Why are the field trips so underwhelming?

[Anonymous]

We had elementary field trips in MoCo public schools. It was many, many decades ago but why can't FCPS do any of it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had elementary field trips in MoCo public schools. It was many, many decades ago but why can't FCPS do any of it?

Is MoCo still doing those trips? I wouldn’t be surprised to hear things have changed.

A major problem on this thread is that people keep comparing today to decades ago. Schools have changed dramatically, so you can’t really expect what worked then to work now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had elementary field trips in MoCo public schools. It was many, many decades ago but why can't FCPS do any of it?

Why should they?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had elementary field trips in MoCo public schools. It was many, many decades ago but why can't FCPS do any of it?

Go back and look at the OP. It’s not that FCPS doesn’t do field trips. The complaint was that they aren’t good enough in the eyes of the OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are times I feel like that person…

Back in the 80’s and 90’s we had maybe one field trip a year and that was it. I don’t remember any in MS or HS. Field trips are not a necessity, they can be fun and educational but they are not mandatory.

Plenty of schools don’t have enough money to fund field trips and they don’t have PTAs that can run fund raising to provide field trips and after school activities. The PTA cannot do the paperwork associated with the field trip, that paperwork ends up being the backbone for any liability that might arise from the trip. Teachers are over worked as it is, adding on extra things is a lot. Kids behavior has gone downhill which makes field trips even more of a nightmare, do you think it is fun to watch the kids who are nightmares at school at a museum? Or Cox farm? Or any other location?

In my experience title 1 schools have enough funds but not enough manpower. These are the kids who need it the most. Make it happen if you can or advocate for it if you can’t

So you want the people who are already burdened and overextended… to give more?

So it seems.

I’d like teachers to basically focus on doing what they used to do 10-15 years ago and start resisting the rest rather than resisting the stuff they have always done (field trips are not some crazy new thing) and that impacts the most students. It is not field trips and HW grading that have “broken” teachers yet they are the parts that are getting jettisoned. No - the NEW parts need jettisoned and resisted to try to make teaching doable again.

Please explicitly name what you think we should be “resisting.”

I do not know because I am not a teacher. But it does not sound like the job was always as impossible as it is now and HW and field trips are not new pieces of the job.

I hear the teachers above about out if control kids. I think part of the problem definitely is the inability to leave some kids at school for chronic misbehavior .

You really had the nerve to tell teachers they need to resist stuff but you didn’t even know what it was you wanted them to resist 😂😂 every court needs its jester I suppose

Look it’s YOUR job, not mine. I’m admitting I do not know the details of YOUR job. But your job impacts my family and the experience my kid gets at school (as in teachers’ jobs impact students’ families). I’ve been to school. I have an oldest that was born in 2007 and had multiple great field trips at a MCPS school. My experience was that school included field trips and homework shared back in a relatively timely way. HW and field trips are not new fangoed additions to teaching. Yet the demands of teaching have become too much for teachers lately (I mean this seriously - the demands seem excessive based on what people share here). Yet the parts teachers seem to be pushing back on are those that most broadly impact kids like HW and field trips. Surely there are other parts of the job that are new and have not always been there - those are what should be examined for how to revise them to make teaching viable again and allow time for the things a normal teaching job has always included.

Not sure what you’re so hostile in your replies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are times I feel like that person…

Back in the 80’s and 90’s we had maybe one field trip a year and that was it. I don’t remember any in MS or HS. Field trips are not a necessity, they can be fun and educational but they are not mandatory.

Plenty of schools don’t have enough money to fund field trips and they don’t have PTAs that can run fund raising to provide field trips and after school activities. The PTA cannot do the paperwork associated with the field trip, that paperwork ends up being the backbone for any liability that might arise from the trip. Teachers are over worked as it is, adding on extra things is a lot. Kids behavior has gone downhill which makes field trips even more of a nightmare, do you think it is fun to watch the kids who are nightmares at school at a museum? Or Cox farm? Or any other location?

In my experience title 1 schools have enough funds but not enough manpower. These are the kids who need it the most. Make it happen if you can or advocate for it if you can’t

So you want the people who are already burdened and overextended… to give more?

So it seems.

I’d like teachers to basically focus on doing what they used to do 10-15 years ago and start resisting the rest rather than resisting the stuff they have always done (field trips are not some crazy new thing) and that impacts the most students. It is not field trips and HW grading that have “broken” teachers yet they are the parts that are getting jettisoned. No - the NEW parts need jettisoned and resisted to try to make teaching doable again.

Please explicitly name what you think we should be “resisting.”

I do not know because I am not a teacher. But it does not sound like the job was always as impossible as it is now and HW and field trips are not new pieces of the job.

I hear the teachers above about out if control kids. I think part of the problem definitely is the inability to leave some kids at school for chronic misbehavior .

You really had the nerve to tell teachers they need to resist stuff but you didn’t even know what it was you wanted them to resist 😂😂 every court needs its jester I suppose

Look it’s YOUR job, not mine. I’m admitting I do not know the details of YOUR job. But your job impacts my family and the experience my kid gets at school (as in teachers’ jobs impact students’ families). I’ve been to school. I have an oldest that was born in 2007 and had multiple great field trips at a MCPS school. My experience was that school included field trips and homework shared back in a relatively timely way. HW and field trips are not new fangoed additions to teaching. Yet the demands of teaching have become too much for teachers lately (I mean this seriously - the demands seem excessive based on what people share here). Yet the parts teachers seem to be pushing back on are those that most broadly impact kids like HW and field trips. Surely there are other parts of the job that are new and have not always been there - those are what should be examined for how to revise them to make teaching viable again and allow time for the things a normal teaching job has always included.

Not sure what you’re so hostile in your replies.

NP

The PP is hostile because you’re telling them how to do their job and you have no idea what you’re talking about. Let me guess - you don’t work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are times I feel like that person…

Back in the 80’s and 90’s we had maybe one field trip a year and that was it. I don’t remember any in MS or HS. Field trips are not a necessity, they can be fun and educational but they are not mandatory.

Plenty of schools don’t have enough money to fund field trips and they don’t have PTAs that can run fund raising to provide field trips and after school activities. The PTA cannot do the paperwork associated with the field trip, that paperwork ends up being the backbone for any liability that might arise from the trip. Teachers are over worked as it is, adding on extra things is a lot. Kids behavior has gone downhill which makes field trips even more of a nightmare, do you think it is fun to watch the kids who are nightmares at school at a museum? Or Cox farm? Or any other location?

In my experience title 1 schools have enough funds but not enough manpower. These are the kids who need it the most. Make it happen if you can or advocate for it if you can’t

So you want the people who are already burdened and overextended… to give more?

So it seems.

I’d like teachers to basically focus on doing what they used to do 10-15 years ago and start resisting the rest rather than resisting the stuff they have always done (field trips are not some crazy new thing) and that impacts the most students. It is not field trips and HW grading that have “broken” teachers yet they are the parts that are getting jettisoned. No - the NEW parts need jettisoned and resisted to try to make teaching doable again.

Please explicitly name what you think we should be “resisting.”

I do not know because I am not a teacher. But it does not sound like the job was always as impossible as it is now and HW and field trips are not new pieces of the job.

I hear the teachers above about out if control kids. I think part of the problem definitely is the inability to leave some kids at school for chronic misbehavior .

You really had the nerve to tell teachers they need to resist stuff but you didn’t even know what it was you wanted them to resist 😂😂 every court needs its jester I suppose

Look it’s YOUR job, not mine. I’m admitting I do not know the details of YOUR job. But your job impacts my family and the experience my kid gets at school (as in teachers’ jobs impact students’ families). I’ve been to school. I have an oldest that was born in 2007 and had multiple great field trips at a MCPS school. My experience was that school included field trips and homework shared back in a relatively timely way. HW and field trips are not new fangoed additions to teaching. Yet the demands of teaching have become too much for teachers lately (I mean this seriously - the demands seem excessive based on what people share here). Yet the parts teachers seem to be pushing back on are those that most broadly impact kids like HW and field trips. Surely there are other parts of the job that are new and have not always been there - those are what should be examined for how to revise them to make teaching viable again and allow time for the things a normal teaching job has always included.

Not sure what you’re so hostile in your replies.

You’re so close to getting it. Yes, it is our job, not yours. You admittedly know nothing about it, yet feel confident in telling us what we should do. You openly don’t know what we should “resist” or what we might already be resisting, you just want to tell us to “resist” something (tbd) and babble and say stuff to feel smart and important and superior to teachers. But you just look dumb in the process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids are in the younger end of elementary but I'm really surprised by the field trips. They go on one a year, to places like Green Spring Gardens, Huntley Meadows, or Cox Farms. Are the other elementary schools like this? We live 20 minutes from the nation's capital - why aren't they visiting some of the many, many offerings there? (And yes, I take my kids to the museums!). It's not a lack of chaperones - they always have more volunteers than they can use.

Does anyone know if there are big high school trips anywhere? Where I grew up (Ohio) our big high school trip was to DC. Wondering what the equivalent is here.

Our elementary school had done 2 per year. The fall one is usually somewhere local like a pumpkin patch or nature walk. The spring one is usually in DC at a Smithsonian. Our school also still does Jamestown in 4th grade.

[Anonymous]

No one has answered my question. Why do you think field trips are so valuable? Is this the best way to spend our taxes or PTA funds?

[Anonymous]

An appreciation for the big wide world all around us, so fortunate to be the the Nation's Capital

[Anonymous]

A love of learning. Bringing history to life. Teachers excited to teach and show their student's the connection between what they are learning and the history around us.

[Anonymous]

There was a pumpkin patch field trip in kindergarten.
I can’t remember what the first grade field trip was.
Second grade - zoo and Smithsonian art museum.
Third grade - Riverbend Park and maybe Luray Caverns
Fourth grade - Jamestown/Yorktown/Williamsburg
Fifth grade - maybe Mount Vernon
Sixth Grade - one to Gettysburg and the other went to Petersburg

They did some sort of park with a stream in 7th grade and did Capitol Hill in 8th grade.

No overnight trips. The bigger field trips had the coach buses (including the Capitol Hill one - to allow for more time.

What school public school was this?
And if all schools in the county don't do, at least, most of this -- how is this fair?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A love of learning. Bringing history to life. Teachers excited to teach and show their student's the connection between what they are learning and the history around us.

So the “bringing history to life” is 45 minutes at the museum or site. The rest of the day is bus rides and organizing groups/meals.

Meanwhile, the teacher put in 3 weeks of planning and an aggravating amount of hours chasing permission slips. She then had to discipline students on the bus and at the exhibit. She had to constantly remind chaperones that they are on duty and can’t treat this as a fun vacation, and maybe they should get off their phones every now and then.

And all the kids will remember is singing on the bus ride.

[Anonymous]

In kindergarten (fcps) we did a pumpkin patch and also the zoo.

[Anonymous]

All the kids care about on a field trip is lunch. This is not talked about but it’s true. If I take my students on a field trip, they’re asking what is there to buy to eat at the destination. If what is available is not appealing to them, they choose not to go on the field trip. If they do go, they whine and rush through the activity and ask when we came done so they can go buy food. Then they want to sit and eat the food, as long as is possible. I can’t say I don’t get it, but trust me that the hassle of planning a field trip for them to treat it like a lunch date with their friends is not worth it and I’m not sure what “love of learning and history” you think they’re getting from them perseverating on when we can go to Elevation Burger and the gelato place at whatever stop we’re at.