Using the Community as a Resource
Alysha Logan - November 7th 2012
Chapter 15 in the textbooks covers the important topic of field trips in an
elementary student's educational experience, their benefits and purposes. The
chapter is a useful resource for checklists relating to things to do before,
during and after a trip as well as ideas pertaining to individual types of
trips.
A key idea to be taken away from this chapter though would be the unparalleled learning opportunity that these trips provide and how they provide a vastly different experience than can be offered in daily classroom learning. Reading about these trips reminds me of many amazing outings I had the privilege of participating in during my own elementary school days as well as one I was able to go on a couple of years ago. At the end of my third year I was placed in a grade 6 classroom that was focusing on the Native American culture as part of their social studies unit. Although it had been
planned in the months before I arrived at the school, I was able to attend a full day excursion to a real life Native American village reconstructed just outside of London. We piled onto a bus and drove over an hour to a vast outdoor park with real traditionally-constructed long houses furnished and set up as history teaches us they once were. The students were taken on a tour of the site, allowed to explore the houses, given a short lesson on the hunting and gathering practices of the peoples with examples of the kind of furs they gathered, pots and pans they made as well as the weapons and technology they possessed. The children were then also provided with traditonal materials like clay, sticks, grass etc. to create whatever the choose. The students were able to have hands on experience of this life style and gave personal meaning to the facts they had already learned in the unit. I heard many children exclaim excitedly as they recognized an aspect that they had learned about in a book that was now given meaning by seeing it before them. As this was my first field trip experience from a teacher’s perspective I was able to see the true value of the learning as well as the excitement and joy that went along with it.
Although it took place before my time at the school, the amount of planning my associate teacher had put forth to make the trip a success was evident at all points of the trip. Permission was given, funds were paid, volunteers were recruited, busses were booked, the outing was organized and timed and paid for in advance, and even the principal was on board and came in to school early to assist with the smooth exiting of the school. I did not have to be there to know the classroom teacher put a lot of time and effort into this day and at the end it was extremely clear it had all been worth of it. The children talked about the trip for weeks afterwards and snowballing from this the teacher printed pictures and many connections were made back to the trip in future lessons. The trip had given them a concrete experience for with to draw future learning on and in my opinion was an invaluable experience. From this I learned the importance of these trips as well as the amount of effort required to make them a success. I believe this is the kind of thing that separates mediocre teachers from excellent teachers and that we should all strive to give our students the best possible learning experiences possible, and we can do this with the help of field trips.
elementary student's educational experience, their benefits and purposes. The
chapter is a useful resource for checklists relating to things to do before,
during and after a trip as well as ideas pertaining to individual types of
trips.
A key idea to be taken away from this chapter though would be the unparalleled learning opportunity that these trips provide and how they provide a vastly different experience than can be offered in daily classroom learning. Reading about these trips reminds me of many amazing outings I had the privilege of participating in during my own elementary school days as well as one I was able to go on a couple of years ago. At the end of my third year I was placed in a grade 6 classroom that was focusing on the Native American culture as part of their social studies unit. Although it had been
planned in the months before I arrived at the school, I was able to attend a full day excursion to a real life Native American village reconstructed just outside of London. We piled onto a bus and drove over an hour to a vast outdoor park with real traditionally-constructed long houses furnished and set up as history teaches us they once were. The students were taken on a tour of the site, allowed to explore the houses, given a short lesson on the hunting and gathering practices of the peoples with examples of the kind of furs they gathered, pots and pans they made as well as the weapons and technology they possessed. The children were then also provided with traditonal materials like clay, sticks, grass etc. to create whatever the choose. The students were able to have hands on experience of this life style and gave personal meaning to the facts they had already learned in the unit. I heard many children exclaim excitedly as they recognized an aspect that they had learned about in a book that was now given meaning by seeing it before them. As this was my first field trip experience from a teacher’s perspective I was able to see the true value of the learning as well as the excitement and joy that went along with it.
Although it took place before my time at the school, the amount of planning my associate teacher had put forth to make the trip a success was evident at all points of the trip. Permission was given, funds were paid, volunteers were recruited, busses were booked, the outing was organized and timed and paid for in advance, and even the principal was on board and came in to school early to assist with the smooth exiting of the school. I did not have to be there to know the classroom teacher put a lot of time and effort into this day and at the end it was extremely clear it had all been worth of it. The children talked about the trip for weeks afterwards and snowballing from this the teacher printed pictures and many connections were made back to the trip in future lessons. The trip had given them a concrete experience for with to draw future learning on and in my opinion was an invaluable experience. From this I learned the importance of these trips as well as the amount of effort required to make them a success. I believe this is the kind of thing that separates mediocre teachers from excellent teachers and that we should all strive to give our students the best possible learning experiences possible, and we can do this with the help of field trips.