably the most "dangerous" situation I was in was when a kid and I got in a tussle and he tried to make me eat a toadstool. Now I can't pick up the paper without reading about murder and robbery! Until the last couple of decades, (except when I lived in D.C. for awhile), I'd never met anyone who experienced violent crime. Now there've been several incidents that my friends or I have experienced. All of these situations were close to or even right next to a school. Perhaps this adds even more importance to our job as teachers, to give our students hope and a future, to enrich their lives as best we can with knowledge and learning, so perhaps they will move on in a proper direction. Perhaps this adds even more importance to the smile we give our students each day; for some students that might be the only smile they receive that day.
My fiance has a military and law enforcement background, and something he has taught me is, in addition to participating in any trainings available, taking drills seriously, and just generally being aware, that you should have a personal plan in place. I actually feel a lot more comfortable because, as unpleasant as it is, I have thought through a variety of possibilities and come up with a way I could handle them. I know (because I've tested it) what furniture in my room would be easiest to move to block the door if I had to. I know several different ways to evacuate both the school building and campus should I need to, including which ones would not be a good option for my student with limited mobility should they be with me at the time. If, god forbid, we were to have a real lockdown or have to evacuate for real, I feel like I would be more prepared and thus less likely to let panic takeover.
Cupcake..when I laid out my room as a first year teacher I laid it out with lockdown in mind. Problem was had door with window on one side & windows at ground floor on other..made it tricky... But I used what I could. Also practicing lockdown in room with kids in your own so you all know what to do when drill or lockdown comes made it run more smoothly too.
I did have drills prior to the event, and a general plan to follow. I knew at least 4 different ways for kids to escape the building and I told the ones in my room where they were in case we needed them... This made the ones crying cry more, but I wanted them to know what to do if something happened to me... I do not have my own room so I have no say in how the rooms are set up. I have 2 different classrooms each term, and 4 in all for the year. It changes each year too. I never considered barricading the door. I think if there is a active shooter that I will do that. I can think of what can be moved to block the doors in each room I guess.
We have drills, and I thought about things like how we could escape if someone came in,and I told the kids in the room about the 5 options we had in case we needed to leave in a hurry. I wish I had my own room and I could set it up. I share with 2 teachers a term and am in 4 different rooms each year....What will work changes depending on the room.
I noticed a point that is so far, to my knowledge, overlooked by researchers who develop procedures for lockdown, the situation of students and even teachers crying. In situations where absolute silence is required, crying could be dangerous. But the emotional release of crying is beneficial. My thoughts are, in a situation that does not require silence, allow the students to cry. (This is difficult to write about; it's horrible that children have to experience such problems). The crying and experiencing the fear together as a group would also be beneficial. They are not alone with their fears, they have the power of a group experiencing the same fear. I would also think, again if possible, the teacher could ensure the students of the realism of the situation and encourage them that they will pull through the situation together; the students probably have exaggerated fears, even older students, but certainly younger students would. What they watch on TV probably won't make things any easier for them, either. I think we need psychologists and sociologists to weigh in on this, what specifically to do about crying and fear during a lockdown. I apologize for adding on to this, but I just thought of another potential problem. What if during the disaster a student experiences a severe physical emergency. I'm thinking of students with diabetes, epilepsy, heart conditions, etc. If a student will need medication, is it handy, just in case? I've never seen this addressed by the American Diabetes Association, and I'm planning on calling them today; (I am a patient-member of this association).
