RE_5539

wow, you take 18 field trips. that is wonderful! how fantastic that must be for all children...putting everyone as you said on the same playing field. you are able to expose your children to so much more than other schools. how are all these trips paid for? does the school pay for them or do the parents pay?

at my school we are only allowed two trips plus the lexington charity league play. last year my collegue and i wanted to take our children some place else besides the "park". they have all played on playground materials. some teachers still like to park trip because all you realy have to do is sit, do nothing and watch the children on the playground material. my question to the eight members of my grade-level was..."what are we teaching our children by taking them to play at a park?" my collegue and i wanted to go to the zoo. our curriculum is full of differences between animals and plants. many of our working class children would never get to go outside of our county...what an experience. though last year only a few of us went, this year all of kindergarten had the opportunity to experience the wonders of the zoo animals. one of our collegues said that it was a horrible trip...having to keep up with 22 children at a zoo. she said that her children learned nothing...and that she would not be going again! i still cant believe that she would choose the park over the zoo. i believe that we have to expose different classes within our rooms to as much of this world as possible. it seems as if your school is doing that very thing for your students. where are your trips to? how are they funded?
thank you for sharing.
donna byrd-wyatt

Beth,

I agree with you, I think the study with the two families is interesting, and I think it is important to understand a child to better teach him or her. The biggest problem I had with the reading is I felt she was using the information to say that all working class families behave in this manner or behavior reflects working class values.

Your school sounds wonderful. Where do you teach? I have always been an advocate for fieldtrips and hands on learning. Where does your school get the funding for all of the field trips? I can definitely see how children would enjoy going to school more when they can relate what they are learning to something they can experience out of the classroom. I wish more schools would follow this lead.

Laura Wollpert

The students fund the trips on their own, but we have full scholarships available for any child that requests. Parents do not have to explain, they just submit a letter and the PTA funds the field trip fully. We attend museums, Haw River Program (water samples, nature trails, etc.), Plays, gardening, zoos, bird sanctuary, the beach, and many more. It is a wonderful program. Most of the trips involve science education.

Beth Rigsbee

Beth,
I like how you describe the shifts in discourse that occur when you are out of the classroom. It is important, as you say, for students to have a wide range of experiences and cultural practices to shape their identity.
Alecia

Beth,

Wow! That is wonderful that you have the opportunity to go on 18 field trips. I believe so much learning can go on during trips.

It also saddens me about the preschooler's language and opinions. I believe we do have a responsibility to respond to negative discourse. If we don't, won't this behavior continue? I believe children need consequences for their actions.

Beth, this book is more difficult to read than the other. It was not until about how way through the second chapter that I started to gain more clarity. I agree that standards schools set are sometimes unrealistic to students' needs. This can explain how certain students act or react to situations in school.
It is great that you all are able to go on so many field trips. You are right when you say that the trips help children learn how to communicate with each other and the environment. Many kids do not have those experiences anymore and that need every chance they can get to go out and learn in another context.

Beth, I think you touched on a very important topic. The idea of setting goals/standards for our students is one that intrigues me. There is definitely a fine balance you must have for this. I firmly believe that if you set high standards, your students will work to achieve them. However, if you set goals that are too high, not even closely attainable, you will find your students just giving up before they even try. What makes this even more complicated is that every student is going to be different in how intrinsically motivated they are and what types of goals they are able to meet. ~Allison Reese

Beth,

You raise a good point that we as teachers don't know what students are doing at home before they enter our classroom. If we did, I believe we could more effectively teach them since it would help us to understand why they react the way they do.

I think it is wonderful that your school goes on so many field trips. I agree with you that such trips have a hugh impact on what we learn. It is what we experience and do that helps us to connect to learning. One of the teachers at school told me that she told her students they were going on a mini-field trip. She took them outside and had them roll down the hill in front of our school. Then she brought them in and told them to write about the experience. She said it was some of the best writing they had done for her. The students in her room had the opportunity to experience what it was like to roll down a hill so they could write about it. I am pretty certain that if she would have had the students write about going down a hill with out letting them experience it, she would not have gotten quality writing from the them.

Linda Younts

Beth,
I would love to teach at your school, b/c i get what you're saying about equal opportunity for all students. Question though....does your school have all classes, gender, races, etc...or is it made up of one particular group? My 4th grade class went to Wilmington this year. I had some students who had never seen the ocean before, had never felt the sand between their toes, but i had some that had houses at the beach, and some who had stayed for weeks at a time before. This really opened my eyes. I tried to watch those kids who had never been to the beach before once we got there, and they just sparkled with enthusiasm and wonder. I wish that we could bottle that experience up and send it to our county offices and say..."See, field trips are worth it."

I guess my point is, school is a place where everyone should be on an equal playing field. They don't come to us that way, but it's important that we show them that there are opportunities for everyone out there. Even though this has been a hard book to read, Mrs. Hicks has the right idea. Children come from all walks of life, therefore, they learn differently, and teachers should work to get to know each child on a personal level....so the child can succeed.