What are you looking forward to when the school year ends?
Do you have any kind of plans for this summer? Vacations? Summer camps? Hanging out with friends? Starting new projects? Does this summer mark any big transitions for you, such as moving up to high school or college or starting a summer job? Did any of the ideas in the article stand out to you? What is one thing you would like to do or see in your community this summer?
What is one thing you would like to achieve or accomplish this summer? Do you have a goal to read a certain number of books? Spend more time outside? Get a job? How do you plan on treating yourself and relaxing this summer? What will feel like a rewarding break to you after the school year is over? Does summer break ever bring up negative emotions for you? Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the amount of unstructured time off? Or get anxious about the school year ahead? How do you cope with those feelings? Write a recommendation for a summer activity to do where you live. Is there something you’ve experienced that you think other teenagers should try? Or something you’ve never done but always wanted to? Use inspiration from the featured article to make your description exciting and enticing, and then post it in the comments. The massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, contributes to a grim history of school shootings in the U.S. What has it been like to attend school in the shadow of this violence? The massacre that took place on Tuesday at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, was at least the 188th mass shooting at a school in the United States since 1970.
More than 311,000 students have experienced gun violence at school since the Columbine High School shooting in 1999, according to an estimate by The Washington Post. Those who have not experienced it have still grown up as members of what a 2018 New York Times article called the “mass shooting generation.” “No matter how rare school shootings are for the vast majority of students, they have grown up in a world so attuned to these threats that high schoolers are now more conversant in the language of lockdowns and code red drills than their parents,” Audra D. S. Burch, Patricia Mazzei and Jack Healy wrote in the article, titled “A ‘Mass Shooting Generation’ Cries Out for Change.” What is it like to be a student in the shadow of this violence? How have repeated mass shootings affected your generation? How have they affected you? What is it like to be a student in an era of mass shootings and gun violence in schools? How have school shootings affected you? How have they shaped your experience as a student? How have you felt in the wake of the Uvalde elementary school shooting? Did you talk about it with friends, parents or teachers? Do shootings like this one ever make you feel nervous about going to school? Does your school conduct active-shooter drills or lockdown drills? If so, what are they like for you? Do they make you feel safer or more worried? Do you think these kinds of drills are a good idea?
“The repetition of horror numbs the mind,” Thomas Fuller wrote in a recent Times article on the growing toll of gun violence. Have you ever felt this way? Do you think that, as a country, the United States is growing numb to these attacks? Why or why not? The authors of the 2018 Times article described how the Parkland shooting moved students around the country to become more involved in activism. Do you think something similar will happen in the wake of the shooting in Uvalde, Texas? Why or why not? How do you think school shootings are shaping the generation of students who are in school right now?
There is already debate about the many ways the nation could respond to this shooting: restricting access to semiautomatic weapons; arming teachers; and treating gun violence as a public health issue. What changes do you think would help protect students and teachers? Do you plan to speak out on certain policies? If so, how? Do you think we are reaching a turning point, or do you think school shootings will continue to occur with disturbing regularity in the United States? What makes you feel that way?
What is one thing you would like to achieve or accomplish this summer? Do you have a goal to read a certain number of books? Spend more time outside? Get a job? How do you plan on treating yourself and relaxing this summer? What will feel like a rewarding break to you after the school year is over? Does summer break ever bring up negative emotions for you? Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the amount of unstructured time off? Or get anxious about the school year ahead? How do you cope with those feelings? Write a recommendation for a summer activity to do where you live. Is there something you’ve experienced that you think other teenagers should try? Or something you’ve never done but always wanted to? Use inspiration from the featured article to make your description exciting and enticing, and then post it in the comments. The massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, contributes to a grim history of school shootings in the U.S. What has it been like to attend school in the shadow of this violence? The massacre that took place on Tuesday at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, was at least the 188th mass shooting at a school in the United States since 1970.
More than 311,000 students have experienced gun violence at school since the Columbine High School shooting in 1999, according to an estimate by The Washington Post. Those who have not experienced it have still grown up as members of what a 2018 New York Times article called the “mass shooting generation.” “No matter how rare school shootings are for the vast majority of students, they have grown up in a world so attuned to these threats that high schoolers are now more conversant in the language of lockdowns and code red drills than their parents,” Audra D. S. Burch, Patricia Mazzei and Jack Healy wrote in the article, titled “A ‘Mass Shooting Generation’ Cries Out for Change.” What is it like to be a student in the shadow of this violence? How have repeated mass shootings affected your generation? How have they affected you? What is it like to be a student in an era of mass shootings and gun violence in schools? How have school shootings affected you? How have they shaped your experience as a student? How have you felt in the wake of the Uvalde elementary school shooting? Did you talk about it with friends, parents or teachers? Do shootings like this one ever make you feel nervous about going to school? Does your school conduct active-shooter drills or lockdown drills? If so, what are they like for you? Do they make you feel safer or more worried? Do you think these kinds of drills are a good idea?
“The repetition of horror numbs the mind,” Thomas Fuller wrote in a recent Times article on the growing toll of gun violence. Have you ever felt this way? Do you think that, as a country, the United States is growing numb to these attacks? Why or why not? The authors of the 2018 Times article described how the Parkland shooting moved students around the country to become more involved in activism. Do you think something similar will happen in the wake of the shooting in Uvalde, Texas? Why or why not? How do you think school shootings are shaping the generation of students who are in school right now?
There is already debate about the many ways the nation could respond to this shooting: restricting access to semiautomatic weapons; arming teachers; and treating gun violence as a public health issue. What changes do you think would help protect students and teachers? Do you plan to speak out on certain policies? If so, how? Do you think we are reaching a turning point, or do you think school shootings will continue to occur with disturbing regularity in the United States? What makes you feel that way?
