The act of organizing a field trip must be done with careful consideration and knowledge for the trip to be successful. Teachers must consider many factors, including the involvement of administration, parents, and students, but the most important factor is the safety of the children. Many things can go wrong when an excursion is not organized. I have known teachers who have experienced total chaos due to weak organizational plans. Students were everywhere, resulting in multiple disciplinary actions for both students and teachers.
A good start to organizing an excursion begins with these tools
- Field trip request receipt
- Letters
- Money
The process
You must first inform the school administration about the trip by completing a field trip request form. Make sure the trip is announced well in advance, possibly two to three months in advance, if possible. Each grade level is allowed only a set number of field trips per year, with set deadlines. Therefore, to avoid colliding with other grades, it is advisable to enter the travel request for your class as soon as possible.
Once you receive approval from the administration, prepare letters to send to the parents of your students. The letter should include the date, time and cost of the trip. In addition, a deadline must be set for the return of the letter. At the end of the letter, parents should have the option of allowing or not allowing their child to attend the trip. Parents who do not allow their child to attend the field trip should be informed of the next step, whether or not they include keeping the child home or sending them to school to participate in a different classroom.
Inform students of the field trip and distribute the letters. Remind them to keep their parents abreast of deadlines. Parents can be very busy dealing with a number of responsibilities, so things like field trips and other school events are completely forgotten about. Students should remind their parents of the cost of the field trip. Parents may need time to save money. The more time you give parents to contribute money, the more likely all students will be able to attend the trip. The participation of the entire class should be the desire of all teachers.
Collect the money for the trip as soon as you start arriving. Typically, students will start bringing in money long before the due date. To avoid confusion, record the names of those who paid to keep track of the money. This way, you will have an idea of the number of students that still have to pay. Keeping up with who paid and who won’t pay will prevent would-be dishonest students from claiming they paid, when in fact they didn’t.
Once all the money for the field trip has been collected, teachers should remind the event administration office. This should happen two days before the trip. Normally, it is up to the administration to ensure that the transport is prepared and ready to go. Delays and setbacks occur when an appointment on a field trip takes management by surprise, sometimes resulting in the event being canceled. But canceling field trips could end up being more of a headache than preparing for a trip. Students are disappointed and parents are uncomfortable due to lack of organization on the part of the teacher.
Advice
Field trips give students the opportunity to become teachers of a project or topic by receiving first-hand observation or hands-on participation. For example, field trips may consist of sampling the environment, visiting a local power station, nature resort, local museums or zoos, or developing a statistical report on the popular tourist attraction within the city. Additionally, many students are required to write and submit the report, detailing the field trip experiences.
Warning
If you have students who are disciplinary threats, consider taking one or two chaperones with you to avoid an academic disaster. Trying to handle students with serious disciplinary problems yourself can turn into a nightmare.