Conducting an Effective Teacher Workshop

Your classroom teachers are among the most important members of your Risk Watch team. According to NFPA, “We believe teachers are the key to a safer future. By teaching children to recognize and avoid risks, we can help them lead fuller and more productive lives.” Teachers have an awesome responsibility and have much to accomplish with very little discretionary classroom time. The better your support, the more likely the teachers will be able to help you achieve your Risk Watch goals. A key element of that support is providing a teacher workshop at the beginning of your implementation project.

In many cases, your workshop will be your first contact with the Risk Watch teachers and your first opportunity to make a positive impression. Generally, the teachers will be excited about Risk Watch following an effective workshop. They will be committed to the project and will expect the total support of your coalition. Teachers will measure your commitment to the project by how well you follow through on your promises and the quality of your support.

Before your workshop:

• Meet with a representative teacher(s) and the school principal(s) to plan the workshop. Schedule the workshop during a timeframe that will ensure the highest attendance. Your workshop should last between one and two hours.
• Choose an appropriate location for your workshop.
• Invite special guests to participate: the school superintendent, principal(s), the fire and police chiefs, the mayor, etc. If possible, line-up a local pediatric or emergency room physician, nurse, EMT/paramedic, or parent who can speak first-hand about his/her experience with preventable childhood injuries.
• Make arrangements to provide door prizes (cups, mugs, t-shirts). Personalize hand-outs, attendance certificates and other meeting materials.
• Invite the media. If possible, line-up interviews with the teachers and other dignitaries.
• Make plans to serve refreshments. If possible, make arrangements to provide teachers with continuing education units (CEUs) for the workshop and your implementation project.
• Prepare overhead transparencies, flip charts or a PowerPoint presentation. Arrange for appropriate AV equipment and other presentation materials.
• Set up a registration table where teachers will receive other hand-outs, name tags and the Risk Watch modules appropriate for their grade levels.

Following is a suggested outline and script for your teacher workshop. You may wish to contact experienced Risk Watch coalitions in other communities across the country that are prepared to share their models of successful teacher workshops, or develop your own. Staff in the Office of the Fire Marshal/Commissioner in your province or territory may have developed a Risk Watch teacher workshop and a train the trainer program or be able to help you make contact with other successful coalitions.

A. Welcome and Introductions

1. Introduce yourself, coalition members, and other important guests.
2. Briefly explain the purpose of the workshop.
3. Point out the emergency exits from the meeting room. Discuss what should happen if the emergency alarm sounds (Use every opportunity to model safe behaviour.)
4. Ask participants to briefly introduce themselves (including the grade they teach) and tell of any experience they or their students have had with preventable injuries.

B. Overview

Use the following questions to stimulate a discussion about childhood injuries.

True or False?
For children aged 14 and under, the #1 health risk is disease.
False! The #1 health risk is unintentional injuries. Each year in Canada, hundreds of children ages 14 and under are killed from preventable injuries and more than 50,000 are admitted to hospitals for treatment of these injuries.

True or False? Most people in North America have planned and practised a home fire escape plan.
False! According to the National Fire Protection Association, only sixteen percent of North Americans have developed and practised a home fire escape plan.

What are the costs of these injuries to children and our community?
(Answers may include senseless deaths and injuries, suffering to the children and families, costs of medical treatment, loss of human potential and loss of time at school.)

Do you think these injuries are just “accidents”?
(This is your opportunity to emphasize that most childhood injuries are predictable and preventable. Ask the teachers, “What is the best way to prevent these injuries from occurring?” Education is the answer!)

Provide an overview of the local childhood injury problem.
If possible, every teacher should have a copy of a fact sheet that contains information on the local injury problem and/or newspaper clippings that address local childhood injuries that could have been prevented. This is the appropriate time for a local pediatric or emergency room physician, nurse, EMT/paramedic, or parent to speak first-hand about his/her experience with preventable childhood injuries.

Summarize:

• Childhood injuries are a problem in our society.
• Childhood injuries are not “accidents”.
• We can prevent many childhood injuries by educating children and caregivers.

C. Introduction to Risk Watch

Risk Watch: Unintentional Injuries was originally developed by NFPA. The Canadian Edition was co-funded by the Ontario Office of the Fire Marshal, the Ontario Fire Marshal’s Public Fire Safety Council and the Alberta Fire Commissioner’s Office.

Risk Watch is an injury prevention program designed for children in Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 8. It addresses the top eight risk areas that injure or kill the most children every year.

Risk Watch is divided into five modules, each covering two grade levels. Risk Watch was thoroughly tested in schools in the United States and Canada and was proven to be an effective educational program.

Why teach injury prevention in the school?

1. Children don’t always have access to information from parents and caregivers about injury risks and ways to manage those risks.
2. Schools provide an effective learning environment.
3. Teachers ensure that education is age-appropriate.
4. Teachers are role models and act as a link between parents/caregivers and the school.

Personal safety is a value that is learned at an early age. The earlier a child is introduced to the concept of personal safety and injury prevention and given the skills to make educated choices to reduce risks, the more effectively injuries can be prevented.

Why Use Risk Watch?

1. Risk Watch is a comprehensive injury prevention program available for use in schools.
2. Risk Watch is based upon an integrative, experiential approach to learning. It is age-appropriate and utilizes the latest educational theory and practice.
3. Risk Watch has been field-tested and proven to be successful.
4. Risk Watch is fun for both teachers and students.
5. Risk Watch involves parents and caregivers in the learning experience.
6. Risk Watch is designed for maximum teacher flexibility.
7. Risk Watch can be customized based on local needs.

D. A Look at Risk Watch

As you describe Risk Watch, have the teachers follow along with their own modules. Explain that all modules are set up in the same way.

The Introduction Section includes information on the philosophy of Risk Watch and an explanation of what’s inside the program. It includes some suggested timeframes for the Risk Watch lessons, which vary in time commitment between grade levels and risk areas. Risk Watch is very flexible. The following are suggested formats for implementation:

Intensive Program – This focused program requires approximately 10 hours to implement. In this approach, lesson card information for one risk area per week (approximately one hour per risk area) is presented. When all areas have been covered, an activity is selected from the Risk Watch in Action section to have students apply what they have learned (approximately 2 hours).

Comprehensive Program – This year-long program involves teaching all eight lesson plans in their entirety, highlighting one risk area per month, culminating with the Risk Watch in Action activities.

A third option is to structure the program at the teacher’s discretion to meet the needs of students and provincial or territorial curriculum.

The next section is called Getting Into Character. Each module features a character role that will give your students the opportunity to practise the age-appropriate safety skills included in each lesson.

The PreK/Kindergarten module uses the STORYTELLER character role. Young children love to tell and listen to stories. Students in these grade levels are encouraged to share their thoughts and experiences as they learn new injury prevention skills.

The character role for students in Grades 1 and 2 is DETECTIVES. Why do you think this might be appropriate? (Students at this age are a bit more sophisticated and better understand the relationship between cause and effect. As Detectives, students will be on the look-out for risks and how they can be prevented.)

The character role for students in Grades 3 and 4 is REPORTERS. Why do you think this might be appropriate? (Students at this age can practise their language and writing skills, using the “Five Ws”, and can document events in their daily lives. They are encouraged to identify and communicate about injury prevention in the home, school and community.)

The character role for students in Grades 5 and 6 is PROMOTERS. Why do you think this might be appropriate? (This module encourages students to apply leadership and advanced communication skills to identify, research and promote injury prevention practices to their peers, family members and the community.)

The character role for students in Grades 7 and 8 is COACHES. Why do you think this might be appropriate? (Students at this age are capable of being leaders and advocates for injury prevention. They have developed many skills and strategies to teach others. They can further develop their skills in communication, group dynamics and leadership, and apply them to a variety of injury prevention coaching situations. As role models for younger children at home and at school, and as babysitters with added responsibilities, students can practise making educated choices to reduce the risk of injury to themselves and to others in their charge.)

The next section contains the Lesson Cards. There are eight lesson cards, one for each risk area. Let’s look at the first lesson card for Motor Vehicle Safety. The front page includes an icon that represents the risk area. The back of the page contains a “Know the Facts” section, which presents key facts and statistics related to the risk area, to help you understand WHY it is important to address this safety issue in your classroom. At the end of the lesson card is an “Information for Adults” section, which provides the injury prevention information necessary to present each topic. Above the “Information for Adults” are the safety messages. These are the key messages your students need to learn. Between the “Know the Facts” and the “Information for Adults” is a detailed “Lesson Plan” for classroom activities to allow students to extend and apply their knowledge about the different risk areas. Lessons are age-appropriate and offer cross-curricular applications with core subject areas to allow you maximum flexibility in implementing the lessons. Each lesson plan follows the format outlined below.

Lesson Plan Format

Expectations – specific knowledge and skills students gain from the activity.
Resources – materials for implementation of the lesson.
Reflection – discussions and/or activities that provide students with the opportunity to reflect on prior learning in order to promote sequential learning from year to year and guide students to make connections form previous years.
Procedures – step by step guidelines for the implementation of the lesson activities.
Reflect Again – follow-up discussions and/or activities to allow students to reflect on what they have learned and on their own injury prevention behaviours.
Demonstrate Learning – indicators of knowledge students will demonstrate at the end of the lesson. Assessment – identifies two expectations that can be measured across schools and regions for larger scale evaluation purposes.
Related Activities – additional activities that can be used or as reinforcement of the lesson, in split grade classes or in alternate years, to avoid repetition of previously learned material.
Home Links – opportunities to involve caregivers and family members and to continue the Risk Watch learning process in the setting where the risk of injury is often the greatest – the home.
Community Links – opportunities to involve local injury prevention professionals, parents and caregivers and other community members in classroom activities.
Extensions – activity suggestions to extend injury prevention learning experiences beyond the classroom and into the greater community. Activities often involve students, staff, Risk Watch coalitions and other community agencies working together to provide unique informational learning experiences for community members.
Regional Issues – issues that may be relevant in one or more of Canada’s diverse regions.

Note: Throughout the lesson plans there are references to “Wing Partners”. Wing Partners are cross-age learning opportunities where older students take younger students “under their wings” and serve as role models in delivering injury prevention messages. Older students can share their knowledge through the presentation of their projects to younger classes. Younger students, in turn, can share their activities with “wing partners” for their positive reinforcement. If preferred, many of these activities can be used with peer-group partners as well.

The next section is called Risk Watch in Action. This section includes one or more culminating activities designed to allow students to apply the full spectrum of their injury prevention knowledge and their critical thinking and decision-making skills. This is an essential part of the Risk Watch program, as it provides students with the opportunity to rehearse the critical decision-making and action steps that will help them to make educated choices about risk in their lives. Relevant and entertaining, the experiential design of these activities encourages student engagement and critical thinking.

The Caregiver Letters section includes letters that can be sent home to families to further extend students’ learning and application of injury prevention behaviours beyond the classroom. It includes an Introduction Letter to send home at the beginning of the Risk Watch program and two supplemental letters, titled (1) Holidays and (2) Spring and Summer. Included in the Caregiver Letter section is a topic specific letter to provide parents and caregivers with information regarding each injury prevention area being studied in class. Caregiver letters provide useful tips under the headings “Extra Information for Parents and Caregivers” and “What You Can Do At Home”.

The next section is called Evaluation Instruments. The evaluation tools include a Knowledge Test to be used as a pre-test and as a post-test of student knowledge gained as well as a Test Score Summary Sheet to record the results. Also included is a Success Incident Reporting Form to help the Office of the Fire Marshal/Fire Commissioner recognize students who put their Risk Watch training to use by preventing or minimizing a potential injury or death in an actual incident. Risk Watch “Saves” and “Successes” are case histories of actual incidents in which the knowledge gained from Risk Watch has been put into action. A “Save” occurs when an individual’s actions, learned from Risk Watch, result in the preservation of human life, or when an individual’s positive intervention has prevented or minimized a potentially harmful situation. A “Success” occurs when an individual’s actions, learned from Risk Watch, reduce the dangers of a potentially harmful situation. If a “Save” or “Success” occurs in your community, you can complete the Risk Watch Success Incident Report form and return it to your provincial Office of the Fire Marshal/Fire Commissioner. For each documented “Save” or “Success”, you will receive a special certificate to present to your local hero. A certificate has also been developed to recognize children who put Risk Watch into action, but do not qualify for a “Save” or “Success”. These certificates can be downloaded and printed from www.riskwatch.org. Finally, this section includes a User Feedback Form to solicit suggestions on how to improve Risk Watch in the future.

Note: When implementing any program, it is important to monitor the impact it has on its users or participants. The assessment component of the lesson plan identifies the learning that every child in Canada using Risk Watch would be expected to learn. However, one of the challenges in program evaluation is to measure similar objectives when different people may be doing different activities within the same school, at other schools or across the country. To manage this potential for diversity and to create the potential for effective evaluation, each lesson plan identifies two of the assessment items as demonstrated learning behaviours for cross-comparability. In the event that a class is part of a formal evaluation of the Canadian version of Risk Watch, the two behaviours identified in the assessment section are what students in that class should be striving to demonstrate.

The final section of each module is called Accessing Resources. This section includes many additional resources available to support injury prevention education in the classroom and in the community. Included in the Accessing Resources section is a list of related organizations and other resources specific to each injury prevention area. Also included in this section is a list of general resources, rail safety resources and farm safety resources.

The Back Pockets of each module include Icon Cards for each of the eight risk areas, and templates of the Hazard Symbols and the Traffic and Railway Signs and Signals relevant to each grade level. The Icon Cards include student information for use during small group projects (Grades 3-8) or to display in the classroom. These cards can be duplicated.

E. Program Implementation

The teachers will need detailed information about your Risk Watch implementation effort. Based on your coalition’s goals, provide the teachers with the following information: the scope of your implementation effort;

• goals of the program;
• the role of teachers in the program;
• specific tasks that teachers need to complete;
• what kind of support the teachers can expect from your coalition;
• the evaluation process;
• the role of caregivers.

Provide each teacher with a written summary that details your implementation timeline. It is essential that you take the time to understand the needs and expectations of the teachers. Ask how you can best support them, i.e. providing resources or safety equipment, visiting classrooms, organizing community activities, etc.

F. Closing

Make time for safety!

Take the time to ensure that teachers understand your implementation effort, especially their role in the program. Ask for questions. Emphasize that teachers are the key to this Risk Watch project and reaffirm your coalition’s support.

Finally, review the following statements:

1. Are childhood injuries a problem in our community? Yes!
2. Are childhood injuries preventable? Yes!
3. What is the best way to prevent childhood injuries? Education!
4. Is Risk Watch a solution that will work? Yes!

 

Thank the teachers for their time and commitment. Award door prizes.

Correlating Risk Watch to the Education Curriculum for Your Province or Territory

Canadian provinces/territories have educational guidelines set by the Department or Ministry of Education. Teachers and administrators are held accountable to these guidelines and will be impressed if you can demonstrate how Risk Watch meets these guidelines.

Health and physical education guidelines usually include personal safety and injury prevention and are a natural tie-in for Risk Watch. Obtain a copy of the health and physical education curriculum from your local school board. Highlight guidelines that are covered in Risk Watch. You may want to look at other curriculum areas (e.g. language arts, math, science) for a correlation to Risk Watch. Share this information with your teachers and school administrators. Correlating Risk Watch to the educational guidelines of your province or territory can be a lot of work – but it is well worth the effort!

Summary

Your workshop is your first opportunity to gain the support of the teachers and build enthusiasm. Do whatever it takes to make it successful. But don’t stop there! Once you have gained their commitment, keep them involved and excited.

Leadership Tasks

Prepare for your Risk Watch teacher workshop.

Review the education curriculum for your province or territory and how it might correlate with Risk Watch lessons.