Free Elementary School Lesson Plans & High School Webinar
Since we founded End Distracted Driving (EndDD) in 2009 after the death of our daughter Casey, we have spoken to hundreds of thousands of people about driving distraction-free and speaking up for safety. Our presentations started at high schools, which quickly gained momentum as hundreds of trial lawyers across the U.S. volunteered to speak at their local schools. Healthcare professionals, driver’s education instructors, safety advocates, and others joined in, building a massive network of people who believe that young people can end the distracted driving epidemic.
Kids of All Ages Can Be Part of the Solution
Several years ago, we expanded our talks to include middle schoolers by developing a presentation that specifically appeals to them. While this age group is a few years out from getting behind the wheel, our talks help them learn to protect themselves and their loved ones by being good passengers. If they know how to effectively speak up when their drivers are distracted, we hope they will inspire immediate change and then later, when it’s their turn to drive, they’ll remember the responsibility of good driving behavior. After all, teaching children about the importance of seatbelts created a generation that will not allow anyone to drive or ride in a car without a seatbelt. We believe the same thing can happen with distraction-free driving.
Expanding Our Reach to a Younger Audience
Car crashes are the leading cause of death for children and young people ages five to 21. Including middle schoolers is still only addressing part of the age group that’s most at risk. All children need to be able to recognize distracted driving and know what to do when their drivers are distracted. We believe these lessons can begin as early as elementary school. So, in partnership with Safe Roads Alliance, we developed a free curriculum for elementary schools to empower children to speak up when their drivers are distracted. Kids Speaking Up for Road Safety offers 45- to 60-minute lessons for grades two to three, four to five, and sixth grade. The plans were developed in collaboration with psychologists, SEL experts, content developers, videographers, and animators. We hope to see these free curricula become part of elementary school learning all over the country.
Help Us Ensure We Have the Most Impact
Our effort to be as impactful as possible is never over. In response to our country’s COVID-19 quarantine, we presented the first EndDD Zoom webinar to continue to reach more students during this time of separation.
We are also constantly revising our presentations to respond to new research and trends. Now, we are looking for additional feedback. The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) assigned researchers to develop surveys to measure their effectiveness. To conduct this research, they are asking participants to register for our free high school webinar and our elementary school lessons. They will receive short pre- and post-presentation surveys to help us understand where our talks are most effective and where we need more effort.
Receive Our Free Lesson Plans or Webinar
Parents, students, educators, and administrators are welcome to register for the free lessons and talks. Doing so will provide us with the feedback we need to continue to make the most impact. Please consider sharing the links below with your local schools and community. You will be part of the solution in two ways: first, by helping more people to see our presentations, and second, by giving us the feedback we need to continue to put our best foot forward.
High School Distracted Driving Webinar
Register here
Elementary School Lesson Plans
Grades 2-3, 4-5 and/or 6
Register here
Thank you for helping us save lives through distraction-free driving.
Special Thanks to Our Contributors
We’re grateful to the individuals whose contributions made these important lesson plans possible.
Danielle Gibson Potere has been teaching within the school district of Philadelphia for the last 10 years. She is a program coordinator for a non profit organization called Philly Girls in Motion that aims to bring sports and fitness opportunities to inner city youth. In her spare time she is involved with Girls on the Run and Philadelphia Futures. She also works closely with Joel Feldman and EndDD to help with distracted driving education at the elementary level.
Fred Gluck‘s academic background is in engineering, mathematics, and computer science. He served in the nuclear Navy for five years and then in the computer industry for about 40 years. Fred has been teaching for the University of Colorado science outreach program, Science Discovery since 1997, currently focusing in computer science for grades 3 – 12. He has also been volunteering in Boulder Valley (Colorado) public schools since 1991 at all levels from K-12. Fred’s current focus is motivating students to consider pursuing computer science and computer-related fields both academically and as a career.
Katie Whitehurst is a 4th grade teacher at Cantrall Intermediate School. She has been a K-6 teacher for 15 years and lives in Central Illinois with her husband and two daughters.
