essential questions

The following questions address the major themes and thinking points of this podcast. You can use the questions to help you journal, take notes, or think about what you hear in this podcast.

1. Can we ever truly be prepared for a tragedy like a school shooting?

2. How can we turn our own experiences with loss into opportunities to help others

3. What can be done to help stem or stop school shootings?

4. When do you follow protocol? When do you follow your own instinct?

episode summary

Prologue: A high school in rural Ohio buys handguns to arm members of its staff and runs drills simulating a school shooting.

Act 1: “Ready as You’ll Never Be”: Two teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High discuss how their newly revised emergency plan (shooting occurred only one month later) helped and hindered them.

Act 2: “Keep Breathing”: Parents who lost their daughter in the Aurora, CO (Dark Knight screening) shooting travel to mass shooting locations to help others by sharing their story.

even more

If you liked this episode, and want to read or listen to more about the topics addressed, check out these resources.

Read

Columbine by Dave Cullen (Non-fiction)

Defending Jacob by William Landay

The Hate List by Jennifer Brown

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Shooter by Walter Dean Myers

That's Not What Happened by Kody Keplinger

This is Where it Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

Listen

Jolted (Vermont Public Radio)

Watch

Bowling for Columbine (2002)

And Then I Go (2017)

Defending Jacob (2020) 8-part mini-series on Apple TV