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HEALTH CLASS, MINUS THE EYE ROLL

Teaching First Aid in Middle & High School: How to Make It Fun, Memorable and Life-Saving

Let me make a bold assumption. Health teachers, no matter where you are or who you teach, are known by your students for one thing… sex ed. Just kidding (mostly!) Health teachers are known as life savers.


When I was in 10th grade, Mrs. Sells was my health teacher and softball coach. When a fast pitch nearly took me out, she checked me for a concussion and treated me for shock before I was sent to the doctor. To all of you truly amazing Health and P.E. teachers, thank you for the important work you do for our students, saving lives and teaching them how to do the same. Today, I’m talking about first aid.


First aid is essential. It has to be taught, and it has to be taught correctly. The American Red Cross guidelines are clear, accurate, and life-saving, but let’s be honest… they aren’t exactly riveting. LifeFluent transforms those guidelines into something interactive, dramatic, and unforgettable. And I’ll shout it from the rooftops because I believe this matters. I believe this saves lives. Let me walk you through what we’ve built.


Day 1: Emergency Response Basics


The best way to prepare for emergencies is to practice them in safe, low-stakes simulations. I like to start by throwing students RIGHT IN, no prep, so they get a sense of what it might feel like if an emergency happened during their everyday life. I pull aside one student to act as a “plant,” pretending to be unconscious. Next to them is a set of cards students must sort in the correct order of what to do first. Only once they get it right do we role-play the scenario. (This way, they make their mistakes with the cards, not during the reenactment, we don’t want them practicing and remembering the wrong order!)


It’s a great way for students to step directly into the scene of an emergency, acting out rescues with their classmates. Bonus: there’s always laughter when they walk into the classroom and hear the dramatic music.


The rest of the day’s lesson focuses on the first, most important steps outlined in the American Red Cross guidelines. Students learn how to recognize what’s safe to approach versus what’s unsafe in different situations. For this part, I like to get students up and moving to different sides of the classroom.


Example Slides
Example Slides

Another huge piece, often left out of first aid lessons, is the bystander effect and how it can hinder real-life emergencies. I use this video (I KNOW IT’S OLD, but kids actually like “vintage” these days, so it works). After this I ask students, What could you do to break the “everyone’s just watching” cycle?


If you’d like to use the exact lesson I teach, you can grab it here! It has editable google slides, follow along worksheets, activity cards as well as a full lesson plan for you.



Students remember about 75% of what they practice by doing, compared to just 5% from a lecture. -National Training Laboratories

Day 2: CPR & AED


When it comes to CPR and AED, I know what you’re thinking- standards, PowerPoints, and worksheets. (Don’t worry, those are all included and aligned with NHES.) But the real stuff happens when you get students on their feet and actually practicing.


Here’s how I like to run it: I start by giving students a real-life scenario they can picture. “Your mom says she’s not feeling well and suddenly collapses in a chair at the mall.”  Right away, I pull three volunteers to jump in and practice CPR and AED. The point is to get them responding instinctively, not just memorizing steps. (this is where a CPR dummy becomes useful.)


We also try something practical that applies to their everyday environment: “Where’s the AED in our school?” Most students have never even noticed it, so this activity gets them familiar with its location and breaks down the hesitation they might feel in an emergency.


To build muscle memory, we practice chest compressions to the beat of “Uptown Funk.” It’s upbeat, it’s silly, and students remember it. (The science backs this up. Music at the right tempo helps students keep compressions at the proper speed, even under stress.)

This hands-on, roleplay-heavy approach means students aren’t just learning about CPR, they’re doing it. And that practice is what gives them confidence if the real moment ever comes.


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Day 3: First Aid Simulation Activity


Just because first aid is serious doesn’t mean the lesson has to be dry. In fact, if you want students to remember what to do in a crisis, you’ve got to keep them engaged. Teens have short attention spans, and we all know passive note-taking disappears from their brains by the next day.


That’s why I like to run a game I call The Survival Simulation. Here’s how it works: students are put into small groups and given a series of emergency scenarios. Their job? Decide how to handle the situation. Every correct move earns them points, and every mistake costs them. At the end, we see which team “survived” with the highest accuracy score.


It’s basically Oregon Trail on paper…minus the dysentery. And it works because students aren’t just told what to do- they’re competing, debating, and laughing their way through the material. The teamwork and communication that come out of it are just as valuable as the first aid knowledge itself.


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The best part? They'll remember it. Days later, you’ll still catch arguments about whether you’re supposed to treat the burn before or after calling 911. That’s when you know the lesson stuck.



Day 4: First Aid Peer Teaching


To be real: the American Red Cross guidelines are the backbone of this unit. The Red Cross is clear, evidence-based, and standardized across the country. Every first aid course starts there for a reason: reliability.


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But I take it one step further. The guidelines give us the what and the how, but I want students to connect to the why. That’s where peer teaching comes in. Instead of me standing at the front of the room, I hand the mic (sometimes literally!) to the students.


I assign small groups a specific first aid skill (broken bones, heat exhaustion, stings, etc.) and challenge them to teach it to the class in a creative way. The only rule? They have to use accurate Red Cross steps. Beyond that, they have total freedom. Skits, raps, interviews, slam poetry, game shows-you name it!


What happens next is my favorite part. Students put their energy into making something hilarious, dramatic, or over-the-top creative, and in the process, they’re repeating the steps over and over. They’re teaching each other, correcting mistakes, and learning as they go.


Want to see this in action?



Day 5: First Aid Exam


When it comes to assessment, I keep it simple: if students practiced it in class, it shows up on the test. Nothing extra, nothing tricky, no “gotcha” questions. Every item on the pre- and post-test is pulled directly from the unit, so students walk in knowing exactly what to expect.


The exam itself has a mix of formats. There’s a practical portion (yes, this is when the CPR dummy makes its comeback), multiple choice, short answer, true/false, and even a self-rating scale where students reflect on their own confidence levels. I’ve found that balance keeps the test both fair and meaningful.


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On the teacher side, the assessments are standards-aligned, paper-free, and auto-graded.


Here’s what I’ve noticed: stronger recall, higher participation, and yes, better grades. The test doesn’t feel like a punishment, it feels like the natural extension of what they’ve been practicing all along. Students leave not just informed, but confident.



Get the FULL First Aid Unit

If you want to get your hands on the full first aid unit and skip planning all together, just click the picture below and it will take you to TPT where all the info is there. Wishing you luck on your first aid unit!!



first aid in school, teach first aid

The entire unit (plus at home POTA interview) is bundled here, you need this!



Teach On,

Katie


 
 
 

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