Step 2: Teaching with Field Trips

A Try, Teach, Tour Mindset

Field trips can be wonderful ways to teach kids in a fun, engaging environment.  Most of the time teachers "inherit" field trips from their predecessors which is extremely helpful since it frees you to focus on developing your teaching style.  However, in the last few years there have been many changes such as common core standards and next generation science standards.  Perhaps it's time for you to locate new exciting places to take your class.  If so, keep reading because this is the second step in my series about Teaching with Field Trips.   The four steps are:

1.  Brainstorm with a Partner-Plunge
2.  Research with a Try-Teach-Tour Mindset
3.  Evaluate Cost vs. Compensation
4.  Teach Kids to Explore & Explain

The second step is probably the most exciting part of the process.  You already took the plunge and created a list of possible field trips.  Now, you get to go out there and experience them.  As with the first step don't get hung up on the cost, we'll go into that in step 3.  Who you take with you depends upon how you want to experience the trip.  One trip was with my husband and our dog to a local beach.  Another was with a group of teacher friends, not necessarily from the same grade level or school site.  And yet another was with a friend and her son.  You could even go solo if that's what works best for you.  My only recommendation is to be with people who understand that you are looking at the educational value of that location. 

Use Guiding Questions:

 Guiding questions will help you determine if this particular location is a potential trip for your class.  In my opinion the most important questions are:  How does this fit into my curriculum? and Is this age-appropriate?  A field trip that is all fun and fluff is very entertaining but would the students learn something from their excursion?  If not, you might consider recommending families to go to the location for a fun outing rather than using precious resources on bus costs, etc.

One of the trips I explored was a location that I had been to multiple times in my life--Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz, CA.  The state beach that I visited was even the location I had been to as a child, a young adult, and a parent but...I had never been there in my teacher role which made it a totally different experience.  I started off by stopping at the ranger's station and gift store asking specific questions about field trips.  I had already completed a pre-trip research on their website but I was thinking of adding a beach clean-up.  I learned that the rangers are very accommodating in adding a service component to a class visit.  I also learned some interesting predator-prey information about the wildlife in the park.  After visiting the ranger, I went off to see EVERYTHING--the trails, the beach, the rock formations, the tide pools. 

I left that day full of inspiration on how this beach fits into curriculum and what I could teach either before or after the trip which I arranged into a lesson about mud stone, butterflies, and tide pools which you can find here...

On the flip side, a second trip to a national park was a beautiful day out with friends that did not spark my teacher interest.  I enjoyed the trip tremendously  it just wasn't a location that fit into my curriculum or standards as well as I thought when brainstorming.  In hindsight it's better that I researched prior to taking a class.  This location will become a recommendation of a place that parents can bring their children during vacations.  That's the value in using a Try-Teach-Tour mindset--you get to visit and experience locations to see if they fit into your classroom goals.  After going on several trips you can then put all your gathered information together to narrow down to a location by determining the value of taking a class.  That's what we'll explore in Step 3:  Teaching with Field Trips.

Step1: Teaching with Field Trips

Take the Partner-Plunge!

My previous post talked about the four steps to Teaching with Field Trips.  You can read the first post for some background on how I believe this creates authentic learning environments.  Briefly the four steps are:

1.  Brainstorm with a Partner-Plunge.

2.  Research with a Try-Teach-Tour Mindset.

3.  Evaluate Cost vs. Compensation.

4.  Teach Kids to Explore & Explain.

The first step is usually the hardest one to take.  Once you take the plunge it becomes easier to travel to the end of your destination.  What makes this so difficult?  Well, teachers have challenging, time consuming jobs often taking their work home with them in the evenings and on holidays.  Finding time to evaluate field trips can often become the path not followed.  Let's explore how we can take that plunge!

Where can you start to find a partner? Many schools have regularly scheduled Grade Level Meetings.  Sometimes administration will give you a topic to work on but there are often times that the teachers can work on a topic of their choice. This is a perfect time to ponder with your partners!  Start asking questions about the field trips.  Toss out cost (which is ALWAYS a big concern) and have a dream session.  Explore what's in your area that meets standards for your grade.  If you don't know then text, email, or call others during the meeting.  If you save this networking for later it will often not get done.  Be creative in who you contact.  Student's parents often know many different places that they have either taken their children during holidays.  Teachers who are parents may have ideas from their own child's school.  The key here is that it's not just one partner but many, such as grade level teams, other teachers, students parents, or friends, who can help you build a bucket list of travel ideas.

Another partner could be a local university that offers credits for teachers for exploring field trip locations.  We teachers are blessed with time off throughout the year that can be used for local excursions.  Additionally, teachers LOVE learning and many teachers choose to visit beaches, parks, and museums. This is definitely a motivator for a teacher to spend time on something they find worthy rather than projects their administrators find worthy.  Most independent study programs for credit often allow the educator to define the starting and ending date for your project.  Also, what teacher couldn't use a few extra credits?  In my area I use University of the Pacific but there are many other universities that you can choose.

So, once you have a brainstorm partners, created a bucket list, and possibly signed up for university credits, do you visit all these locations?  Again, don't think about cost outside what it will cost for you to personally travel.  These trips should be local and not use more than a partial day for travel and visit.  The reason that I keep repeating don't worry about the cost is that you could come up with lesson plan or project ideas.  So, there's more to be gained than simply taking your class to a cool location.  My recommendation would be that you critically review your list and choose 3-4 locations that you are most interested in visiting.

Here's an example:  At my school our principal dedicated one meeting day for all grade level teams to collaborate on field trip ideas.  Although we were all in the same room working in grade level teams.  Once in awhile you might hear one team call out to another across the room, "Hey, is your grade interested in..." or "Where was it that you heard about..."  Our initial list was quite large with ideas that ranged from beach clean-up to museums to obscure local museums that I didn't even know existed such as a Mining museum that will fit nicely with fourth grade earth science and social studies.  This exercise transported my mind into really questioning our current field trips (or lack of) and dedicate time through a university independent study course.   After following up on all my texts, emails, and reviewing my initial notes I had my 3-4 short list:

Trips I would explore:

1. Beach clean-up
2. Local Mining Museum
3. Local CA Mission
4. Museum

To recap, choose more than one partner to question your current field trip practice.  Keep your standards and age ability of students in mind.  Create a dream list of nearby local locations.  Consider taking a university independent study course to earn credits during your travels.  Review your brainstormed list and choose 3-4 places to visit.  Then visit!  We'll explore more on traveling in the next post in the series of "Teaching with Field Trips" with a Try-Teach-Tour Mindset.  Until then...

 Happy Partner-Pondering!

4 Steps to Teach with Field Trips!

There are many different sayings from many different eras of teaching...
Like a walk through the woods they travel from "Curriculum drives instruction" to "Data drives instruction" and everywhere in between.   Even today with Common Core and NGSS standards teachers still hear about, train for, and test for curriculum and data.  What if we took a different approach?  What if instead of using data and curriculum we used authentic learning?

To me, authentic learning takes place when students learn about themselves as they reflect upon how they fit in the world.  To do this we can let field trips along with standards drive our instruction.  If you take this approach you will increase engagement and buy-in with students while creating lifelong memories. And that path leads to the kind of retention of facts children need!

The next few posts will explore the idea of how to brainstorm, research, evaluate, and teach using local field trips as a pathway to creating an authentic learning lab that extends beyond the classroom.  The following four steps can start you on the trail of using field trips to inspire and educate:

1.  Brainstorm with a Partner-Plunge.

2.  Research with a Try-Teach-Tour Mindset.

3.  Evaluate Cost vs Compensation.

4.  Teach Kids to Explore & Explain their Expedition.