What lockdown drills mean for my 1st-grade classroom

When the alarm sounds, a teacher's job is to be clear, comforting, and honest

Students performing school lockdown drill.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Phil Mislinski/Getty Images, Rawpixel/iStock, recep-bg/iStock)

Lockdown drills are commonplace in America right now because of the horrific reality of school shootings. Whether they ultimately help our children is still up for debate, but one thing is for sure: We have to do them right when we do them at all. And doing them right means being honest, calm, loving, reassuring, and protective. That's a teacher's job, after all.

I'm a teacher, and I vividly remember one lockdown drill I facilitated with my students. They were first-graders, 6 and 7 years old, and this drill took place at the beginning of the year and wasn't intended to be a surprise. I put it on the daily schedule on the whiteboard, and we discussed it plainly at our morning meeting.

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Bret Turner

Bret Turner is a first-grade teacher, father, and children's musician. He is a contributor to PBS Kids and Teaching Tolerance, he's a sourdough bread baker, and has a three-legged dog. You can find more of his writing here.