Personal and Pedestrian Safety Lesson Plan - Developing Making a Phone Call Instructional Area:  Leisure  Community  Home Living / Daily Living Ability Level:  Emerging  Developing  Mastery Topic / Skill Outcome: Placing a phone call, while in the community, to report an emergency or to gain help or assistance. Learning Area(s): Literacy Communication Math and Science Social Studies Purpose of Lesson / Objective: Help students understand that emergency situations can develop anywhere and anytime, and to increase their confidence level with placing a phone call for help/assistance, while in the community. In addition, students will increase their understanding of what defines a major and a minor emergency situation. Materials / Equipment / Environment: Practice Phone Pay Phone at a nearby community destination Variety of Coins Small, wallet sized cards with student’s home phone number or parent’s work number written on them Group Size: 2-4 Time Required: 40 minutes on 3 separate opportunities Lesson Procedure: Week 1 review scenarios that could occur while students are in the community (lost, ill, injury) that may necessitate placing a phone call for help (for specifics – refer to lesson plan support). Week 2 & 3 role play placing a phone call and what dialogue needs to take place: who’s placing the call, where you are, what has happened and/or what type of help you need, what the student should do as a result of the phone call (for specifics – refer to lesson plan support). Review how much it costs to use a pay phone. Carry Over / Related Activities: Have students practice dialing various phone numbers on a phone that is not connected to a line. If available in your building, students may make a phone call from a one line to another – practicing identifying who the speaker is, requesting to speak to a specific teacher/staff member, leaving a message, and ending the phone call. Students could be selected to call a local bank/radio station to find out the weather report, through a recorded message, on a daily basis – to increase phone-dialing accuracy. With staff support, have the student place a “practice emergency call” from the community, so that they can increase their confidence level and intelligibility with this skill. Plan ahead of time to identify where the student will be placing the call from, who they will be calling and what their reason for calling will be. After the phone call, have the student relay to the staff, that accompanied them, what they were instructed to do by the person that they called for help. Supporting Activities / Possible Adaptations: Have a small index card, with emergency phone numbers written down on it, for the student to use to dial the desired number from (when they are nervous, they may not be able to recall an important phone number).  Attach 50 cents to the card so that they always have money for a payphone. Have a picture symbol list of what to do (that can be folded to fit in a wallet or purse) so that the student can refer to it should they have difficulty remembering the basic steps of what to do or say in an emergency. Spend time reviewing what people in the community are “helpers” in case the student cannot make the phone call on their own, and need assistance from someone else. Strategies for Participation: Student Reaction / Evaluation: Most students feel an increased level of comfort when they know what to do for an emergency situation while in the community – they also feel a sense of personal responsibility in maintaining their safety. Lesson Support: (Introduction – lead in, background information, supporting concepts and activities – curriculum) Small group discussion should address what is a major emergency, in which 9-1-1 is typically called. Most often, these are situations that are life-threatening, such as heart attacks, severe injury or illness (heavy bleeding, broken bones, head injury, breathing difficulty) or a situation in which your personal safety is at risk, such as a stranger has approached you or touched you, or you are lost and are not in a location that you feel is safe. A minor emergency, in which you typically call a family member or friend for help, might be that you have missed your ride, you are lost but in a safe location, you have received a minor injury (small cut, bruise, scrape). Students should be told that it is important for them to stay confident and calm to decrease their vulnerability. They need to speak slowly and clearly so that the person on the other end of the line can understand them. It is also important for them to stay on the phone until the other person hangs up, so they know that the person whom they called understands what they need and that they do not have any further questions to ask.