Fieldtrip!!!!!!

In my 22 years of life I must have gone on countless field trips to a variety of places. Growing up in Boston, history field trips are always just a hop, skip and train ride away, and at times, I may have even resented leaving the serenity of my school for the chaos of the real world. Today, however, was my very first time being on the "teacher-side" of a field trip, and I have to admit it was pretty entertaining.

Today the entire 7th grade took a field trip to Health Works!, an interactive learning center which focuses on human body functions, the brain, and activities and choices which promote a healthy lifestyle. Overall, I thought the center was pretty cool: they had a lot of activities for the kids and most of them seemed to enjoy themselves throughout the day. Most of my entertainment, however, came from watching the kids and the HW! employees, rather than participating in activities.

First funny thing: the employees

Do you remember when you went on field trips and the people who worked their were SO excited to be entertaining 6-12 yr olds all day?? Well the people at HW! are like those people but even more excited. Think about the people who work at Chik-fil-A (aka the happiest, friendliest people on earth) and then add a little crack to their chicken and you have an HW! employee. They were super-duper-duper excited about their jobs. Which seems great. BUT having experienced 10 hours of 7th graders per day for the last 3 months, I also question their sanity a little. Oddly enough, it actually made me feel better that at one point (just for a second), one of the employees looked like she wanted to strangle a kid rather than show him how to push fruit down his digestive system.

Second funny thing: Watching the kids react to the employees

Some of the kids were truly excited to be there today, but a lot of them seemed like they thought it was all a wee bit corny. I mean, for most of them, I doubt seeing 4-6, 25-45 year-old white women jump up and down and talk about urine is really fun, and the fake enthusiasm shown was priceless; on the other hand, I was glad that they didn't just sit there and look at the women like they were crazy (like they do when I teach) because that could've come off as rude, I suppose.

But overall it was a good day. No one got lost. No one got hurt, and only one person cried. I've learned that that's all you can really ask for as a teacher. No, they won't be perfect. Yes, they will sing songs the WHOLE bus ride. And Yes, the will all have to pee every 10 minutes. But as long as they come back looking the same as they left, it's all good. And if they learn something, and I think a lot of them did today, it's even better.



***Sidenote: After leaving our field trip about healthy choices and our bodies, we took a classwide detour to McDonald's! Gotta love this place...