Non-Fiction #5

The Case for Teaching Kids 'Vagina,' 'Penis,' and 'Vulva'

Sex-abuse prevention educators want children to understand that "private parts" are private in that they're off limits to others. But they also want students to be comfortable talking about them, in what linguists call "standard" dialect for body parts, rather than euphemisms and colloquialisms

Catherine Buni Apr 15 2013, 11:13 AM ET

normanack/flickr

One bright morning in late March, Kate Rohdenburg, a sexual violence prevention educator, sat cross-legged on the floor of a first-grade classroom. In her arms, she cradled two plastic baby dolls, one brown, one beige, each with its own miniature cloth diaper.

Thirty minutes into her lesson, Rohdenburg had already covered several foundational concepts of child sexual abuse prevention -- consent, empathy, body rights, privacy.

"What body parts are the same?" Rohdenburg asked the 22 six-year-olds wiggling around her.

"Face!""Nose!""Belly!""Mouth! ""Toes!" The children called out.

"We all have a heart!" one child shouted.

"They both have penises!" shouted another, eliciting a burst of delighted giggles.

The mother pulled her daughter from class. "You've destroyed her innocence!" she shouted at the school's counselor.

"Do you think?" Rohdenburg asked. "Does everyone have a penis?

"Noooo!" The children laughed in silly-you incredulity.

In the last year, Rohdenburg, who works in New England's Upper Valley, a region that straddles the New Hampshire-Vermont border, has said "penis" and "vagina" in the public school classrooms of more than 500 children, K through 12. She's said "penis" and "vagina" with their teachers and parents, too, some 400 or so in all. As part of the growing movement to implement abuse prevention in schools and other youth-serving organizations, Rohdenburg and other educators believe that teaching what linguists call "standard" dialect for body parts -- rather than euphemisms and colloquialisms -- is important. Teaching children anatomically correct terms, age-appropriately, says Laura Palumbo, a prevention specialist with the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), promotes positive body image, self confidence, and parent-child communication; discourages perpetrators; and, in the event of abuse, helps children and adults navigate the disclosure and forensic interview process.

Despite evidence of their protective value, the words cause trouble sometimes. Two weeks after Rohdenburg gave her lesson in March, as required by a new state law, a biology teacher at a public high school in Idaho said "vagina" in one of his classes. Several parents filed complaints against the teacher, Tim McDaniel, and now he is under investigation. Last June, Michigan State Representative Lisa Brown was banned from Lansing's state house floor after she said "vagina." One sexual-abuse prevention trainer in New England tells the story of a mother who discovered her first-grader had learned the word "penis" in school. The mother pulled her daughter from class. "You've destroyed her innocence!" she shouted at the school's counselor.

Yet while cases like these make headlines, educators increasingly believe--and parents seem increasingly to accept--that teaching and using plain and accurate language to describe the human body can help children live healthier lives. "We need all adults to be partners in teaching healthy childhood sexual development," says NSVRC's Palumbo, and "square one is body parts." Educators and parents should communicate accurately, without stigma or shame, she says. This helps children who "have important health questions or an experience they're concerned about talk with adults about their concerns," whether the child is seven or seventeen. Parents are children's most important teachers, it's true, but, as educators like Palumbo notes, not every one of the 55 million children who goes to school in America each day comes home to a CDC-ideal "safe, stable, and nurturing environment." One study indicates 34 percent of child sexual abuse offenders are family members. Meanwhile, one in ten students reports being sexually victimized by school employees, predominantly teachers and coaches.

"We described the relevant research and the reasons for using anatomically correct terms -- to give children the language they need should they need to report, especially should they need to report to law enforcement or the department of social services."

Anthony Rizzuto, Ph.D., is the child psychologist who oversaw implementation of prevention education in Catholic schools and churches in more than 360 Boston parishes, more than 210,000 children in all, in the wake of revelations of widespread abuse there. It was a time of very high emotion, Rizzuto says, with "a lot of anger, a lot of distrust." The issue of language came up at just about every informational meeting held, Rizzuto says. "In response, we described the relevant research and the reasons for using anatomically correct terms -- to give children the language they need should they need to report, especially should they need to report to law enforcement or the department of social services." While it's hard to measure the impact of teaching anatomically accurate terms within the context of the comprehensive programs put in place, Rizzuto says, "the children came to learn that school and church was a safe environment to disclose and that if they chose to do that, people around them would know what to do to make it stop." Reports were tracked, he says, and indicated "an increase in children who were self-disclosing ... Children got comfortable, and started coming to teachers and parents."

Back in the classroom, Rohdenburg held the dolls. "Babies have some body parts that are the same and some that are different," she said. "With the diaper on, it's really hard to tell which parts are different--unless we know which private part the baby has. I called it a private part. Why?"
"Because it is!" the children answered.

Here lies the heart of the matter, when it comes to sex-abuse prevention: Educators like Rohdenburg want children to understand that their "private parts" are just that--private and off limits to others. But they also want students to be comfortable talking about these body parts, and with the words that describe them. "We don't want kids to think they're going to get in trouble by asking questions about sexual matters and health," Palumbo says. When officials pull a teacher into an investigation or escort a legislator from her state house floor for using the word "vagina," or a parent removes a child from a class that uses the word "penis," children are more likely to think their questions will get them in trouble, she says. This shuts down communication, reinforcing the culture of secrets and silence perpetrators rely on for cover. This is why Rohdenburg holds meetings with school staff and parents before her classes, and explains to them the reasons she uses the accurate words that everyone understands.

Prevention educators like Rohdenburg and Rizzuto note that teaching the terms needed to describe the human body is only one small piece of a complicated puzzle. Ideally, current research-based prevention models are implemented systematically, and include policies and procedures for a safe school environment, training for all staff, parent engagement and education, and, finally, a child-focused curriculum that includes a language component. "In the end, we're talking about changing some of the deepest-set norms," says Monique Hoeflinger, senior program officer for the Ms. Foundation for Women's campaign to end child sexual abuse.

With the children chatting around her, Rohdenburg rested the dolls gently on their backs. She began to change their diapers, "because babies still need help." Careful to support the neck and head, Rohdeburg held up one doll.

"Penis!" The children shouted, seeing the diaper-free baby.

Rohdenburg held up the second baby.

"Vagina!" They called out, laughing.

"Sometimes we giggle because we don't talk about vaginas and penises a lot," said Rohdenburg matter-of-factly, after introducing another word, "vulva." "But it's a body part," she said, "a private body part." 

Vocabulary #6 (Test May 3)

Ozzie’s Nine Lives

Words In Context

You have received these words on Monday April 29, 2013 (unless you were absent)

The Test On These Words Will be on Friday, May 3, 2013

            It’s a cliché that cats have nine lives, but Ozzie, it seems, really does.

            When Ozzie’s predecessor, Poochie, was hit by a car, we promised my son that he could pick out another cat.  At the North Shore Animal League, Ozzie was hard to miss.  The size of one’s fist, he was mostly black, with an irresistible white smudge right on his mouth.

            Because he liked to play ball (a fairly unusual activity for a cat) and because he seemed so agile, my son named him Ozzie, in honor of Ozzie Smith, the St. Louis Cardinals’ shortstop whose defensive wizardly earned him the nickname, “The Wizard of Oz.”

            Before long we could tell that something wasn’t right.  Ozzie would huddle by the refrigerator’s exhaust, one of the warmer spots of the kitchen, and he gradually became less and less vigorous.  The veterinarian disclosed that Ozzie was suffering from such a nasty case of ear mites.  An infection had ensued, and surgery would be necessary.  It would be the first of many trying episodes.

            Several years later, when Ozzie was an adult (remember that one cat year equals about seven human years), we were enjoying a fairly large dinner party.  For an early spring night, the weather was unusually warm, so I opened the living room window.  Later that evening, when our guests had left and we had begun to clean up, Ozzie was nowhere to be found.  Apparently, he had escaped through the open window.  We could not find him that night.  Distraught as we were, we slept poorly.

            The next day we embarked upon a plan to find him.  First, we scoured our neighborhood, but to no avail.  Then we posted “lost cat” signs on every block.  Over the next few days, as the phone would ring, we responded to one false sighting after another.  Then the phone stopped ringing.  We tried to resist morbid thoughts, but we could not keep them from our minds. 

            It was a gray day in mid-April.  The chill had returned.  Deciding to get in with our lives as well as we might in the post-Ozzie era, we returned to some degree of normalcy.  To get some errands done, we piled into the car, and as I pulled out of the driveway, my wife called, “Stop!  Stop!  It’s Ozzie?” There he was resting in the dirt, trying to absorb the day’s few warming rays of sunshine.  Where he had gone for the better part of week we would never know.  Clearly, Ozzie wasn’t talking. 

            A few years later Ozzie became seriously ill.  It was evident that his joints had swelled and had begun to ache badly.  It was hard for him to move.  His actual illness was hard to diagnose, but it was clear that his immune system wasn’t working properly.  In effect, his body’s defenses were attacking his own joints.  Eventually his doctor found medication that worked, and his condition improved, but Ozzie would suffer several recurrences of this disease.

            With a cat like this, it’s hard to keep score of exactly how many lives he’s already used up-and how many remain (at least, according to the cliché).  As we like to say, it’s a good thing he’s cute.

For Example: diagnose – v  – identification of a disease or cause of anything.

           

Sentence Example:  The doctors said my illness was difficult to diagnose. 

Reading Response #5

Describe a conflict or situation that your main character encounters.  Explain how and why you would handle this situation differently.  If you would handle it similarly, explain what characteristics your main character exhibited and how they handled the situation in a way that you would. 

Non-Fiction Draft #4

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_22840051/civil-unions-be-signed-into-law-colorado

Civil unions signed into law in Colorado
By IVAN MORENO Associated Press
3/21/2013

YOUR QUESTION FOR THE WEEK: SHOULD GAY PEOPLE BE ALLOWED TO GET MARRIED OR HAVE CIVIL UNIONS? WHY OR WHY NOT?

DENVER—Civil unions for gay couples got the governor's signature in Colorado on Thursday, punctuating a dramatic turnaround in a state where voters banned same-sex marriage in 2006 and restricted protections for gays two decades ago.

Cheers erupted as Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper signed the bill during a ceremony at the History Colorado Center near the state Capitol. Hundreds looked on, with many chanting "Equal! Equal!"

Some wiped away tears and others hugged during the signing ceremony.

"There is no excuse that people shouldn't have all the same rights," Hickenlooper told the crowd, which included dozens of gay couples and others watching from floors above.

The law takes effect May 1.

"It means I can change my name finally," said 21-year-old Amber Fuentes of Lakewood, who plans to have a civil union with Yolanda Martinez, 34.

"It's not marriage, but it still gives us a lot of the rights," Martinez said.

Colorado will join eight states that have civil unions or similar laws. Nine states and the District of Columbia allow gay marriage.

The signing in Colorado comes less than a year after the proposal was blocked in the House by Republicans.

"It's really meaningful. To have the recognition of your love and relationship just like any other relationship by the state is an important both legal and symbolic thing," said Democratic House Speaker Mark Ferrandino, a sponsor of the bill and the first gay lawmaker to hold the title of speaker in Colorado.

Supporters of civil unions say the passage in Colorado also is telling because in 1992, voters approved a ban on municipal antidiscrimination laws to protect gays. Four years later, the U.S. Supreme Court said the law, known as Amendment 2, was unconstitutional—but not before some branded Colorado a "hate state."

Ferrandino said the shift "shows how much through hard work and through a very thoughtful approach you can change public opinion."

Civil unions grant gay couples rights similar to marriage, including enhanced inheritance and parental rights. People in civil unions also would have the ability to make medical decisions for their partners.

Most Republicans opposed the bill, saying they would've liked to see religious exemptions to provide legal protections for those opposed to civil unions. Churches are shielded under the new law, but Democrats rejected protections for businesses and adoption agencies, arguing the Republican suggestions were too broad and could provide legal cover to discriminate.

In May, Democrats said they had enough votes to pass the bill. But Republicans who controlled the House by one vote prevented debate on the measure.

Democrats took control of the House in November and retained the Senate.

Some Republicans insist the bill is too similar to marriage, and therefore violates the will of voters in 2006. Because of that constitutional amendment, civil unions are the only option for gay couples in Colorado for now. That could change with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage bans in the coming months.

"Even though it was specifically told to us that it wasn't about marriage, I think both sides know that it is what it is about," said Republican Rep. Lori Saine, speaking against the bill before a final vote last week.

Democratic Sen. Pat Steadman, also a gay lawmaker who sponsored the bill, said public support has grown for civil unions because same-sex couples face the same challenges as other families.

"We today are remedying an exclusion that has gone on for too long," said Steadman, who has been a leader in the gay-rights movement here since the days when voters passed the state's antidiscrimination amendment in 1992.

The bill's signing was especially poignant for Steadman, whose longtime partner, Dave Misner, died of cancer last year. They had been together for 11 years, a detail he included in the bill. The measure was Senate Bill 11.

Questions:

1)      What sorts of rights does the bill give to same-sex couples?

2)      Do both Republicans and Democrats agree with the bill? Why or why not?

3)      What other laws regarding gay couples and gay people have been passed in this state? How might they affect the new bill?

4)      Why was the bill named “Senate Bill 11”?

Do you think that civil unions are the same as marriage? How do they do in terms of protecting the rights of same-sex couples? Do they do too much? Not enough? Explain, with details from the article.

Vocabulary #5 - Test April 26

The Phone Keeps Ringing

Words In Context

You have received these words on Monday April 22, 2013 (unless you were absent)

The Test On These Words Will be on Friday, April 26, 2013

            After a grueling day at the office, I feel I have the right to an evening of serenity when I finally make it home.  After all, a man’s home is his palace, right?

            Well, not exactly.

            The problem is the multitude of solicitors who, it seems, have resolved to interrupt every task I am determined to complete.  And what are these tasks?  Nothing spectacular, I assure you: simply those monotonous, though enjoyable, pursuits that conclude a day.  You know: things like dinner and doing dishes and catching up on a little email and TV.

            Here’s a typical interruption: the phone call from a charitable organization.

            First, the caller identifies the organization.  It takes me just a moment to infer his true purpose from his tone and content.  He wants some of my money.  Then he goes on to remind me of the benevolent work his organization performs.  I don’t need reminding.  I know the compassionate nature of the organization’s work.  That’s why I’ve contributed each of the last five years.  What I really need is for the phone call to come to an end so that I can resume preparing dinner.  But that doesn’t happen as soon as I’d like.  The caller thanks me for having contributed in the past, but he wants to know if this year I’ll be willing to take the next step and donate as much as $500.  So I brashly take control of the conversation.  I tell him that I will contribute $50, precisely what I gave last year.  

            That’s when he really starts to annoy me.  He wonders if $250 would be possible.  I say no.  Well, how about $200?  No.  In this manner, the amount of the request gradually dwindles, until we settle upon the $50 I’ve always given.

            I don’t get it.  What makes him think I’ve has such a terrific year that I’d go from $50 to $500?  And why does he have to make me feel like a miser because $50 is all I can afford?

            By the time I return to chopping vegetables, not only am I $50 poorer, I have also given up any hope of a quiet peaceful evening.  After all, it’s only 6:30, lots of time for the phone to keep ringing.

           

Below or on back or in your notebook-write the definitions and their parts of speech

AND

Use it in a sentence of your own-it will help.

NO EXCUSES!

             

For Example: miser – n – a cheap person or someone who is very cautious with money

            Sentence Example:  Many people consider my friend a miser because he only buys items that are on                                                        sale.

Non-Fiction Final Rubric

It's that time, guys.  You have a final non-fiction piece or creative writing piece due April 22, 2013. April 18, 2013 will be the last day of drafting.  If you follow these guidelines, you will be successful. 

Non-Fiction Final Rubric

	Proficient	Partially Proficient	Unsatisfactory
Topic Sentence	Includes a topic sentence with ALL of the following: -          title of the text -          author’s name	Includes one of the following: -          title of text -          author’s name	Does not mention the title or author of text.
Thesis	Thesis statement clearly addresses the weekly prompt.	Parts of thesis address prompt but is either confusing or strays too far off topic.	Does not address the prompt.
Text Evidence/ Support for Thesis	Includes at least two examples from the text with at least one direct quote that adequately addresses and supports the thesis.	Includes two examples from text but no direct quote. Includes examples from text but do not adequately support the thesis.	Example from the text does not support the thesis. No evidence.
Sentence Variety	Frequently attempts to use a variety of sentences (simple, compound, complex). Experiments starting sentences in a variety of ways. Incorporates appositives and prepositional phrases.	Mostly uses simple sentences, but attempts to incorporate compound and complex sentences.	Uses nearly all simple sentences. Does not experiment with different types of sentences
Word Choice (academic language)	Frequently uses academic language (i.e. strong transitions, vocabulary words, etc.) Establishes an academic tone through language usage. Does not use any “baby language” like “stuff, a lot, and things.”	Attempts to use academic language but occasionally uses simple language where stronger words could be supplemented. Begins to establish an academic tone. Uses one or two words from the “word cemetery”	Uses all simple language. Does not attempt to use vocabulary words. Frequently uses words from the word cemetery.
Grammar (capitalization, punctuation, proper tense, subject/verb agreement)	All sentences are capitalized and end with the proper punctuation. Uses proper tense throughout response. All subjects and verb agree. Indention correct.	Most sentences are capitalized and end with the proper punctuation. One mistake with tense. Nearly all subjects and verb agree.	Multiple grammatical errors in capitalization, punctuation, tense, and subject/verb agreement.
Spelling	Two or fewer spelling errors.	Three to four spelling errors.	More than four spelling errors.
Organization	Final contains: introduction, body, and conclusion paragraphs. All paragraphs are indented. Proper heading	Has introduction and body paragraphs but missing conclusion. Most paragraphs are indented. Attempts a proper heading	One paragraph Does not indent No heading Does not put name on paper
Revision	Demonstrates improvement in writing through editing and revision techniques Does not include draft	Includes draft but only minor adjustments were made. Some of revision and guidelines are evident.	No draft present No evidence of revision or editing
Word Count	At least 500 words	300-499 words	Less than 300 words

Score __________________________/30________

Reading Response #4

Due on Friday April, 12

How much time has passed in your book? How do you know? How does the author show time? Use support and the rubric.

Vocabulary #3 (April 8-12)

Chapter Nine:

The Middle School Years: How Much They Mattered?

As the school year wanes, many ninth graders have finally figured out a fact that earlier may not have been obvious: everything counts.

            It is not hard to comprehend the truth of that statement.  All grades will appear on high school records.  High school records (not to mention test scores) lead to college acceptance letters.  The caliber of college one attends determines the extent to which one will succeed in life.  It sounds kind of ominous, doesn’t it?  You wouldn’t mind crawling back under the covers, or back to eighth grade, right?

            Seen from this narrow perspective-as merely a summary of grades earned-the middle school years might not look like much.  In this limited sense, middle school simply end when high school begins.  Out of sight, out of mind, right?

            But there are a few ways in which middle school matters very much.  This is something  the alert, conscientious middle school students has always known.

            For most students, academic success is not something that can be turned on and off like a faucet.  The study habits one brings to high school and beyond were formed during the previous thirteen or fourteen years.  As the word “habit” suggests, learning to be an excellent student is largely a matter of practice, of establishing and repeating study routines that lead to success. 

            Skills are of paramount importance in the middle school years.  Both middle and high school teachers are concerned, of course, with content, as well as with skills.  However, in middle school, the primary focus is on skill building.  In order for students to be able to assimilate the content of high school courses, they must, for example, be good readers, but they must also be taught to think while they read.  A skilled middle school reader will discern, for example, a writer’s purpose, while a merely adequate reader cannot.  A student who comes to high school locking these essential skills will have a hard time trying to fill in the gaps. 

            Finally, middle school is a great time for trying things out.  It’s a great time for adopting a risk-taking attitude, for losing that cautious old self who may have cared too much about winning, losing and public opinion.  You’d like to be a member of the debate club?  Check it out?  You wanted to try your hand at lacrosse?  Hey, why not?  You wondered if musicals might be your thing?  Go and find out?  There’s no time like the present. 

            Here’s the long and short of it:  Anyone who thinks middle school doesn’t count has probably missed out on a great opportunity.  There’s nothing that counts more than opportunities that won’t come again.  

Reading Response #3

If you could date any character in your book, who would it be? Why? What characteristics do they possess that you find desirable? Personality? Physical appearance?

You can also write about the opposite: Which character would you never want to date? Why? What qualities do they have that you find unappealing?

Alternate only if there are no characters you would consider dating:

Which character in your book would make a great or terrible friend? What qualities does he/she possess that would make them worthy or not deserving of your friendship? 

Non-fiction Draft #3

Response: Should teachers be allowed to carry firearms? 

Texas school district to train teachers carry guns

By TERRY WALLACE Associated Press

DALLAS—A small, mostly rural school district in East Texas will allow some teachers and administrators with training to carry concealed weapons, making it at least the second school system in the state to implement such a policy.

The seven-member board of the Union Grove Independent School District voted unanimously Thursday evening to enact the policy, Superintendent Brian Gray said Friday. Residents asked that faculty and staff be allowed to carry guns after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Conn., that left 26 dead, including 20 young children.

Would armed staff at Sandy Hook have prevented the shooting?

"We wanted it, our community supported it, and it's a local decision," Gray said.

The district has about 750 students at its two adjoining campuses near Gladewater, about 110 miles east of Dallas.

Officials haven't decided how many faculty and staff members will be trained to carry weapons or whether the district will provide them with guns, Gray said.

Texas law bans guns in schools unless the school has given written authorization.

The Harrold school district, about 160 miles northwest of Dallas, implemented such a policy in 2007. The school board decides which teachers and staff members can carry guns on campus. Those teachers must take additional training on shooting accuracy, hostage situations and how to clear a classroom.

Does Texas law allow people to carry guns in schools?

Since the Newtown shootings, dozens of school superintendents, board members, even state lawmakers from around and outside Texas have been calling David Thweatt, superintendent of the single-campus, 110-student Harrold district.

"We spent a lot of time problem-solving and looking at some of the various situations that have come up" in school settings, he said.  As for the need for incorporating teachers and staff into the security structure of the school, Thweatt said, "it would seem pretty obvious to me."

Opponents insist that having more people armed at a school, especially teachers or administrators who aren't trained to deal with crime on a daily basis, could lead to more injuries and deaths.

Do you agree with the opponents or the proponents of staff members of a school carrying concealed weapons?

The idea of having guns on campus has been gaining momentum in other states. A rural school district in Ohio plans to arm some of its non-teaching employees with handguns this year—perhaps even janitors. Teachers in a northeastern Indiana county may soon be carrying guns in school if officials accept a proposal from the county sheriff. In Texas, the Plano school district has backed a proposal to hire armed security guards to patrol all 71 campuses in suburban Dallas.

Arizona Senate votes to let teachers carry guns

Senate Bill 1325, giving school boards the power to let employees bear concealed weapons on rural school campuses, now moves to the state House.

By Cindy Carcamo, Los Angeles Times

TUCSON — Arizona is advancing legislation that would allow schoolteachers to arm themselves in class.

The proposal cleared the state Senate this week and now heads to the state House.

Several other states have introduced measures to let teachers carry guns. The movement came after the National Rifle Assn. called for such legislation in light of the mass shooting last year in Newtown, Conn., where 20 first-graders were killed.

This month, South Dakota became the first state since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre to pass a law that specifically allows teachers and school employees to carry weapons on campus. Measures in other states have stalled.

What other kinds of laws could be passed in response to Sandy Hook?

In Arizona, SB 1325 would give school boards the ability to allow any employee to bear a concealed handgun, pistol or revolver on campus at rural schools. There are some caveats, however. The school would have to have fewer than 600 students, be more than 20 miles and 30 minutes away from the closest law enforcement facility and not have a school resource officer.

Sen. Rich Crandall, a Republican from Mesa, sponsored the bill, which passed the GOP-dominated Senate on a 17-11 vote Monday. Crandall did not return a call for comment.

It's unclear whether Gov. Jan Brewer, also a Republican, will support the bill. It's been her practice to wait until legislation passes both houses of the Legislature before she indicates whether she'll sign or veto it.

State Senate Minority Leader Leah Landrum Taylor, a Democrat from Phoenix, called the measure irresponsible.

"I think it's a knee-jerk reaction to something that could get us in a lot of trouble — that could further endanger the lives of children — because we don't know the level of responsibility or training that individual would have," Taylor said of the teachers and staff carrying handguns. "For instance, if they misplace it or, God forbid, have to take out the gun and use it for any reason, what is the tactical training? Will they accidentally kill a child in the crossfire?"

Do you side more with the opinions of Republicans or Democrats on SB 1325?

Taylor advocated arming trained school resource officers instead of teachers and other staff.

The bill does set a list of conditions for arming a school employee.

The person would need to possess a valid fingerprint clearance card, have a valid permit to own a gun and attend annual firearm training approved by the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board. The firearm would need to remain concealed on the employee or stored in a gun locker maintained by the school.

In addition, the school board would have to consider the employee's temperament, personality and — if applicable — reactions to previous crises before giving that person clearance to carry a gun on campus.

Still, Taylor questioned whether a school board would be qualified to make such a determination.

"We're putting a school board in a precarious situation," Taylor said.

Would like you feel less safe or more safe is unknown teachers/school employees were able to carry concealed weapons?  What other measures can be put into effect to make you feel completely safe in schools? 

Creative Draft #3

Be creative! Here is a prompt but feel free to come up with something on your own.

A man is trapped on an elevator with his ex-wife and her "perfect" new boyfriend.

Vocabulary #2

Chapter 8: Natural Disasters-Something Can Be Done

Words given on Monday April 1, 2013 for the test on Friday April 5, 2013

            In December of 2004, a huge Tsunami brought death and devastation to Southeast Asia.  From Somalia to Thailand, children became orphans, and families were left homeless and destitute, unable to find food or lodging.  The news media reported the awful consequences of the tsunami.  Each night the evening news vividly broadcast them into our living rooms.  As terrible as these events and their consequences may be, scientists warn us that they are, in a human sense, escalating. 

            While events of this kind cannot be prevented, measures can certainly be taken to minimize the damage they bring.

            Natural disasters have not actually been increasing in number.  What has happened is that the injury to humans has increased dramatically over the last century.  In a way, technology is to blame, because technology has enabled people to live in areas that were not previously inhabitable.  Poverty too, must absorb some of the blame, because poor people have been pushed into some of these areas.  That’s where the problem lies: some of these areas are most susceptible to natural disasters.

            Both the rich and poor seem willing to accept the risk.  California real estate is among the most expensive in the world.  The state’s millions of residents have decided that the pleasures of West Coast life offset the danger of living along a fault line.  At the other extreme are the poverty-stricken residents of Indonesia, who live within striking distance of the nation’s 150 active volcanoes. 

            The difference between rich and poor lies not with chances that disaster will strike-in such cases, natural disasters may be inevitable-but with how governments have responded to the challenge. 

            Take, for example, the Pacific Coast of the United States.  In this area, governments have already upgraded construction codes for buildings and highways, creating flexible structures that will sway and not collapse.  They have improved warning systems and done considerable research to determine the exact nature of the danger.  Should disaster strike, structures are less likely to crumble, and people are more likely to survive.

            That’s not the case in poorer countries.  Following a disaster, people are liable to return to where they have always lived, and buildings are more likely to be rebuilt in the exact same way.

            Across the world, governments must develop policies that stress human disaster prevention.  Governments cannot guarantee that natural disasters will not occur, but they certainly can offer some promise to try to save lives.  The tsunami offered a very real reminder of how fragile human life is.  The world should not need other reminders.