Saving Lives by Stopping Gunman with Words (Speak! Think! Learn!)

Could you stop a gunman who wants to kill with words? Antoinette Tuff did.

Tuff worked at an elementary school outside Atlanta. A gunman entered the school and was ready to start shooting. She did some unexpected things that saved lives.

1. She changed the subject. She tried things that got the gunman thinking about other things. She treated him with respect and called him sir. She made a 911 call as requested (he wanted people to know he was going to kill). She asked if she could go to the bathroom which was unexpected and changed his train of thought. She asked if he was hungry and wanted a pretzel and even offered to feed it to him.

2. She stayed anchored and calm. She talked and reasoned with him to try and snap him out of his anger and even called him sweetheart and showed she cared, as a mother might care about a child.

3. She was open and listened to him and got him talking.

With students, you can discuss how you might deal with a gunman. What are some things you might say or do?

Next, discuss why someone could be upset and want to hurt others.

Finally, match up the things you might say or do with the reasons someone might hurt others. Which things can you do that might stop different types of gunman?

Invent a million dollar idea with Legos?! Speak! Think! Learn!

Do you think you could come up with a million dollar idea? One kid did out of Legos! 7 year old Jack McKenna decides to help his mom out by creating a Lego organizer for all her beauty products. Mom loves it so much she turns it in to a real product that has turned in to a million dollar business.

Think of a problem in your house that could be solved with an invention. Build a model for it with Legos. Share with the rest of your class and get some feedback on your future million dollar idea!

Living on Mars? Would you go? Speak! Think! Learn!

This is a new blog dedicated to speaking, thinking and learning. Teachers should always encourage their students to view the world around them with a critical eye and be able to form opinions about what they see and hear.

For the first topic, ask each other "would you live on Mars?"

There is a project called Mars One trying to do that. By 2024, they want to send colonies (and maybe reality TV stars) to Mars. Would you want to be part of this new adventure? Should reality TV people be part of it?

This could even be a great exercise for a classroom debate. Divide students in to two groups. One must support the Mars One project. The other group must argue against it.

This is a fun activity that teach science, social studies, art (make some posters for your side), drama, communications, speech, writing and more.

Get students Speaking, Thinking and Learning!