Jim Reiser has put together a DVD, Water Smart 101, that makes the task of teaching water safety to children as easy as having them watch a video... because that is exactly what he has done. Jim has put together a DVD and other teaching tools to get the message of water safety out to elementary school-age students. Jim does the teaching for you, practically all you have to do is push play on the DVD player!
Water Smart 101 was inspired by South Carolina State Representative Wendell Gilliard who reached out to Reiser to create the program. Representative Gilliard proposed a bill in South Carolina that requires one-hour of Water Safety Instruction in the classroom in every elementary school in the state. The purpose of Water Smart 101 program is to fill that requirement. In addition, this program also provides swimming instructors everywhere with the resources they need to deliver a dynamic and effective presentation.
The Water Smart 101 DVD is divided into two parts. The first part is for use by elementary school teachers in the classroom. This part of the DVD features Jim Reiser presenting water safety lessons directly to the students via the video. There is also an associated lesson plan, homework assignment, lesson review, and a final exam that are all part of the water safety lesson.
It is a two day lesson. Day one is watching the DVD, handing out the simple homework assignment, and reviewing the DVD's safety message. The second day is checking the homework with the students, reviewing the Water Smart 101 Water Safety Promise, and taking the final exam. The second day of the lesson ends with checking the exam with the students and sending the Water Safety Promise and exam home with the students to share with their parents.
The second part of the DVD is intended for swim instructors. It teaches instructors a variety of tips and techniques for teaching the Water Safety 101 message. It can help make teaching the water safety message easier for the instructor, and make it more fun for the student.
I watched the Water Smart 101 DVD and shared it with some others. We agreed that it was easy to understand. It got the safety message across clearly and, maybe more importantly, in a way that should keep elementary school-age students interested in the whole lesson, start to finish. To me, that is the key value to this DVD. It not only presents an important message - water safety - but it does so in a way that gets that message through to the students. Using simple language, song, a kid's book, and the interactive homework assignment, the lesson is presented and reenforced from several different directions. The whole lesson should only take about 60-minutes (30-minutes each day) plus whatever time it takes the student to complete the simple homework assignment.
One hour that could save the lives of many, many students. Certainly a valuable use of time!
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