Risk Watch: Make Time for Safety

Risk Watch News Watch
Grades 5-6
by Kari Snodgrass, Gresham, Oregon
2000 "Teacher of the Year" Award Finalist

Objectives

Students will demonstrate a clear understanding of an assigned Risk Watch topic by writing scripts for a news spot which relates to said topic.
Students will be actively engaged in a production which requires acting and public speaking (this performance will be included in the students portfolio).
Students will assess their work for accuracy, clear depiction of Risk Watch criteria, and public speaking criteria as determined by our scoring guide.
Students will use technology to videotape this performance and record voice-overs of any unclear speaking areas within the production.

Core Subject Integration

Writing, health, safety, public speaking and technology

Materials

Risk Watch Banner
prop Box (pool toys, fake gun, PFD, beads, empty pill bottles, floor rug, old shoes, smoke detectors, seat belts, bike helmets, reflectors, etc.)
risk folders (these contain newspaper articles from our local paper related to each Safety Area and any and all notes taken during each unit of study)
student-generated scripts

Procedure

(This is a culminating activity after all Risk Watch modules have been completed.)

Students have written and performed Risk Watch skits for each of the modules.
The class nominates one or two students to be news anchors (students with strong clear voices, very animated, and hard working).
Students who have been trained in using a video camera are given the jobs of tape recording.
The teacher splits the remaining students into nine groups and assigns one Risk Watch Safety Area to each group.
Each group is to brainstorm a "News Event" (we have been collecting news articles and watching TV news for reports related to all safety areas so the students are very accustomed to this format). The students of each group will then write a script for their "News Event." They must have a reporter, victim, emergency personnel and any other necessary bystanders. They also need to use props.
The news anchors will write scripts to introduce each Risk Watch area.
The students spend a week practicing their script, gathering props, etc.
On "News Day" an anchor desk is set-up with a video camera pointing to it. The news anchors do their first introduction, which leads into the first news event scene. The students in that group act out a tragedy (known to the public as "accidents" but known to students as "preventable injuries") while one member of their group acts as an on-the-scene reporter to interview them and make sure the audience understands what the correct Risk Watch behavior would be. This group throws the news coverage back to the anchors, and the anchors do a final closing.
The next day, we watch the video and decide what areas need to be edited out or redone.

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