Tyler was gone all day yesterday up to Wisconsin for a huge show choir competition. His group placed 5th, ended up in the finals, and even beat out some varsity teams!!! Way to go, Tyler!
(Sorry I didn’t have one with him in it)
Kayla got her acceptance letter to BYU-I! She was very excited to get it! Now she is waiting to hear back from BYU-Provo and will then make her decision on where she will go. Congrats to Kayla!!
Well, I am sad to say I called it. Paige, the fish, died after a couple of days. Surprisingly, Alayna didn’t seem to sad and promptly flushed her down the toilet. Cole, the other fish, is nearing death. Did I mention we don’t do well with pets? But Rosie, the guinea pig, is doing great and getting bigger. She makes these cute squeaky noises.
On Friday at work, we had professional development. In all my years of teaching, almost every professional development day has been a royal waste of time. I thought this one would be the same. But, I was wrong. This was probably the most informative, useful training I have ever received. Our entire afternoon was spent in A.L.I.C.E. training for intruders. Every school I have ever taught in has run us through lockdown drills for when there is an intruder in the building. Guess what? All of that is being thrown out the window. Its all wrong.
The class was taught by 2 police officers and an investigator with the Sheriff’s department. First they pulled out 4 different types up weapons. 2 handguns, a rifle, and an AK47 automatic. I had NO IDEA how heavy those are in real life. I mean really heavy. There is no way I could shoot that AK with one arm.
(This is just the rifle)
It comes down to this. Get the kids out immediately!! If you lockdown you are waiting to hunted down and killed. You get.those.kids.out! We watched several videos including the 9 minutes of Columbine from a students call to a dispatcher. I cried. The whole idea of this training is to become so familiar with it, that you quickly react, get the kids out, and be PRO-active. You don’t wait to die.
We had to go through simulations where we were in classrooms and the cops came in with pellet guns shooting us. It was one of the most terrifying things I have ever done. But now I know what its like. We were taught how to run, how to barricade, and how to disarm a gunman. Even after getting shot, most of the time you will have a chance to take the gunman out. It was scary but empowering. This program also trains the children so they know exactly what to do. I was impressed.
(Sherry and I getting ready for the simulation.)
One interesting thing they did was tell a group of teachers to stay still so they could shoot them. The guy went by with an empty gun and clicked the gun at every head and said , “You are dead”. After the 10th one he asked them what their 1st instinct was and they said to run. He said, “Why the hell didn’t you???” His point hit home. We have to do something. Just sitting there seals our fate. Did you know at Sandy Hook when they locked down a little kindergartener grabbed her 2 friends and said lets get out of the building. They are the only 3 that survived out of their classroom. Another little boy took the dead body of his classmate and out it over him to look like he was dead too. The instinct is to survive. A very powerful and moving afternoon for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment