The Classroom Teacher Role ~ After

Part I: VALIDATE

To truly foster my students' connection and relationship to Hidden Villa, I always dedicate at least the first couple hours of the morning after the field trip to reflection and sharing. Although this sometimes seems challenging with all the other things going on in our classrooms, I have found it a powerful way to validate the importance of my students' learning, feelings and sense of discovery during the field trip. This dedication of time also helps prepare students to use their Hidden Villa experiences in classroom academic learning. If you would like some ideas about how to facilitate this activity with your students, click on "First Morning" in the navigation side bar.

Another component of validating my students' experiences is a homework assignment on the night of the field trip. I instruct my students that they need to tell at least two people in their families about the field trip. Students whose families aren't at home at night can call family members or family friends. The following morning we have a class share. Students report on the reaction of their families and friends to the field trip stories.

Part II: INTEGRATE

The lasting impact of this field trip entirely depends on the creativity of the teacher to integrate the hands-on experiences at Hidden Villa with the academic work students need to become proficient with in school. Time and time again I find that integrating my students' Hidden Villa experiences into our standards-based curriculum makes my teaching job easier and more enjoyable. Students are generally excited about their relationship to Hidden Villa and demonstrate heightened motivation to participate in projects relating to Hidden Villa. This means that as a teacher I can focus more on teaching academic skills than on maintaining student interest. The hands-on quality of the Hidden Villa field trip provides a concrete reference point from which students can expand into understanding of broader concepts. Because we all participate in the field trip together, we can use our shared experiences and collective knowledge to support each other in the academic learning during integrated projects. This heightens the effectiveness of the student collaboration and my own teaching.