#BostonStrong: Boston Marathon Bombing, One Year Later

One year ago, I wrote the following blog post to share resources with educators and parents/guardians - to help work with students and to help adults themselves work through this tragedy that hit Boston, Massachusetts and the world.  In the spirit of seeing the good after a tragedy, we teach our students to focus on the leadership and human kindness that emerges from dark, tragic times.  The 2013 Boston Marathon bombing was one such time, but Boston is resilient, and so are its people.  In addition to the resources below, some heroes of the Boston Marathon bombing are profiled one year later, which is a positive follow-up to either start or conclude a reflection on the Boston Marathon bombing anniversary:

 http://www.aol.com/article/2014/04/14/4-heroes-of-the-boston-marathon-bombing/20868687/
http://www.necn.com/04/14/14/BMC-honors-victims-heroes-of-Boston-Mara/landing.html?blockID=865065&feedID=11106
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/13/boston-strong-ducks-marathon/7558195/
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303887804579502071001811960

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 From April, 2013 (http://sguditus.blogspot.com/2013/04/after-boston-marathon-bombings.html):

 As adults, we feel helpless after a tragedy such as the Boston Marathon Bombings.  There is so much
pain, grief and anger that we feel even as adults, it is important to stop and remember how these same feelings may be impacting our students.  Two big questions I've been considering are:


  1. How should I speak to kids about this?
  2. What can I do to help?
Below, you will find some resources and suggestions to help answer both of these questions.

Resources to speak with kids about the Boston Marathon Bombing Tragedy:

Ideas of How To Help:

  • Many victims and survivors have an incredibly long road ahead - emotionally and physically.  As a result, financial donations seem to be one of the best ways to help at this point.  As a parent or educator, consider helping students organize to help raise money.  A few ideas follow.  (Kids should not go door-to-door asking for donations and should always be supervised by an adult.)
    • Hold a car wash
    • Get donors for a honk-a-thon
    • Hold a garage sale
    • Organize a spirit day at school and request donations to participate.  Ideas include:
      • Boston Spirit Day
      • Marathon Mondays - wear blue and yellow (Boston Marathon colors)  
      • Wear jeans for the day
      • Dress up day
      • Wear a hat day
    • Consider having students choose where to donate money.  Boston.com has a very comprehensive list of places to donate.  Consider carefully how much information to share with your child/students.
    • Donate to the Boston One Fund, which is the official donation site set up by Governor Patrick and Boston Mayor Menino: http://onefundboston.org/.
  • The American Red Cross says that their blood supply is now current.  To schedule an appointment to donate blood in the coming weeks, go to: http://redcrossblood.org.
  • Show your support through the 26.2gether campaign.
  • Write thank you cards to first responders who helped on the day of the tragedy, as well as during the week: police officers, fire fighters, state police, EMTs, nurses, doctors, and volunteers.  You can send cards to your local police, fire and EMTs, or specifically to the Boston PD, FD or medical personnel (see addresses below).
  • Write get well soon/thinking of you cards to survivors of the blasts.  You can send cards to Boston Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital or Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.  See addresses below.

Boston Medical Center
1 Boston Medical Center Place
Boston, MA 02118

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)
55 Fruit Street
Boston, MA 02114

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
330 Brookline Avenue
Boston, MA 02215

Boston Police Department Headquarters
1 Schroeder Plaza
Boston, MA 02120

Boston Fire Department Headquarters
115 Southampton Street
Boston, MA 021185

Image Credit: http://fpcmarathoncharityteam.blogspot.com/2012/09/run-2013-boston-marathon-with-franklin.html

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Maslow's Hierarchy of School Needs (Steve Guditus)

Image
The pace of schools today is frantic.  So little time is left in a child's 24 hour-day to play and explore - both in and out of school.  Unintentionally, we may be pushing students to think and learn at high levels when more basic needs are not met.  For a student to be available for learning, basic needs need to be met - in both school and at home.  We need to shift our paradigm from student supports as "extras" and "add-ons" to prerequisites for a student to be available for learning.  I created this Maslow's Hierarchy of School Needs to highlight the need for other pieces to be in place for students to be available to learn (and to learn at high levels, reach their potential, and increase their potential). Any thoughts, feedback, edits, subtractions or additions?
Read more

37 inspirational ideas to kickoff your school year (Steve Guditus @sguditus)

I just participated in a great brainstorming session with some outstanding educational leaders at the MSSAA summer institute , and made note of 37 different ideas to inspire your school and have a successful kickoff to the school year.  The best educators beg, borrow and steal ideas and adapt them to be their own - so I offer this list to be borrowed, stolen and adapted (no need to beg!). Have staff write one fun fact about themselves on a post-it note on their classroom door. Create a scavenger hunt and have folks hunt down items, discover new info about fellow staff members, the school or the community. Create a teacher survival kit: a mini hershey's bar for a pick-me-up, a K-Cup for a jolt of caffeine, some office supplies, etc. Have staff set a personal goal, in addition to their student learning and professional practice goal: make it about personal health, nutrition, work/home balance, family, etc - and have check-ins! Leave a personal note, post-it, memo or quote on ...
Read more

Grades: Understanding, not Obedience

The New York Times got me thinking, in its November 28, 2010 article " No More A's for Good Behavior ."  The Potsdam, NY Public Schools, led by Superintendent Patrick Brady, are right on.  As I concluded in a previous blog post, " Extra Credit: The Downfall of America ?", grades must be a reflection of knowledge learned, information synthesized, skills demonstrated, not a reflection of behavior. I have opened up the following conversation individually with teachers, but have not yet taken it on with the staff of the whole school in which I work - yet.  Grades must not be a reflection of behavior, but of understanding.  This includes the a big piece of student responsibility: homework.  The excuse that "if students do not homework and are not penalized for not completing it, then won't ever learn to do it!" is simply hogwash.  We should be creating homework assignments that are essential, and if it uncomfortably illuminates our own homework polici...
Read more