Calamities can take the form of fires, hurricanes or tornados, floods, ice storms or earthquakes. Disasters are shocking and typically unplanned (Gurwitch et al., 2004). Irrespective of the event, early childhood caregivers/teachers need thorough preparation to offer safety and quality care for children even for some days if need be. Training helps save time and lives, bearing in mind that a teacher is responsible for her safety as well as that of the children under their care.
I teach mathematics, science, and coloring among children in the grade two -three years. I have been in this profession for the last years. The demographics of my class comprises of thirty children, seventeen boys, and thirteen girls but every days attendance varies since bot all the children come to school every day. The institution is a suburban public school, and some kids can read but not fluent, others talented in reading while others are struggling readers. The child care setting I operate has updated written plans that I practice routinely because the more the experience, the more successfully I will respond in a disaster. The disaster plans include medical emergencies, dealing with threatening medical conditions, emergency evacuations, handling children with seizures, asthma, and allergies.
Educating children to be resilient when disasters occur helps in mobilizing the whole community. When children are active participants in maintaining disaster resilience, it reduces fear as well as keeps them informed on what to do (Silverman et al., 2002). When preparing children for disasters, I always remember that there are three main reactions to a catastrophe: lockdown, evacuation or shelter. Lock-down is the response to a violent situation like a hostage, or in the case of an intruder (Gurwitch et al., 2004). The first step here is communicating via the warning system, and the rest of the staff realize how the situation is but do not antagonize the intruder. I always practice and tell my students to lock the doors, turn off the lights and sit quietly. The shelter is necessary when there is need to remain in the room rather than evacuating or parents picking up their children. It is necessary when there is a power outage, power breakdown, unfavorable weather, violent situations outside or prevention of airborne contamination. For some cases though, evacuation is necessary. When there is a fire, chemical spills, or gas leak, immediate action to evacuate the children is important. As a teacher, I am well conversant with all the exit routes in the classroom.
I train the children on how to respond by practicing holding ropes with knots, holding the teacher's hand and following the teacher guiding them. For children who are not in a position to walk fast, evacuation via portable cribs that covered with fire blankets is necessary. I tell the students not to at any instance run from the leading staff in case of a disaster. To ensure that I have all the children safe I conduct a headcount when at a safe place and keep a ready to go file so that I have the needed information about every child (Silverman et al., 2002). When a disaster occurs, as a teacher I have a great responsibility to take care of the children even for many days until the situation normalizes. I am always aware of what supplies to carry with me such as water, food, blankets and clothing, utensils, garbage bags, antibacterial wipes, diapers and the first aid kit.
To help the children be more prepared for disaster response, I arrange for emergency drills. The assessment methods here are observation and documentation. The evacuation drills help the children learn how to respond to an actual disaster. A fire drill is what I prefer. Here I teach children how to duck, hold and cover. I observe and record the way they respond like when they crawl on the floor with smoke all over, how they stop holding the rope and roll. Through observation, I get to know how well the children have understood on the disaster response. I record the date and time of the drill.
The benefits of conducting the exercises to assess the childrens understanding of disaster response are many. First, the students know the evacuation routes, helping them in the event of an actual disaster or emergency situation. It prepares them to exit the room in a timely fashion as well as know the assembly area designated (Masten & Narayan, 2012). Again it the assessments helps test the procedures of evacuation and ensure that all those involved are conversant with them. It helps me as a teacher to know whether the children are aware of the proceedings for effectiveness in an evacuation. Through conducting drills, the staff tests the condition of the alarm systems and other equipment and ensure that emergency exits are open and passable.
Another benefit is that it enables quick and a safe escape for every child to be aware of getting out of the building as fast and safe as possible. Demonstration of efficiency is another benefit, and I get to know how children perform safely and efficiently. It helps avoid injury and panic when the children are in a rush to exit the classroom. Every time after the drill assessment there is debriefing where the observers give reports on the effectiveness of the procedures, and this helps prepare the children more.
The risk involved in assessing how prepared the children are for a disaster that the children may get injured in the process of evacuating the room (Masten & Narayan, 2012). Since they are small children who forget about things quickly, they may jump over the tables, collide with each other, fall to the floor and injure themselves. Again, it causes psychological distress since the children do not remember what to do, they end up crying some may panic and in the process and develop lifelong phobias.
The audio method is used during the assessment to enforce the message to the children. Videos are taken to show how children reacted to the situation and in the teaching to help them know the best responses. Photographs and portfolios are used to document the responses of the children and in the assessment.
References
Gurwitch, R. H., Kees, M., Becker, S. M., Schreiber, M., Pfefferbaum, B., & Diamond, D. (2004). When disaster strikes: Responding to the needs of children. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, 19(01), 21-28.
La Greca, A. M., Silverman, W. K., Vernberg, E. M., & Roberts, M. C. (2002). Helping children cope with disasters and terrorism.
Masten, A. S., & Narayan, A. J. (2012). Child development in the context of disaster, war, and terrorism: Pathways of risk and resilience. Annual review of psychology, 63, 227-257.
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