"Catching Fire" or the Importance of Fire Drills

    

 I was busy teaching math in small groups the other day when I heard a loud, sharp, noise.  It took a couple of seconds to realize it was a fire alarm.  My class quickly lined up and we were in our designated spot in minutes.  

     This isn't an unusual thing because we practice fire drills frequently, but no drill was scheduled, the principal was out of the building, and the secretary had a confused look on her face.  You NEVER want to see the secretary with a puzzled look!  Luckily, it all turned out well.   It was just a leak near a sprinkler head and as an added bonus we got to practice a fire drill at an unusual time of day.  

     This got me thinking about the importance of safety drills.  It is usually a principal's responsibility to ensure that drills are done and logged regularly.  But, more importantly they should make sure the staff can carry out a fire drill without the principal on hand giving orders.  You never know what could happen when you are out of the building.  

     When I was student teaching I was fortunate enough to run into the book The First Days of School by Harry Wong.  In this book Mr. Wong shares the importance of procedures and routines.  Since then I have always had procedures and routines for everything in my class.  Safety drills need to be a routine in your school.  They need to be so well rehearsed that they can be carried out even if the school leaders are not there.  When the fire alarm went off each class quickly went outside and quietly waited for further instructions.  Two teachers were on a break so they checked out the situation, notified the office, and passed on information to each teacher.  The students felt calm and were assured they were safe.  They were quiet and well behaved and enjoyed watching the fire trucks come on campus to check out the situation.  

     I learned these important rules for drills in schools:  take every drill seriously, stay calm, know your escape route, prepare ahead of time so students know what is expected of them, have your needed materials posted and ready to go by your door, take roll, and maintain order with your students as you wait for instructions.  

     “A spark could be enough to set them ablaze.” 

― Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire