English Lesson Plan
Overview:
Although the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports school buses are “the safest form of surface transportation” and indicate the “compartmentalization” of the large buses, with high seat backs, protect children and make seat belts unnecessary. Not everyone agrees. School Bus Safety Week is always the third full week of October and the theme for each year through 2007 have been chosen. See how creative you can be with a poster or speech idea for a future contest.

Suggested time allotment: This could be a 15-minute free write with only the contest themes as a writing prompt. Or it could be a longer assignment to write a 4- to 6-minute speech for the 2004 contest, once details of entry are announced.

Objectives
Depending on type of assignment) Students will:
1. Research various aspects of school bus safety – what makes a bus safe? Unsafe?
2. Check the Internet (with sites below and others) and see what the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has to say and also what the citizens’ group National Coalition for School Bus Safety says.
3. Interview their district’s transportation director. See what rules are in place locally. What does he or she believe makes buses safe? Find out about various aspects of safety related to the Report Card described below.
4. Use this information to write a speech with the 2004 theme: Flashing Red Means Stop Ahead.
5. Or use the theme as a way to write about what this and other aspects of school bus safety mean to you.

Standards: National Council of Teachers of English/International Reading Association Standards:
4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with differentaudiences for a variety of purposes.

7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas andquestions and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate and synthesize datafrom a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) tocommunicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
8. Students use a variety of technological and informational resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.
12. Students use spoken, written and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion and the exchange of information).

Resources and materials: Websites with information
• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration offers two different Web sites with useful information — its main site and one designed for younger students. That one, however, includes lots of stats about why NHTSA believes buses are safe. Included is also a part of the site with School Bus Driver In-Service Safety Lessons
|view website| |view website|

• Not everyone agrees school buses are as safe as they could be. The National Coalition of School Bus Safety believes, for one thing, seat belts should be required, even in “the big yellow bus.” Check out their thoughts. | view website |

• In one portion of the site, the NCSBS has a report card for parents to rate their child’s school bus safety situation and return the answers to the group. Consider these categories – everything from seat belts to flame retardant materials — and use them or others of your own to create a way to evaluate your district’s buses.
| view website |

• Information about the poster and speech contests is available at:

| view website |