This album was created by a member of the TPS Teachers Network, a professional social media network for educators, funded by a grant from the Library of Congress. For more information, visit tpsteachersnetwork.org.

Safe Schools for All: An Album of Hope & Action

Album Description

As students, parents and educators come to grips with tragedy and trauma of yet another school shooting, how do we cope? Although there are no easy answers for addressing the epitome of what we’ve called “difficult topics” here on the TPS Teachers Network, perhaps by sharing resources and ideas, we can move forward in a positive direction. Thank you for your support and for contributing to this Album.

Schools Not Warzones

Amplifier Foundation, Sponsor, and Publisher Amplifier Foundation. Schools Not Warzones. [Seattle: Amplifier Foundation] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress,

  School Shootings   School Violence   Mass Shootings   Gun Control   School Safety   Difficult Topics 

First Picture of Fanatic’s School Bombing in Bath, Michigan

Teaching Notes

Chronicling America provides these additional articles on the Bath, Michigan School Bombing:

Chronicling America can also be used for finding coverage about earlier 20th century school violence incidents in other locales. See this listing of school shootings from the 1700s to the present.

Reference note

Newspaper: Douglas daily dispatch. [volume] (Douglas, Ariz.) 1903-1961
Newspaper Link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84020064/1927-05-24/ed-1/seq-1
Image provided by: Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records; Phoenix, AZ
PDF Link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84020064/1927-05-24/ed-1/seq-1.pdf

Everytown for Gun Safety

Teaching Notes

Everytown for Gun Safety is an American nonprofit organization which advocates for gun control and against gun violence, working to support efforts to educate policy makers and promote efforts to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. The group has focused on efforts to require universal background checks on firearms purchases.  The site has been saved through the Library of Congress Web Archive.

Students Demand Action for Gun Sense

Teaching Notes

Students Demand Action for Gun Sense in America  is Everytown's student wing. After the February 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman-Douglas High School in Parkland Florida, many students implored Everytown for Gun Safety to found a branch dedicated to student activism. In response, Everytown founded the student organization and began accepting applications from students who wanted to found their own chapters of the group.

The Columbine Memorial's Wall of Healing in Littleton, Colorado

Teaching Notes

Additional information is available on the Columbine Memorial Foundation website.

Reference note

Contributor Names: Highsmith, Carol M., 1946-, photographer
Created / Published: 2016-07-30.
Subject Headings: -  United States--Colorado--Jefferson County--Littleton
-  America
-  Columbine Memorial
-  Columbine High School shooting
-  Wall of healing
Genre: Digital photographs--Color--2010-2020
Notes: -  Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer.
-  Gift; Carol M. Highsmith Photography, Inc.; 2017; (DLC/PP-2002:038-13).
-  Forms part of: Gates Frontiers Fund Colorado Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive.
-  Credit line: Gates Frontiers Fund Colorado Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: highsm 48738 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/highsm.48738

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Family Support Act of 2018

Teaching Notes

This Bill (S.2632 - Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Family Support Act of 2018) was Introduced in the Senate to accelerate the income tax benefits for charitable cash contributions for the relief of the families of the slain or injured victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, and for other purposes.

Herb Block Cartoon

Teaching Notes

Herb Block titles and explains this cartoon saying "All adults in society can teach children right from wrong, can explain life is precious" -- Bush, after latest school shootings.

In addition to this timely Herb Block cartoon, a collection of Herb Block Gun Control cartoons is available at https://www.herbblockfoundation.org/gun-control-cartoons 

Duquesne University LibGuide Gun Violence in Schools

Teaching Notes

This LibGuide offers journal articles, data resources, news feeds and more.

Defusing School Violence: A Learning for Justice lesson plan

Teaching Notes

This lesson plan from Learning for Justice explores the complexities of a situation in which immigrant students attend a school that is plagued with racially motivated violence. Working in small groups and as a class, students will discuss possible solutions and outcomes and apply their problem-solving skills to issues affecting their own school and community. For Grade Level 6-8 9-12.

Resources for Talking and Teaching About the School Shooting in Uvalde, Texas

Teaching Notes

Using New York Times reporting and Opinion pieces, teachers are offered ideas and materials for addressing Uvalde tragedy in the classroom.

Students are also specifically asked to reply to this NYT Opinion survey to input what they have to say about the school shootings. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/06/opinion/students-uvalde-shootings.html

PBS News Hour Mass Shootings

Teaching Notes

See also these supplemental PBS News Hour stories:

Final Report of the Federal Commission on School Safety

Teaching Notes

This in-depth report was first presented to former President Donald Trump on December 18 2018 but was under review as of December 9, 2021 in that some statements in the report did not reflect the current positions or policies of the Departments of Education, Homeland Security, Justice, or Health and Human Services.

National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN)

Teaching Notes

NCTSN offers Parent Guidelines for Helping Youth After the Recent Shooting.

Gun Violence and Mass Shootings from ADL

Teaching Notes

This ADL resource for Parents, Families, and Caregivers was updated in May 2022 to support talking with children about Gun Violence.

More than 311,000 students have experienced gun violence at school since Columbine

Teaching Notes

An informative article from The Washington Post which has spent years tracking how many children have been exposed to gun violence during school hours since the Columbine High massacre in 1999. 

School shootings don’t need to be deadly to traumatize students & teachers

Teaching Notes

This earlier 2018 report from NPR points out that while big, rampage-style school shootings get most of the attention in school safety debates, smaller incidents of gun violence in school can also traumatize students and staff and upend their sense of safety.

Primary Source Spotlight: Second Amendment & Gun Control resource set

Teaching Notes

A valuable primary source set including political cartoons from Citizen U Primary Source Nexus teaching resource blog.

The Scientific Method, School Shootings, and Civic Action middle school lesson plan

Teaching Notes

Students make connections between scientific method of thinking and the rights of the American democracy established by the Constitution regarding civic action. Integrating scientific thinking with civic content, students experience the connection between methods of scientific analysis and civic action. 

Gun Violence and Next-Generation Coalitions middle school lesson plan

Teaching Notes

Students deepen understanding of civic action through a focus on the empowerment that citizens gain through building coalitions through an exploration of the accomplishments of young people to help bring about changes through civic action.