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Teachers are a valuable resource in helping young people
deal with disaster. Every teacher can help by doing the
following:
• Greet each child warmly each day.
• Spend time with each child every day.
• Value each child.
• Eliminate stressful situations from your classroom
and routines.
• In a calm and supportive manner, discuss honestly
the facts about the disasters. Falsely minimizing the
disaster will not end a child’s concern.
• Encourage children to share their feelings and
discuss their experiences.
• Discuss the disasters impact on the family with
the childs parent so you will understand their behavior
and feelings.
• Story telling. Oral or written story telling can
help children reenact their experiences in a constructive
manner. Encourage group discussion after each child relates
his or her story to let the children help each other.
• Art Projects. Encourage children to draw
what they have felt, wished, or dreamed after a disaster
to allow them to express their feelings. Like story telling,
the drawings can be discussed with the group. Nonverbal
activities promote the sharing of feelings and the beginning
of grieving.
• Group Projects. Lead a discussion on how
children can help with recovery efforts. For example, they might gather toys
and books for the relief effort or work together on a
cleanup project. This might be especially helpful in
schools that have been seriously affected by the disaster.
Many teachers respond to disasters with creative classroom activities to help their students discuss their experiences and put them into perspective. The following activities will encourage students to express their feelings and discuss what happened, which are important steps in the healing process. Teachers may use the example to stimulate their own ideas, adapting them to meet their students’ needs and tailoring them to fit their teaching style.
• Toys that encourage children to reenact their
experiences and what they saw during the disaster can
help them integrate their experiences. Appropriate toys
might include fire trucks, dump trucks, rescue trucks,
ambulances, and building blocks. Play with puppets
or dolls lets children act out their own feelings about
what has happened.
• Close physical contact during times of stress
helps preschoolers reestablish ego boundaries and a sense
of security. Games that involve structured touching other
children are helpful. Some examples are Ring Around a
Rosie, London Bridge, and Duck, Duck, Goose.
• Extra amounts of finger foods in small portions
and drinks are concrete ways to emotionally physically
nourish children in times of stress. Oral satisfaction is especially necessary
as preschoolers tend to revert to more regressive behavior
when they feel that their survival or security is threatened.
• Small groups of children may make a mural to show
what happened in their homes (neighborhoods), and to
their schools. Have them talk about what they draw.
• Children can dictate their stories on topics like,
“what I do and don’t like about the rain.”
This activity helps the children verbalize their fears
and may also help them get back in touch with previous
positive associations.
• Read books about the disaster and discuss them.
• Children can draw pictures about the disaster
and then discuss the pictures in small groups. This allows
them to vent their experiences and to discover that others
share their fears.
• Children in the lower grades may use toys to play
out their experiences and what they saw during the disaster.
Appropriate toys include fire trucks, dump trucks, rescue
trucks, ambulances, and building blocks. Playing with
puppets or dolls can help children to act their feelings
about what has happened.
• Skits and puppet shows about the disaster also
help. Encourage children to include positive experiences,
as well as those aspects that were frightening or disconcerting.
• Share your own feelings, fears, or experiences
to stimulate group discussion. It is very important to
legitimize their feelings and to help them feel less
isolated.
• Children can brainstorm about classroom or family
disaster plans. What would they do? What would they take
if they had to evacuate? How would they contact their
parents? How should the family be prepared? How could
they help their families? Encourage them to discuss these
things with their families.
• Children can organize or build projects (scrapbooks,
replicas, etc.) that will help them gain a sense of mastery
or control over events.
• Children can color pictures in a coloring book
that are related to a disaster.
• Encourage children to talk about their own feelings.
• Group discussion of their experiences during a
disaster is especially important for adolescents. They
need to vent as well as to normalize the extreme emotions
that might come up after a disaster. They may need considerable
reassurance that even extreme emotions and “strange
thoughts” are normal in a disaster. A good way to
stimulate discussion is for a teacher to share his or
her own reactions to the disaster. It is important to
end such discussions on a positive note. For example,
you may ask what heroic acts were seen, how
students be of help at home or in the community, how
people can be more prepared for a disaster. Such discussions
can help any class to process the experience and return
to more normal functioning.
• Small class groups can develop a disaster plan
for their home, school, or community. This can help build
a new sense of mastery and security, and it has practical
merit. The small groups can share their plans with the
class. Encourage students to share their plans with
their families. They may wish to hold a disaster preparedness
meeting and invite family members, school officials,
or community leaders to participate.
• A class discussion and/or a class project on helping
the community recover will help teens develop concrete
and realistic ways to be of assistance. This helps them to overcome
feelings of helplessness, frustration, and “survivor
guilt” that commonly follow a disaster.
• Classroom activities relating the disaster to a
course of study can help the students integrate their
own experiences and observations while providing specific
learning experiences. Be sure to allow time to discuss
feelings that are stimulated by the projects or issues
covered.
Art—Students can portray their experiences in disaster in various art media, individually or as a group effort (for example, making a mural).
Civics or Government—Which government agencies are responsible for helping victims? How do they work? How effective are they? What are the political implications of disaster within a community? Examine the community systems and how the stress of disaster has affected them. Have students invite a local government official to class to discuss disaster precautions, warning systems, etc. Visit local emergency operating centers and learn how they function.
English Composition—Students may write about their own experiences in the disaster. Issues like the problem of conveying heavy emotional tone without being overly dramatic might be discussed.
Health—Discuss emotional reactions to disaster, the importance of taking care of one’s own emotional and physical well-being, etc. Discuss health implications of the disaster, for example, water contamination, food that may have spoiled due to lack of refrigeration, and other health precautions and safety measures. Discuss the effects of adrenalin on the body during stress and danger. A guest speaker from public health or mental health might speak to the class.
History—Students can report on natural disasters that have occurred in their community or geographic area and lessons learned that can be useful in preparing for future disasters.
Journalism—Students may write stories that cover different aspects of the disaster. These might include: community impact, lawsuits that result from a disaster, human interest stories from fellow students, environmental impact, etc. Issues like accurate reporting of catastrophic events and sensationalism might be discussed. The stories might be compiled into a special publication. A reporter or editor from a local newspaper, radio, or television station may describe to the class how he or she handles news coverage of a disaster.
Literature—Students can report on natural disaster in Greek mythology, American and British literature, and poetry.
Math—The class can solve mathematical problems related to the impact of the disaster, such as how many gallons of water lost, cubic feet of earth or sand moved, etc.
Peer Counseling—Provide special information on common responses to disaster. Encourage the students listen to each others’ experiences.
Psychology—Students can apply what they learned in the course to the emotions, behaviors, and stress reactions they felt or observed in the disaster. Discuss post-traumatic stress disorder. Have a guest speaker from the mental health professions involved in disaster work with victims. Have students discuss what they found was most helpful in dealing with disaster-related stress. Have students develop a mental health education brochure discussing emotional and behavioral reactions to disaster and ways to cope with disaster-related stress. Students may survey parents or friends, asking what was the most dangerous situation in which you ever found yourself, and how did you react psychologically.
Science—Cover specific aspects of the disaster like climate, geological impact, etc. Discuss physiological responses to stress and methods of dealing with stress. Discuss how some animals band together in a threatening or emergency situation. What can be learned from these instinctive actions?
Speech or Drama—Students may portray catastrophic emotions that arise in response to a disaster. Have them develop a skit or play on some aspects of the event. Conduct a debate about a disaster-related issue. For example, are women more psychologically prepared to handle stress than men (or vice-versa)?
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Adapted by Extension
Specialists, North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, from Stress
and Coping With Disaster. A Handbook Compiled Following
the Midwest Flood of 1993 for Extension Professionals, compiled by Karen
DeBord (presently with NCCE), Marty Baker, Ami O’Neil, and from the
University of Missouri. |