Written from the first-person perspective of a Columbine shooting survivor, this book documents the experiences of a group of school shooting survivors who went on to become teachers.
More than 25 years after the shooting on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School, the policies and practices in place to prevent school shootings do not seem to be working. In fact, school shootings have increased since 1999 and continue to increase. Through a phenomenological study of the author’s own experiences, as well as 11 other Columbine survivors who went on to become teachers, this book examines how surviving a school shooting has impacted every aspect of their personal and professional lives. The participants offer ideas and suggestions on how to decrease school shootings, sharing candid stories about bullying at Columbine, as well as the ways that teachers helped save their lives on the day of the shooting, and their views on the idea of arming teachers. The book concludes with recommendations for survivor-informed best practices for US schools, adding an essential and often overlooked perspective to the debate around making teachers responsible for preventing school shootings.
A forward-looking and unique addition to the conversation about school shootings, this book is an essential resource for researchers, faculty, scholars, and post-graduate students with interests in education, criminology, school shootings, restorative justice, trauma studies, suicide prevention, and bullying.
The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.
Table of Contents:
1. Introduction – The Participants, The Author, and Epistemic Exploitation 2. Data Analysis and Research Paradigm 3. The Problem: School Shootings Are Increasing 4. What Has Already Been Done to Prevent School Shootings, and Why is it Ineffective? 5. Possible Solutions to End School Shootings: Focusing on the Roots of the Issue 6. What Columbine Survivors Who Are Teachers Think Schools Should Do to Prepare for Active Shooters and What Teachers Should be Taught to Prevent School Shootings 7. How the Experience of a School Shooting Trauma Influences How Teachers Build Relationships with Students 8. How Columbine Student Survivors Who Are Teachers Experience Trauma After Surviving a School Shooting 9. The Way Forward: Preventing More Deaths From School Shootings in Our Schools 10. Conclusion
