Natural Disasters

I think it is extremely important for students to understand how natural disasters occur and what we can do to predict them.  It is even more important to know how it affects peoples lives.  One of the best ways to introduce a topic, is to provide a real world example that is has affected their own country.  Often students do not think that disasters could happen in their areas but they are more real than they could imagine.  I would choose a natural disaster such as Hurricane Katrina and show them pictures of hurricane from NOAA and videos showing the destruction.  By showing them real examples, they are more likely to be focused and interested in how the hurricane is actually caused.  This also will be more motivated to help and contribute to relief efforts because they have an emotional connection to these disasters.  This past winter we had a bad snow storm and our mayor did not plow the roads, leaving most families in Brooklyn stranded in their homes for many days.  I wish that I had discussed with my students ways that they could contribute during times such as a snow storm.  For example, they could help shovel the walk ways for people on their block or make sure that elderly in their neighborhood have food and water.  I think it would be important to stress the idea of community at a school and foster a love for each other's neighbor before a disaster hits.  One of the most powerful tools teachers have is the power to motivate their students to be contributors to their society, whether it be knowing why they must recycle or how they can help others during natural disasters. It is our job to be a source of knowledge about disasters and lead by example by being an active contributor to society.