9-12 Teacher Externship Lesson: Creating a Safety Culture

CTE Areas of Study: Advance Manufacturing; Business Management & Administration; Transportation, Distribution & Logistics

Standards & Objectives

Learning objectives: 
  • The goal of this activity is to develop a student’s understanding of the importance of personal and institutional safety and overall wellness while practicing the skills necessary to become proficient in the Tennessee Standards for Literacy in Technical Subjects. 
Essential and guiding questions: 

Text 1:

  • Identify and discuss any correlations between the data presented in the infographics and their lists of behaviors and personality traits.

Text 2

  • Violence has become a major issue in our country’s schools. President Obama recently discussed some elements that we must consider as our nation works to increase school safety. Identify Obama’s focus areas by referring to the text.
  • Do you think that Obama’s suggestion regarding campus police and counselors will have a positive impact? Explain your position citing evidence from the text to justify your response.
  • Are students in the US prepared for a crisis such as a campus shooting? Cite evidence to support your position. 
  • How much money is Obama proposing be allocated for increased school safety? What are the major ticket items? Which of these can our school community implement without any additional funding?
  • What are the major safety concerns of schools in Tennessee? Compare them to the rest of the country. Considering President Obama’s speech and your own experience, create a list of priority safety factors to consider (#1 will be the most critical and urgent).

Text 3

  • What are the benefits of having a strong safety culture? Cite evidence from the text.
  • What does it mean to “see the forest from the trees” (line 39) as it relates to implementing a culture of change?
  • What type of pushback may occur in a school setting while going through this type of institutional culture shift?

Unit Variations

Blooms taxonomy level: 
Understanding
Differentiation suggestions: 

Scaffolding and support for students with special needs, English language learners, and struggling readers:

  • Consider pre-teaching synonyms of difficult vocabulary words. Lower-level readers and ELL students can still be challenged without being overloaded with difficulty. This strategy can also be used to differentiate for stronger readers by introducing new, and more challenging, vocabulary. Struggling readers would also benefit from visual aids to illustrate many of the ideas presented. Pictures, diagrams, and charts alongside the text will go far to aid students as they dissect the articles.