Student Voices: Visual Reflections on School Shootings by Two of Kellee’s 2017-18 Middle School Students

After Parkland, school shootings and any topic associated with them was often talked about in my classroom. Students needed someone to talk to about everything that was going on. They also had to mourn, as Parkland seemed too close to home for us, and the lives lost were grieved by all of my students. When I allowed students to write a blog post, these two sixth graders asked if they could write about school shootings and how they need to stop. And I am posting it now as the next school year starts, to keep the conversation going–this needs to stop. Here is how they reflected:

Visual Reflections on School Shootings by Sasha M. and Maelynn A. (6th graders)

Facts found during research:

• On an average day, 96 Americans are killed by guns.
• America’s gun homicide rate is more than 25 times the average of other high income countries.
• Black men are 13 times more likely than White men to be shot and killed with guns.
• There are nearly 13,000 gun homicides a year in the United States.
• Seven children/teens 19 and under are killed with guns in the U.S. on an average day.
• There have been 22 shootings involving schools since January, 2018 (as of the end of May, 2018).
• 187,000+ students have been exposed to gun violence at school since Columbine.
• As of mid-March, 2018, 12,752 students have been present at school shootings.
• There are school shootings in small and large towns.
• Targeted shootings are far more common than indiscriminate slaughter (64.5% to 22.3%).
• Our country has about 250 million guns.
• Students who were victims of school shootings can suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder that can be cripling.
• Black students make up 16.6% of school populations, but experience shootings at 2x the rate of other students.
• It is now safer to go to war than to be at school (in 2018).
• Kids SHOULD NOT be afraid to go to school.

Resources:

• Washington Post: Scarred by School Shootings
• Everytown: Gun Violence by the Numbers

This poster includes quotes from protest posters and students speaking out. We also put the schools and cities along with the causalities to raise awareness that this is a problem that is occurring way too often.

This is a remake of a poster that somebody made for a protest though we improvised a bit to make our own version.

Thank you to my wonderful students, Sasha and Maelynn, for sharing! This is a topic that is too close to home for all of us