Field Trip

The term “field trip” has been known for decades in many sectors and it is a common
term used in worldwide schools. It seems that a field trip is a favorite part of both
teachers and students who are keen on learning and discovering.
A field trip or excursion is a journey taken by a group of people to a place away from
their usual environment. In education, field trips are defined as visits to an outside area
of the normal classroom and made by a teacher and students for purposes of firsthand
observation. A field trip can be expressed in many terminologies. People call
educational trips or school tours in the UK and New Zealand, and school tours in the
Philippines. Field trips are a popular method carried out for students to introduce to the
concepts, experiences, and ideas that cannot be given in a classroom environment.
School tours can be considered as short-term learning activities providing students the
opportunity to observe their chosen subject outside of a classroom setting. Exploring
other cultures and customs, getting to the motherland of languages, uncovering pristine
nature and experiencing fascinating local life are striking demonstrations of educational
school trips
Types of Field Trips
Those listed field trip ideas that help to clear field trip meaning. Efficient educational
tours can spark students’ imagination, give them valuable experiences and refresh their
minds after days with pencils and papers. A school tour can be themed with one type of
field trip or combined by various school trip ideas.
Sightseeing Field Trip
Students are definitely eager the most to sightseeing school trips enchanting them by a
myriad of appealing attractions in their wish destination. Admire well-known attractions,
explore historic structures, discover World Heritage Sites, unwind on spectacular
landscapes and freshen in front of scenic vista are incredible activities that gain huge
interests from students and strongly inspire them.
Language and Culture Educational Field Trip
For students learning foreign languages, field trips are very important and helpful to
improve the language and explore the alluring indigenous culture. Join immersive
activities, stay at a local homestay, take language lessons and visit local markets
enable students to practice the language, get a deeper understanding of local culture
and their captivating paces of life.
Gardening and Farming Field Trip
This might be an interesting activity attracts lots of students’ attention thanks to its
strangeness to their usual life. Discover specialty farms that grow the normal crop and
even irregular crops will surprise curious students. Learn how vegetables are produced,
explore and give a try to do traditional farming techniques of local people leaves
memorable experiences for students.
Manufacturing Facility Field Trip
Students can be guided to any factory where equipment, cars, tools, packaging or any
other things are made. The mechanized facilities and assembly lines are interesting for
students to learn about the production process, how raw materials are utilized and how
workers use them to make the final product.
Eco-adventure Field Trip
Discover the natural world is a highly important perspective in the educational sector.
Students can be entertained and refreshed by trekking through untouched natural
beauties to inspect local plant life and wildlife animals. This opportunity also adds to
local historical factors such as early life remnants.
Business Educational Tour
Take business study trips, your students will be delighted by bustling financial and
business centers. Business study trips help process business theories in the classroom
into life as students explore great commercial organizations. Business field trip gives
students the chance to immerse in stimulating and dynamic environments. Visit a range
of famed organizations and large corporations will perfect business school trips.
Home Visits
Teachers often find themselves wondering why their efforts at organizing opportunities
for parents to become more involved in classroom activities do not pan out. They send
written reminders home with their students, make phone calls, email, and text. When
their repeated attempts to communicate with parents are left unanswered, many
teachers become discouraged and begin making negative assumptions about parents’
involvement.
Home visits can establish positive contact and communication with families. They are
not a replacement for parent-teacher conferences, but are a process through which
teachers demonstrate their support for students’ families by visiting the home
environment or an alternative location where the family feels at home and comfortable.
Home visits should originate from a sincere desire to assist and work with families.
Home visits promote proactive interactions through which teachers provide authentic
support while recognizing families’ strengths.

For teachers interested in conducting home visits, here is some guidance for getting
stated.

DO YOUR RESEARCH
Teachers may be reticent to implement home visits because of the time commitment
and effort involved. There are many testimonials from teachers and families about
successful home visits, but without systemic school and district support, a teacher’s
ability to carve out time during the school day to conduct home visits is limited.
For those who are determined, being well-informed about the benefits and rewards as
well as the challenges of home visits is important. Once teachers commit to making
home visits, they can take steps to research, plan for, implement, and document the
process.
KNOW YOUR FAMILIES
One consideration is learning about students’ families, their communities and
neighborhoods, languages and/or cultural differences, and work schedules. Being
culturally responsive when conducting home visits communicates respect while
demonstrating genuine interest in families’ rich heritages.
Investigating how others have conducted home visits is important if you want to create a
process that is doable, realistic, and beneficial to students and their families.
PLAN STRATEGICALLY
Teachers who regularly conduct home visits advise establishing contact with parents
before the school year begins. Some home visit models emphasize the benefits of
teachers pairing up, traveling together to students’ homes, and introducing themselves
to parents during the summer. The first visit should focus on building a relationship,
extending support, and actively listening to parents’ concerns and insights. For
transparency and safety, the home visit schedule (including location, time, and date)
should be provided to school staff.
BE FLEXIBLE
Parents may not always feel comfortable meeting in the home. Alternative locations
such as a local library, a quiet café, or even a fast-food restaurant may be appropriate
venues for family-centered visits. Being flexible may also mean meeting on weekends,
before schools begins, or at the end of the school day. Home visits planned in advance
allow teachers to pair up strategically to coordinate visits when they have students who
are siblings or who live in the same neighborhood.
FOCUS ON STRENGTHS
A teacher who enters the home with a nonjudgmental attitude views the home through
the eyes of the family living there and sees the family’s strengths. A culturally
responsive approach and appropriate, equity-minded language convey trust and
respect. And if the teacher has concerns about the student, they can use the sandwich
feedback technique to voice concerns sandwiched between strengths-based praise that
is concrete and genuine.
CREATE AN ACTION PLAN
Actively listening to parents’ insights, concerns, and ideas for their child demonstrates
authentic interest and respect. On a first home visit, teachers should not take notes
since the act of collecting information may arouse parents’ distrust or suspicion. Rather,
the teacher can ask parents if they have questions and take mental notes, and then, at
a later time, create a voice memo or write out notes of what was discussed.
Before subsequent home visits, teachers can inform parents that they will take notes
about concerns or ideas that arise from the discussion. These notes may build on other
school-centered meetings and provide a plan of action upon which the teachers and
parents can build.
REPORT BACK
One way to remain accountable to students’ families is to maintain, revisit, and keep
current the plan of action generated jointly by the teacher and family. Finding out from
parents which method of correspondence is most effective and then checking in
regularly with them about mutually established goals for the child provides both
teachers and parents an open, ongoing platform through which to communicate and
interact.
Home visits are a great beginning to positive communication and relationships between
teachers and their students’ families. Establishing a strong foundation through home
visits is only a first step—nurturing these relationships through consistent
communication is critical to maintaining them.
 Community Service
Community service is work done by a person or group of people that benefits others. It
is often done near the area where you live, so your own community reaps the benefits
of your work. You do not get paid to perform community service, but volunteer your
time.
Community service can help many different groups of people: children, senior citizens,
people with disabilities, even animals and the environment. Community service is often
organized through a local group, such as a place of worship, school, or non-profit
organization, but you can also start your own community service projects.
Many people participate in community service because they enjoy helping others and
improving their community. Some students are required to do community service in
order to graduate high school or to receive certain honors. Some adults are also
ordered by a judge to complete a certain number of community service hours.
Why Should You Participate in Community Service?
There are numerous benefits to participating in community service, both for yourself and
others. Below are some of the most important benefits of volunteering:

 Gives you a way to help others

 Helps improve your community
 Can help strengthen your resume and college applications
 Can be a way to meet new friends
 Often results in personal growth
 Gives you a way to gain work experience and learn more about certain jobs

List of Community Service Examples

General Ideas

 Donate or raise money for your local Red Cross

 Organize a community blood drive
 For your next birthday, ask for charitable donations instead of gifts

 Participate in a charity race

 Help register people to vote

Helping Children and Schools

 Tutor children during or after school

 Donate stuffed animals to children in hospitals
 Organize games and activities for children in hospitals or who are visiting
hospitalized relatives
 Organize events to help new students make friends
 Organize a reading hour for children at a local school or library

Helping Senior Citizens

 Read to residents at a nursing home

 Deliver groceries and meals to elderly neighbors
 Teach computer skills to the elderly
 Organize a family day for residents of a retirement home and relatives to play
games together
  Pick up medicine for an elderly neighbor

Helping Animals and the Environment

 Take care of cats and dogs at an animal shelter

 Clean up a local park
 Raise money to provide a bulletproof vest for a police dog
 Participate in the cleanup of a local river, pond, or lake

 Foster animals that shelters don't have space for

Helping the Hungry and/or Homeless

 Build a house with Habitat for Humanity

 Donate your old clothes
 Volunteer at a soup kitchen
 Donate old eyeglasses to an organization that collects that and distributes them
to people in need
 Make first aid kits for homeless shelters

Reducing Crime and Promoting Safety

 Volunteer at a police station or firehouse

 Become a certified lifeguard and volunteer at a local pool or beach
 Organize a self-defense workshop

 Organize a drug-free campaign

 Teach a home-alone safety class for children

Promoting Community Enhancement

 Paint park benches

 Donate used books to your local library
 Become a tour guide at your local museum
 Repaint community fences
 Plant flowers in bare public areas

REFERENCES:
https://www.educationalschooltrip.com/what-is-field-trip-definition-of-field-trip-in-
education/
https://www.edutopia.org/article/home-visits-101-cristina-santamaria-graff
https://blog.prepscholar.com/129-examples-of-community-service-projects