No class today!  We are going to learn something instead!

While not all faculty would appreciate the latter in lieu of the former, taking a developmental class on regularly planned alternative class site experiences generally instills a wonder about learning and a willingness to engage in sophisticated information processing and analysis that is often missing in the classroom.

That’s right.  Many of my students have erred on the side of thinking that if we didn’t meet in the classroom they weren’t being exposed to the drudgeries of academic learning.  The wonder of it is that when we meet at alternative class sites, like the Skyline Caverns, Mt. Vernon, the Holocaust Museum, the Newseum, Shenandoah National Park or the Manassas National Battlefield Park, they encounter more active and integrated learning than I ever seem to be able to pack into a developmental English classroom experience. 

Rationale for Including Alternate Site Experiences

The students in my developmental reading and writing classes (English 001/003 and English 004/005) find the real-life experiences so engaging that they keep wanting more and more opportunities to get "out of class learning.”  Somehow the fact that they produce numerous journals or write up newspaper accounts or read several collateral sources to prepare for such excursions or to follow up after such experiences seems to be incidental beside the “lived through” experiences.  However, for each alternate class site experience students have read and analyzed background literature and engaged in Internet searches.  They have compared and contrasted the advantages and disadvantages of one site over another.  They have examined maps and planned itineraries factoring in the logistics of individual schedules, transportation availability, and time frameworks.  At the site they participate in a “lecture” or other presentation delivered by the site experts.  They gather and process guidebooks, tour books, catalogs, maps, brochures and visual displays.  They listen and absorb.  Most every site visit involves a rich blend of geographical, geological, sociological, biological, historical, and cultural information.  Some trips have even had the added physical benefits of exercise provided in tramping around the battlefields or hiking on a nature path in the national park.

Most of all, the alternate class site experiences allow students to develop an information basis—schema—for processing future text (their own and others).  One of the major deficits that hamper developmental students is a lack of experience.  If they haven’t been given opportunities through reading and traveling,  they probably lack many of the concepts necessary to effectively read and write about college subjects.   Incorporating alternate class site opportunities is an invigorating and successful remedy.

Even one off-campus class per course can create a learning environment of interest and desire that will inspire students’ work for the rest of the semester.  Why?  Because our students are already living in and coping with the real world, and yet many have very undeveloped schemas for decision making, much less for processing academic reading and writing.  They need to quickly get up to speed, and total immersion experiences like the ones described here provide extensive benefits in developing a wide variety of significant learning skills:

·        Research Strategies

·        Categorization Skills

·        Map Reading Skills

·        Critical Reading Skills

·        Knowledge Gathering and Assimilation Skills

·        Critical Thinking Strategies for Decision Making Skills

·        Realistic Comparison and Contrast Skills

·        Organizational Skills

·        Leadership Skills

·        Writing for Real Audience Skills

·        Writing that Integrates Reading, Researching, and Reflecting Skills

Steps to Success:

Include information on possible alternate class sites (field trips) in the syllabus.

Include a journal assignment that asks students to brainstorm at least three destinations for a possible alternate site and to explain why they think each one is a valuable candidate for a class excursion.

Three weeks before the targeted time to engage in the experience, ask students to reread this journal entry and tell them that in groups of four/five they are to discuss their suggestions and reach a consensus of three choices for each group.  Then have the groups present their choices.

After setting a background of personal interest, distribute as many brochures and flyers on possible sites as you can obtain. You will probably find that you have covered most of the preliminary suggestions as well as dozens of other ones not yet known to the students. Your local Virginia Welcome Center or Chamber of Commerce can help.

Engage students (in their groups) in the task of finding a way to organize all the brochures they have into useful categories.  Have each group share its categories and list its choices on the board.  Examine the pros and cons of the various organization techniques used while discussing the pros and cons of the selections presented.

Finally, have each group present its final choices (which often have changed as a result of seeing what is available in the brochures).  This time the students must have discussed logistics and come up with a plan to implement each choice: time, money, transportation, food, and guests.  This realistic examination often weeds out pie-in-the-sky choices.

After these presentations, take a vote to determine the first target experience.  Then set up arrangements; students are delegated to accomplish various aspects like establishing contact with the site for special registration, assigning students to cars or investigating the use of the college van or of the Metro, and developing further resources about the target through phone calls, exploration on the Internet, and visits to an appropriate office/association/museum.

Possible projects leading up to the event include map reading to plan a route; list making to ensure the completion of all steps necessary for success; careful reading of the brochures, library, or Internet sources to identify specific target locations and activities, or to understand the reasons the destination is important; reading to know the rules and regulations involved; writing a letter to a host site requesting special arrangements or prior information; keeping journal entries;  and bringing in related information to increase the class’s knowledge base prior to the experience.

You won’t really know all the specifics of the learning opportunities until you begin this planning and then traveling stage.  But believe me, they will be significant because they come from student-controlled, real-life experiences.  After the event you can lead students back to using academic skills related to their outing, and you will be surprised at their new found interest and enthusiasm.

After the experience, the follow-up learning opportunities are just as varied. For historic sites, have students imagine they lived at that time.  What were the social, political, human rights, art and cultural issues?  Have them write a letter in the voice of such a person to an appropriate audience.  Have them write a newspaper article for that time—either a news story or an editorial.  Have them keep a seven-day journal in the life and times of their selected voice or character.  For science or technology sites, encourage exploration of the applications to their own lives.  Have them write about why/how their lives are changed by an invention or discovery.  Ask them to create a map or web of a major new piece of knowledge gained.  Have them write a newspaper article on a controversial topic related to the science or technology.  For nature sites, have them explore geological, historical, botanical and zoological characteristics.  Have them include information about any social history.  Often today’s parks were someone’s homestead or hunting grounds, so have them explore what happened there. For cultural outings, have them explore the history of the performers by checking reviews and critiques.  Ask them to locate background on art exhibits on the Internet.  Have them select the work (art or music) that was most meaningful to them and ask them to create a collage to represent the feelings it gave them or have them try to catch any feelings it engendered in a poem.

Then, to lead them to more serious academic products, generate related possible research topics, especially controversial ones.  We visited a Civil War battlefield, and after discussing the causes of the war and the nature of war, students decided to research racial discrimination today, the use of women in the military, current international civil wars like those in Serbia/Croatia and Ireland, and hate crimes in contemporary America.  After visiting the Newseum, students explored the ethics of the media’s reporting that Richard Jewell was the Atlanta Olympic bomber; others researched the effect of media violence; others examined the positive effects of TV.  These students engaged in a rigorous research process culminating in a six- to eight-page paper with MLA citations and parenthetical documentation.  These developmental students engaged in the research process and produced annotated bibliographies of the six best sources on their controversial topic. The sense of accomplishment was terrific.  Were they prepared to engage in ENG 111?  You bet they were.

A final follow-up and closure exercise is to have students write a journal entry discussing what they liked and didn’t like about the alternate class site experience and related learning opportunities.  You will be very pleased with their insights and appreciation for the activities.

Tips For Planning Your Alternate Site Experiences

There are a lot of “freebies” out there.  Look for ways to negate costs.  For instance, National Parks will give free access to educational groups if arranged sufficiently ahead of time.  In addition, look for free materials.  The Shenandoah National Park gives me enough free copies of their eighty-page guide and information book each year for all my students.  It contains a wealth of reading, maps, and charts.  I use it for vocabulary development, SQ3R, writing summaries, and a wealth of other activities.  When we travel to the park, the students are entranced to see their guidebooks come to life.  They challenge each other to identify different species of plants; they enjoy hiking the trails they determined could be walked in the time we have, and they marvel in the real beauty so close to their homes but never before visited.  Because we have been such regular education users, my classes were asked to provide critical comments when the new booklet was developed.  Imagine the self-esteem that came with that task!

Most national sites have a ten to fifteen minute taped presentation to give visitors an overview.  These are excellent.  I create a “quiz” for my students which I distribute before we go into the video at the Manassas/Bull Run Battlefield Center.  They know what to listen for, and then when we actually hike about the site, they are prepared to locate the rest of the information.  Collaboration is encouraged, and they are eager to get all the right answers.

For class trips to the Holocaust Museum, we E-mail our group reservation request and then receive a special group orientation prior to our exploring the site. These visits have always left a significant impression on even the most normally disruptive students.  Afterwards, we conduct serious research on hate crimes in the United States today, and we investigate racial, ethnic, and sexual discrimination

Field trips add a needed educational dimension to our students’ learning experiences.  They certainly add to mine.  Try it.  You won’t be sorry!