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Hail to the Chief!… 2013 Presidential Inauguration Trip

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:21:49 +0000

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 biggest educational offers from the U.S. Capitol are the Smithsonian Institution, National Zoo and National Mint. When you add in witnessing a U.S. presidents inauguration ceremony, it makes the remarkable travel experience even more memorable and inspiring.

Inauguration Week will be full of events with Inauguration Day including the public Oath of Office and Inaugural Address on the Capitol’s West Front. The day starts with the swearing in ceremony on the National Mall, continues with the Inaugural Parade along Pennsylvania Avenue, and culminates with numerous evening receptions and balls. The next day a prayer service is held in the National Cathedral.

Visiting our Nation’s Capital during the Presidential Inauguration is one of the most inspiring experiences of a lifetime. Call us today at 1-866-423-8687, or register below to take your students to experience this historic event in 2013.

Musical Performance Trips are a Blast!

admin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:54:47 +0000

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 adds a different element of camaraderie and team-work than will have been experienced by many members. Even directors and chaperones are learning during the event. One additional element of learning includes serving as ambassadors for the community to those that watch groups perform. Tours and trips for performing arts groups are interactive learning environments for all involved.

Does the overall mood and communication of your music group improve after taking a trip?

http://www.leavenworthtimes.com/opinions/local_columnists/x550247365/Pioneer-Pride-Pioneer-band-takes-show-on-the-road

Students are Customers of Education

admin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:40:51 +0000

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 sale is key to fostering positive learning relationships, especially in the toughest of moments. Whether it’s keeping an entire class on task with instruction cleverly disguised as entertainment or dealing with disciplinary matters, employing the best practices of customer service will increase the likelihood of a positive outcome in both situations.

Always be professional and calm and let them vent their feelings, if needed. Express understanding and include them in the process. What educators can learn from the business sector is that keeping services efficient and exciting, along with involving students, will provide for greater success in the classroom. How would your student’s rate your customer service?

http://www.phaseware.com/PhaseWare-Files-blog/bid/40523/Customer-Service-Lessons-from-Teachers

Learning by Experience

admin — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 03:45:10 +0000

“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 process is important in order to allow the student to understand what was learned and apply it in future situations.

Our Take: Various methods of instruction have validity and merit, yet experiential learning can be a welcome addition to the classroom or field trip experience. Do you advocate and foster experiential learning on and off campus?

University of Mass. Lowell News- Julia Gavin

That’s Edutainment!

admin — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 03:07:00 +0000

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. Even the worst video games are teaching skills like memorization, reasoning and coordination. Coupled with a greater focus on cognitive learning, it becomes a powerful educational tool in the Technology Era.

Do you use video games or other forms of edutainment in your assigned curriculum?

Education.com- Edutainment: The positive aspects of video gaming

The ‘Apple’ Still a Favorite of Teachers

admin — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 17:14:12 +0000

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 and that stat won’t turn back around. Some school systems are even moving to e-textbooks to save money. Whether it’s an Apple or a Windows-based system, educators have to continue to keep updated on the rapidly changing technological environment in order to continue the student’s eagerness to learn.

What “tech” tools do you utilize in the classroom to teach and how have they effected your students?

http://warren.patch.com/articles/watchung-hills-teachers-integrating-ipad-technology-into-daily-lessons

Inquiry Method Intrigues Students to Learn More

admin — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:59:34 +0000

“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, as this approach allows the teacher to introduce leading questions to students in a step-based manner, which fosters a hands-on style that student’s enjoy. Yet, this method can be implemented into every classroom. Sure, this isn’t anything you didn’t learn in those Educational Methodology courses but is it something being used in most classrooms? Probably not.

Are you teaching thinkers or test-takers?

http://www.hannibal.net/education/x1872799896/Veterans-science-teacher-awarded

The Follow Up Lesson Plan for the Senior Class Trip

admin — Mon, 30 May 2011 00:02:57 +0000

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 it has ended.

Most students will pay more attention to the trip they are on if they know that there will be follow up questions about it. There are a number of things that they can learn when they put forth the effort, but sometimes you have to give them the reason to even try. Let them know that there are going to be real assignments, with real grades and most of them will make more of a real effort.

There are so many places that a senior trip can go and no limit to what the students can learn while they are there. But, being high school students, out of the classroom situation, they are not going to learn those things if they are not pushed into doing so. If they don’t keep in mind that they are going to have to be held accountable for things that happen outside of the class. They should know that the senior class trip is more than just fun and entertainment, but that it is meant to be a bigger education opportunity.

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

admin — Mon, 23 May 2011 00:01:32 +0000

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 learning trip, it takes a little bit of time outside of the school setting. Sometimes, an educational class trip allows for some creative teaching but better than that, allows for some actual, real world learning.

Not every school district is able to go to international senior class trips. Not every school district can even travel out of their own home state, but occasionally they may be able to go for a school trip to a museum, a play or even to the zoo. It doesn’t matter where the class trip is going, the destination can be fun and educational at the same time with just a little bit of planning. Questions can be asked during the trip and answers can be found along the way. There is no age limit for learning, even in places like the zoo.

The more interesting that the teaching can be, the more interested the students will become! What are your thoughts on this, would love to know. Drop me a line and let me know. Look forward to hearing from you.

The Key to Planning and Funding a Senior Class Trip Correctly

admin — Mon, 16 May 2011 00:01:38 +0000

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 cons.

The effort of getting the money together for these educational, learning experiences that come from outside of the classroom should be taken seriously but should not take time away from the student’s classroom experience.

International class trips are understandably far more expensive than other trips, meaning that the senior class trip funding has to start earlier. In some schools that have ongoing senior trips, the funding might start at the end of the junior year, giving the students the entire summer to work on their fundraising ideas and to make more progress without having to deal with time away from the class.

Some of the funding that is done for these trips might focus on something related to the trip. For instance, an educational, class trip to China could be funded in part by having a Chinese buffet. Local restaurants might even be willing to help out by offering lowered prices or even donating some of the food items for this type of trip.