Friday, August 17, 2007

Educational Student Tour Forum: Ask the Tour Marm


Planning a student tour and need advice or suggestions on venues or educational content?
I'll be glad to answer your questions!

2 comments:

Dr Pezz said...

No questions, but I did want to say how envious I am of your ability to visit so many historical sites. While Washington State has our own, I do not teach any courses with Washington State History as a focus. I do, however, teach many of the founding documents and writings of authors living on the East Coast during the Colonial and Revolutionary periods in addition to the major authors of the 1800s. I would love to take my students!

The Tour Marm said...

It's always possible to design a literary tour of the East Coast.

You need to remember that the three middle schools in your area have a sightseeing trip to Washington and Williamsburg etc. in eighth grade and the parents might be unwilling to pay for another DC-based trip = even if it is curriculum-based. (And the students would rather see Boston and New York City anyway.)

One of my middle schools is doing alternative trips since the feeder schools in 5th and 6th grade go to DC etc. The will be having a literary tour of New England, centered in Boston. It will be coupled with a couple of informal visits to university campuses.

Last year they did an entire trip from Niagara Falls down to NYC, totally, curriculum-based.

With a high school class, one can also include visits to magazine publishers, newspapers, literary societies i.e. PEN and have access to the libraries.

This is something you and your wife should certainly consider for spring break or even after school lets out. But please be aware of the laws regarding stipends etc. and caveats concerning the student tour companies.