Wildfiresīook Tour is a Web feature and podcast. Note: the podcast isn’t meant for students, so this is strictly planning period-only.National Comparing Responses To Katrina, Calif. If you’d like more background for your class discussion, I’d suggest listening to our episode on The Unthinkable first. Click here to download the PowerPoint: The Unthinkable If you don’t have the time to do the readings on The Unthinkable but still want to cover disasters, you can go through this simple PowerPoint to explain the Unthinkable concepts and then have the students do the Pliny or Tsunami readings.Once again, the summative question is about why it’s important to understand human behavior during disaster.

The one-pager involves explaining the arc, and then describing how it took place in their reading.

Finally, students should create a one-pager: disastersurvivalarc.

Then, have students choose to do one of three readings: Pliny’s first or second letter, or the reading on the 2011 Tsunami.

Make sure to discuss WHY it’s important to understand these behaviors–that’s the students’ summative question.

Come back together as a class and make sure that everyone is clear on the stages of the Disaster Survival Arc and what behavior looks like during each arc.

I’d suggest jigsawing the readings on The Unthinkable, since they are longer.

There’s a version with guided questions, and a version without.

Have students read the selections based on The Unthinkable.

I’ve also done a brief reading on the 2011 Japanese Tsunami. I’ve adapted Pliny’s letters to Tacitus, with a brief introduction to explain who wrote the letters and jog the kids’ memories of Pompeii. One of those disasters is ancient: The eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. That’s why I decided to create a lesson that informs students about how humans typically behave during disasters, and then turn them loose on two historical disasters to see how those behaviors played out in real life. For example, cortisol can give us energy when we need it, but also temporarily destroys our ability to make complex decisions.Įven “complex decisions” as simple as how to operate a seatbelt.Īfter I read The Unthinkable, I started seeing human behavior during disasters through fresh eyes. Ripley lays out the science: That the human fear response is primitive, and not always especially well-adapted to the threats we now face. It’s an amazing book that I totally recommend, because it does an excellent job of explaining a lot of “irrational” human behavior during disasters. Months ago, when I was putting together the 9/11 reading collection, I also read Amanda Ripley’s The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes–And Why. I feel like there are a LOT of jokes I could make about that title, but I’ll spare you.

The Unthinkable by Amanda Ripley