Travel With Students: A Principal's Grade-by-Grade Plan — Episode 959

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Travel with students changes what a school leader sees. Karen Spencer, principal of Parkview Baptist School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, treats travel as part of her school’s mission rather than an add-on — a sixth grade overnight, a seventh grade STEM and history trip to Boston, Washington D.C. in eighth grade, and international travel in high school. In this conversation she walks through how the Boston trip started, what it costs a principal in effort, and what she gets back that nothing inside the building can give her.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • How a single teacher’s push to “bring more STEM to the school” became an annual seventh grade trip to Boston
  • Why the trip grew from STEM-only into STEM, history and fun — MIT, Harvard, robotics, the Freedom Trail, Lexington and Concord
  • What a grade-by-grade travel ladder looks like when each grade builds on the last
  • What hands-on learning looks like abroad — cooking classes, flamenco lessons, hiking and biking
  • Karen’s honest answer to administrators who ask why she’d take on the headache, and the mindset she says you have to bring

Full show notes, resources and the complete transcript: https://www.coolcatteacher.com/e959 

Sponsor. Today’s show is sponsored by EF Explore America and their STEM Tours. Lead your students on a STEM tour to places on the cutting edge of innovation to show them how STEM thinking often shows up where you least expect it. Imagine your students coding robots with MassRobotics at MIT, exploring marine ecosystems in Florida’s coral reefs, or even sitting down to talk with a former spy in Washington DC. If you want to inspire your students and give them a fresh perspective on the power of STEM, visit efexploreamerica.com/STEM.

If this episode gave you something useful, share it with a teacher or administrator who’s been thinking about taking students somewhere.


Check out this episode!

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