We are going on a field trip!

As a teacher, field trips are one of the things I get to look forward to, and recently, I have had field trips on the brain. Last Friday, my wonderful husband and I took the eighth graders down to Waco, Texas, to visit the campus of Baylor University and hopefully inspire some young minds to set their sights high. This week I completed a digital storybook (photo album) of the Class 8 trip to Washington DC back in November. And tomorrow, bright and very early, I will depart with the seventh graders on our annual Texas History Trip. While field trips are always fun and an opportunity to get out of the classroom and actually see some important places and things should never passed up, there is a side to field trips that only a teacher can understand. For example,

1. Constantly counting heads to make sure everyone is accounted for. Every group has at least one wanderer that causes much latent stress which goes unnoticed until I return home. It always takes me a little while to get out of the headcount mode.

2. The feeling of herding cats. Admittedly, I am a rather fast walker, but just about every kid I have ever taught is a member of Slow Walkers Anonymous. I am constantly prodding the crew along from one place to the next. It gets very old very fast.

3. Dealing with kids who are "museumed-out." No matter how exciting the content or how excited the kid is, there comes a point on every field trip when the students' brains reach their maximum capacity of absorption. The symptoms of being museumed-out are either total apathy in the form of lethargy or hyperactivity. They either sit down and fall asleep or start playing chase in the museum. Unfortunately, I have seen both.

Attention spans beginning to wane

Literally asleep in the Natural History Museum, Washington DC

4. The gift shop. For many children, all learning is lost as soon as they spot the gift shop. Good teachers set strict time limits on gift shops and will not allow their students to enter these commercial establishments without first seeing at least 85%-90% of the museum. By the end of a field trip, I am gift-shopped-out and become nauseous at the sight of overpriced souvenirs, and my students are museumed-out and grow faint at the thought of another artifact or piece of artwork.

On the up side, I am looking forward to this field trip. It is always a fun one. And the kids are really looking forward to it which always helps. One boy said today, "I have been looking forward to this since I was like in the fourth grade!" I desperately hope it lives up to his expectations. I know that I will come back with lots of funny stories and great pictures.