Lockdown!!!!

Today I got my first experience at a lockdown. The bell rang, and I looked up and thought, that is an odd time for the bell to be ringing, then I thought, that is a long bell, then I saw other teachers ushering kids back into classrooms and it dawned on me. My cooperating teacher came back into the room and we got the kids into the corner.

Neither of us thought much of it. There was a lockdown drill scheduled for 1pm, and it was 12:50. They just started a little early. Then after a few minutes we started to wonder. At a little after one, I thought, wait, the drill was for tomorrow. Checking the schedule, yep, the drill was scheduled for tomorrow. She checked her email, nothing reported.

Then I started to worry a little. I looked over at the big windows facing the common area. The shade was drawn... mostly. I went over and pulled it down the last few inches. I'd moved a cart in front of the door to partially cover the window, but there is still the side window. We got some posters and covered them and the door window completely. Still no emails or any information. The kids were getting restless. I can't blame them.

They were sitting next to the bookshelves, and one student had already picked out a book and started reading. After the others got books we peeked out the font. Our vice principal was talking with a couple of the teachers. My cooperating teacher went and spoke with him, getting an update. We were still in lockdown. There had been a shooting. After she got the update, I told the students what we knew, had them return to their seats and continued teaching. I skipped the rest of the nutrition lesson I had started and went into the math lesson. I kept it simple with some fraction cards. They had made them before, but were having so much trouble with fractions, we thought it would be a good idea to do it again. We will use them again later.

Things were a little hectic, but all in all, I feel that I handled myself fairly well. I was trying very hard to hide my nervousness. I was not worried about safety so much. I figure that with the police around the school, we were fairly safe. You never know what a scared gangster with a gun will do, but I thought we were secure. But I wanted to make sure that my students felt safe. They were scared, and had the right to be. What could I do to keep them calm and safe feeling?

At the time, I thought it was in the neighborhood. It turns out that our staff called the lockdown THEN informed the police of what they saw. It is scary to be working in one of the highest crime areas of Portland. Things like this make me wonder if I really want to work in this kind of population. If I think about it for long I know that I do. I think I can make an impact on the lives of these students. I really do love them and I want to impact them in good ways. It is scary some times, but God places us in scary, it is up to us to make it better.