Here are a few ideas to help you capitalise on the success of your trip when you return to the classroom.
So, your school trip was a fantastic learning experience for your students. But how can you capitalise on this when you return to the classroom?
Here are a few ideas:
Classroom Diary
Why not get the students to work together to create a diary of their trip. This could be visual – perhaps to go on one of the display boards in your department – or written as a blog for the school website.
Ask them to think about why you went to that particular destination and what they learned there. Get them to write about their favourite activity and challenge them to explain how the school trip helped their learning.
Take this one step further by encouraging your students to submit their article to the local paper – not only will this be great PR for the school, but your students will feel a real sense of pride and achievement to see their article in print!
Media and creativity
It’s likely that your students took lots of pictures and videos of the trip. Why not encourage them to put together a short film or a photo collage of the trip, possibly around a specific theme.
With some forward planning, you could even set this challenge before you travel and discover just how creative your students can be!
And if your school has a blog or social media presence, why not hand it over to the students to report on their trip?
You could even dedicate a board in your department to work inspired by the trip, including any photos, collages, short pieces of writing and anything else your students create!
By encouraging your students to get creative, you’ll not only help them hone their creative skills, but you’ll also help them to think more deeply about their experiences on your school trip.
Plus, it’s a great way to show the whole school community what an inspirational effect your trip has had on the students who went!
Languages
If your trip was a languages trip, an obvious way to continue the learning is to ask your students to prepare a short piece of writing or even a speech about the trip.
But even if your school trip wasn’t languages based, why not liaise with your colleagues in the MFL department to see whether they can use the students’ experience abroad to develop their language skills.
Even just sharing the itinerary with them could mean they can get the students talking about the trip in the target language!
Public speaking
Although it’s something that many of us hate doing, unfortunately most of us have to do a bit of public speaking at one time or another in our lives. But it’s much easier when you’re talking about something you know a lot about or have experienced yourself, right?
Why not get your students to give public speaking a go by inviting them to hold an assembly where they can report on the trip to the rest of the school, and maybe even their parents?
They could put together a slide show and take it in turns to explain where they went, what they did and what they learnt. Not only is this a fantastic exercise for them, but it’s also a great way to drum up support for future trips in the school community!
These are just a few ideas of how to enhance the educational value of your school trip even after you return.
Got any others you’d like to share with fellow teachers and trip leaders? Join the discussion on our Facebook and Twitter.