*I’m skipping “Working Mom Wardrobe” today in memory of the school shootings at Virginia Tech (just 45 minutes down the road from me, and Jeff’s alma mater) 7 years ago today and the shooting at Columbine High School 15 years ago on Sunday… Even if you aren’t a teacher, I urge you to read this post – it is important for all of us.
In April of 1999, I was in ninth grade, but because of over-crowding at our high school, we were the “big kids” at my junior high school. I was a member of the cheesy “Natural Helper” club, which basically meant that the guidance counselors thought I was someone my classmates would talk to if they had a problem and my friends and I could get out of class whenever they needed some “help.” It was great.
Until that April, I’d never dealt with anything beyond a petty disagreement between friends or hurtful gossip at school. Then, on April 20th, two teenagers went in to a high school in Littleton, Colorado (more than 1500 miles from my school) with a gun, and everything changed.
I honestly don’t remember a lot of the details from the days that followed. I know there was a lot of media coverage, a lot of talk about trench coats, bullying, and whether or not I would “say Yes” if someone put a gun to my head. I also remember the hysteria that surrounded just about every school in America for the next several weeks. One rumor even circulated that there was a “hit list” of other high schools to be targeted online, and our feeder school was one of them.
But, more than the details, I remember how fear came into schools then. Before that, I had never once thought about whether or not I was safe in the hallways or if the boy in my math class could hurt me. NEVER. But, after Columbine, we all trusted a little less, worried a little more, and – above all – had a new understanding of evil.
When I started at the high school the following fall, we had an armed police officer on campus for the first time, teachers were told to keep their doors closed and locked while they were teaching, and we had lock down drills several times a year.
It was a new era. If something as horrible as what happened at Columbine could happen in Littleton – a town frighteningly similar to Roanoke in demographics – it could happen anywhere…
Except… We didn’t really believe that.
Over time, we stopped worrying so much. The “resource officer” became a tool for breaking up fights or busting kids for smoking in the bathroom, teachers left their doors open again, and we laughed and joked during lock down drills.
Then… 8 years later (almost to the day) it DID happen here – right down the road at Virginia Tech.
This time, I was working on my Master’s Degree at Radford (literally next door to VT) and doing my student teaching in a ninth grade English class at a nearby high school. I will NEVER forget hearing the announcement at lunch that day that a shooter was loose on the Blacksburg campus. Jeff (who I was engaged to at the time) had graduated from there just five months earlier and had several classes in the very building where 30 people were killed that morning.
Yes, there had been other horrible shootings since Columbine, but not like this. Not to this extent. Not in my backyard.
Now, it was very very real. I wasn’t 15 years old anymore either – I was the teacher. I was responsible for a room full of 15 year olds at any given point during the day. I was supposed to know what to do in these kinds of emergencies, be the prepared one, be brave. But I was more afraid than ever.
… I am the Columbine generation. I could have been in that high school in 1999. My students today were four years old when it happened. They vaguely remember Virginia Tech, but they were still young and sheltered from that. But, I remember. I remember what school was like before Columbine, and I remember it after.
Today, while I feel totally safe in my job, a day rarely passes where I don’t think about “what if?”.
Maybe because of all that, I’ve always had a particular interest in the writing surrounding the events at Columbine. I’ve read several fiction works centered around it – my “favorite” being The Hour I First Believed about an English teacher by Wally Lamb – but I was first introduced to Dave Cullen’s nonfiction narrative Columbine at an AP teachers’ conference just two years ago.
from Amazon
The instructor had us read the entire book (all 442 pages) before starting the workshop, and I found it riveting. Not only was it an EXCELLENT work of nonfiction – thoroughly researched and powerfully written – but it was the story of an event that, while most of them cannot remember it, has fully shaped the lives of American students today. It IS their reality.
I immediately came home and met with my supervisor to request a classroom set of the book for my AP 11th graders. It was risky (the content is mature and very difficult at times), but – especially in a specialized program for mass communications/media like I teach in – the benefits to a work like this far outweighed the negatives…
Last year was the first year I taught this book, and this year’s class is about halfway through right now… I try not to bog them down with too many “assignments,” because the book really speaks for itself. (Most of my students – even the non-readers – claim they can’t put the book down.) I introduce it by having them do some research about the way Columbine was originally portrayed by the media and some of the “myths” surrounding it. I also show Dave Cullen’s intro video (see below), and that’s usually enough to get them hooked.
From there, I assign a small vocabulary project to complement their reading, and provide them a list of discussion questions that we will go over in class when everyone is done reading. I usually assess with an in-class essay, but I really don’t DO much more than that.
It isn’t a part of the literary canon; but, without a doubt, Columbine is the MOST IMPORTANT BOOK I teach all year.
It is scary and gross and, very disturbing. It is not a “fun” read, but it is a good read. Columbine changed me, and Columbine changes my students. It gives them a new perspective on mental illness, stereotypes and labeling, the legal system, modern media, and – most importantly – the schools they walk in to every day.
Teacher or not, read this book. Read it to remember.
E
(Link to my full assignment – Columbine Assignments 2014 & Dave Cullen’s website – an excellent resource if you are interested in teaching this.)
Thanks for taking the time out to remember. I was a Freshman at VT that day so today is always a little hard. Live for 32.
What a wonderful post. In highschool, I actually met a transfer student who attended high school during the shooting (was safe and ushered out in a different area of the building)…. what a life changing event for all of us! Jennifer
I love that you teach this. I’m a VT alum (’06) and this day is always a reminder for me. I’m so glad you’ve found a way to talk about it with your students – it’s important to remember, even if we’ll never truly understand.
I was a senior in highschool when Columbine happened and I didn’t know Andrew at the time but have seen the VT memorial and it is very moving. I read the Columbine book and also found it riveting – especially how much the media got wrong which has led to myths that people still believe to this day. Thanks for the great post!
Yes! I was SHOCKED at how many of those “stories” aren’t the reality of what happened that day. It really shows you the power of the media. The book makes a good point about how Columbine was different because it was one of the first major tragedies of this kind since the widespread use of cell phones – that changed A LOT, you know?
I’m interested as to how you found the book. I had never heard of it until my class that summer!
Thanks for sharing! I struggle having class every year on the 16th since I was still in college in 2007 & had so many friends on campus that day. My little freshman babies were infants when Columbine happened if they had been born yet. They just don’t get how their worlds changed.
I was in 6th grade when Columbine happened and my community was just a few miles away from that area. I will never be the same. Unfortunately, Colorado seems to have a high number of these types of mass tragedies. As a teacher, I think about “what ifs” nearly every day too. I don’t live in fear, but I am the teacher who gets very strict during drills and safety training. Thanks for the book recommendation, I’ll have to put this on my list for summer.
My husband is a VT grad, and Blacksburg feels like a second home to me. We were devasted when we heard about the shootings. Columbine happened my senior year of high school. We were on retreat when our teachers gave us the news. It was shocking. And now, as a high school English teacher, I have a hard time explaining these kinds of events to my students. I read this book a few years ago and it’s always been on my list of favorites, too, but I never thought about bringing it into the classroom. It may be something I think more about in the future.
I’m curious about this E. My kids are homeschooled and, while I don’t set out to “shelter” them, this certainly isn’t something that they have any concept of. My oldest is in 6th grade this year and has read Ender’s Game, and Harry Potter, and books about WWII. But in each of those, the violence and tragedy has a purpose. Do you think it is beneficial to introduce this concept to children who might not otherwise ever know about it, and why?
Kendra, thanks for asking your question and making me think a little bit. I had just handed out this book last year when Sandy Hook happened, and it certainly made me consider how I would approach the concept of violence and evil with much younger kids – also, of course, being a mom now myself changes my opinion about things like that too…
I really don’t have a good answer for you. Would I “introduce” it to elementary or middle school kids? No. Personally, I wouldn’t. If they saw it on the news, heard about it from someone else, etc. I would approach it with as much honesty (and gentleness) as possible – much the same way you said you talk about the story of the Cross with your little ones now, actually (focused on the fact that there is sin and evil in the world and we don’t always understand it). But, I wouldn’t necessarily expose them to that kind of content early on.
I think the key with a book like Columbine (and discussing concepts like it introduces) is knowing who you are working with (maturity level, etc.) and being prepared to discuss and walk WITh students throughout their reading. I find that, with my kids at least, though they don’t know many of the specifics of Columbine per se, they are VERY familiar with school violence… It is absolutely a part of their worlds, so the conversations that come from this book are particularly relevant. I’m not introducing anything, but I am facilitating some conversations that are hard, but necessary.
Does that make sense? I’d love to hear more about what you think!
this is great. my brother was at vt and i was a new reporter at the richmond times-dispatch when the shootings happened, and i spent two weeks on campus after covering the story for the paper. it was so, so hard. i’m interested to read the book about columbine (i was also in high school when it happened. i remember having bomb threats at franklin county high school after and always getting out of school…)
i get a catch in my throat whenever i think about that day…
Wow. I can’t even imagine covering something like the VT shooting as a reporter. You should DEFINITELY read Columbine though… Dave Cullen (the author) was there as a reporter for the Denver Post (I think) and ended up moving to Littleton for 10 years to really learn what happened!
I was a freshman in college an hour and a half from Columbine, when the shootings happened. I remember the story being broadcasted onto the commons an people just standing and listening in disbelief. I lived with a 1999 Graduate of Columbine and fire alarms would instantly put her back into that school. I now teach elementary school in northern Colorado and our district just adopted a school marshal program, armed trained volunteers who will periodically patrol our school. There has been such a change in school safety. I haven’t read this book but I wil for sure out it on my summer reading list.
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Hi E. I just stumbled upon your site. I love your post about Columbine. I, too, am an English teacher and teach this book every year. I am curious as to what prompt you give your students at the end of the book. Would you mind sharing your ideas? Thanks.