Each block I aim to take my students on a field trip, just have a day to leave the classroom and connect our learning to the real world. During our last six-week block we studied the art of writing in the twenty-first century, specifically blogging and emailing. It was my aim that students would write and type every single day, and that's what we did. They wrote in their writer's notebooks, and each day at the end of class they emailed me their daily exit ticket to demonstrate their daily learning. Each block, I typically have piles and piles of collected work, and this block everything was online. It was very convenient, and when I had to leave town for an educational conference, I was even able to track my students learning while I was away. It is making me re-think how to incorporate computers even more in my classroom.
For this block, one of my students came up with the idea of going ice skating. I asked all my students, and no one had ever been ice skating before, except one student who had only gone once before. That was it. I contacted the ice area at Skyline Park downtown and found out that ice skating would only cost $2 per student and this would make for a wonderful blog post, what it takes to learn something new.
Luckily my school is right off the light rail, so we got light rail tickets, walked to the station and took the train downtown to the ice rink. When we got there they all looked so nervous. Each person got their boots, some had to trade boots several times until they got the right size, and they all laced up fast looking hockey boots. The people there pulled out what looked like hard plastic walkers that they could use to hold on to as they learned to skate around. Once all the boots were laced up, very tightly, they stood up for the first time with wobbly knees and ankles and made their way to the ice rink.
The first on the ice was Diana, she held on to the side so tight to make sure she wouldn't fall. Then Guadalupe followed holding on to the edge. Then Mirna and Miguel and they slowly began skating, like new swimmers, grasping the side for life and not letting go. Last on the ice was Jose and then his sister Jessica. We were off.
The first time around was slow, and students had to learn how to pass people without letting go of the wall and how to get past the opening of the ice rink where there was no wall. In the beginning, I took their arms and helped them cross the non-walled threshold.
After a few rounds, they looked more comfortable, and each of my students had a grin from ear to ear. A few were feeling the pains in their feet and ankles, and took a mini break, but they were all back on the ice before I knew it, and giggling and laughter resonated among us.
Miguel and Jessica were the most daring. They would let go of the wall and then quickly grab back on, until they could go longer and longer without the wall's support. By the end they were ice skating on their own without any help.
It was so much fun. We didn't want to leave the ice. I could have skated around with them all day, but eventually, after about two hours, we were ready to call it a day. We got off the ice, returned our skates and headed to Union Station to write our experiences down while they were still fresh in our minds.
Once at Union Station we ordered some hot chocolate and some coconut macaroons and gathered at a large table. Each student pulled out their notebooks and wrote for a solid twenty minutes. At the very beginning of this unit, it was hard for students to write continuously even for one to two minutes, and this truly demonstrated their growth in writing. We shared our experiences, and the school day was over and we were ready to head back to school via the light rail.
I will never forget this field trip, and I hope my students won't either. I am so proud of their writing accomplishments and their willingness to try something new and share that moment with their peers on their blogs.
Happy Holidays from Ms. May's Advanced Language Class!
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