Hail to the Chief!… 2013 Presidential Inauguration Trip

Posted on January 26, 2012 by admin
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Will it  be Obama's re-election, or with the republican nominee take it???  It's too early to know who the honoree will be, but it will certainly be a special day in Washington, D.C on January 21, 2013.  One thing that it is not to early to do is book your class trip to experience the historic event. Any trip to D.C. is saturated with choices for arts, culture and education.  Many national monuments dot the city's landscape including the Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Washington Monument and many more.  Some of the

Musical Performance Trips are a Blast!

Posted on January 20, 2012 by admin
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Blares, blasts and blats are heard when marching bands warm up their horns but it all comes together in harmonious perfection when the performance in underway.  Some of the best schools trips for students are those taken by performing arts groups.  Choirs, bands and orchestras travel the nation far and wide spreading the sounds of their hard work each year. Every aspect of the trip will teach participants new things about themselves and the world outside of their home area.  Travel always expands one's experiences and doing so as a group

Students are Customers of Education

Posted on January 20, 2012 by admin
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Even though some educators dislike comparing schools to a business, the correlations are simply too similar to brush aside as we look at improving our instructional methods.  In today's schools, teachers are taking on more of the service agent role while students naturally assume the role of customers and feel they should be treated as such.  It is a fine line to walk in relation to strengthening the instructor/pupil relationship without sabotaging it. What is becoming clearer is that engaging students with the same mentality a successful businessperson would for a

Learning by Experience

Posted on December 9, 2011 by admin
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"Tell me and I will forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I will understand." - Confucius Experiential Learning has been around for thousands of years and remains a highly effective method of instruction that engages the learner on a more personal level than some rote or lecture-based methods.  This system allows each student to adjust the experience based on their individual learning styles and needs.  However, to gain the fullest knowledge from the situation, the students must be willing to engage in self-involvement and self-evaluation.  The entire

That’s Edutainment!

Posted on December 9, 2011 by admin
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It is common for today's high school students to be busy with numerous extracurricular activities, friends, family and jobs.  That doesn't leave a great deal of time for students to focus on studying, especially with all of the technology offerings that students gravitate toward during personal time.  Yet, it is technology that continues to be the most innovate part of modern education. It seems like common sense to combine the two and it's been happening for years.  A term coined by Disney, Edutainment is the combination of entertainment and instructional training. 

The ‘Apple’ Still a Favorite of Teachers

Posted on November 10, 2011 by admin
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Apples remain to be a trendy gift for our educators, but we're talking technology not the fruit. Apple computers have been in classrooms since the 1980's and seem there to stay. Most recently, the iPad boom has kept the brand on the cutting edge of technology and thus, tech in the classroom. While some remember playing Oregon Trail on Apple IIe's during Study Hall, today's students work in iMac labs, have laptops in the classroom and now iPads. In 2010, electronic books outsold printed books for the first time in history

Inquiry Method Intrigues Students to Learn More

Posted on November 10, 2011 by admin
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"There's no time and state/national/local/school-wide testing is soon!" Every teacher feels the need to hit the ground running each school year in preparation for the tests that will 'indicate' the level of 'success' of their personal teaching methods and student's learning capabilities. It's becomes a rat race for sure. Yet, some newer teachers, like Sara Foster, 2011 Outstanding New Science Teacher in Missouri, who still feels the passion to intrigue students into gaining a thirst for knowledge by teaching via discovery. The Science curriculum lends itself well to Inquiry-based learning,

The Follow Up Lesson Plan for the Senior Class Trip

Posted on May 30, 2011 by admin
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Unlike Spring Break, the senior class trip is meant to be an educational experience that takes the learning outside of the classroom setting. To make sure that the students do not make it just another chance to be rowdy in a new city or even in a new country it is important to establish the rules for acceptable behavior before the trip is even started and to remind the students that there were will be assignments about the trip when

Is a Trip to the Zoo Really Part of Creative Learning or Just Another Field Trip?

Posted on May 23, 2011 by admin
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When a teacher creates a lesson plan, they have to make sure that they hit all aspects of the state required curriculum. Everything that they do has to be educational and many of them are doing all of that on less and less funding. But, in the course of any given school year, there has to be some additional motivation or the students stop listening and once they stop listening, they stop learning. Sometimes, to get the attention of the students and get them back on the

The Key to Planning and Funding a Senior Class Trip Correctly

Posted on May 16, 2011 by admin
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For many schools, the senior class trip is a time honored tradition, but unfortunately, the economy does not really seem to care about such traditions any more. Funding for a senior class trip, no matter whether it is a bus trip to Washington DC or it is an international trip to China or anywhere else, it is vital that the funding process be planned as early as possible and that all possible funding sources be weighed for their pros and