In response to what was said yesterday in class dealing with what should teachers do if something like Virginia Tech were to happen to you. I know that question was never really answered, but I think as a teacher it is your obligation to protect your students. I know that in our society today, we live in a self involved world focusing only on how to take care of ourselves. In my personal opinion I know if that happened to me my main goal would be to protect my students. I know this may be a touchy subject, but I am just wondering what everyone else thinks or what you would do in that situation.

I think the answer to this question is different for everyone. Sure, we would all like to belive we would step in and be the hero, but how many teachers would actually protect their students from a situation like Virginia Tech? I think personal morals and beliefs would be the deciding factor in a situation like that. I hope I would try and protect my students form the shooter(s), but nobody really knows how they would react until they are looking down the barrel. This is definitely a touchy subject that I hope no other teachers have to face, but in my mind it is a personal decision and nobody should have the power to dictate the right or wrong way to handle it.

I feel like if the situation would occur, and of course I hope it never does, no one can tell what their reaction would be. Adrenalin is pumping and a reation to such a serious situation is unpredictable. I would say that I would take action and try to deal with the situation...but who knows.. Maybe I would freeze and wouldn't be able to move because there is a gun in the classroom. I think we all should be aware of this as a possible threat and be prepared, but if it does happen whose to tell what we would actually do.

Maja,

I certainly agree with you. While I say that I am going to protect my students that is what I hope I would have the courage to do. This may not be the case in an actual event, with everything happening as fast as it did (or can) you never know for sure what is going to happen. I hope that there is never a repeat of any sort of this horrific event but no amount of training can prepare you for something like this. I would even like to say it can boil down to morals and values but then natural instinct kicks in and for some it may be to protect children and for others it may be to protect their self.

I too struggle with this question. I try to look at it from the point of view of the parents. The parents of your students trust you the care of their children to you during the school day. Although it is impossible to say what I would do in a circumstance like this, I would like to think that I would protect the children as if they were my own.

As said many times before, I can say now what my actions would be, but in the heat of the moment there is no way of knowing how I would react. Though not legally bound to take this action, as teachers, whether the situation is a normal class day or turns chaotic, I feel that we should have the best interest of our students in mind. Like Ashley said, parents are entrusting us with their children while at school; I feel that my students are then (in a sense) my children and I should act as any parent would. In the least, I would feel that some form of action to buy time and save lives could be done. Does this mean becoming a "Hero" and physically confronting the aggressor? How else can we protect our students when the aggressor is already in our classroom?