Plan a Trip - Center for Inspired Teaching

The following activity is part of a series we’re creating to support students, teachers, and caregivers, during this unprecedented time. Read more about the project here. If you try this activity with your student(s), we’d love to see what you do. Share your journey via the #Inspired2Learn hashtag on your preferred social platform.

Created by: Pax Linson and Jenna Fournel
Discipline: Language Arts, Social Studies, Math
Age level: Upper Elementary – Middle
Time: This project can take a few days or a few weeks to complete depending on how detailed you want it to be.
Materials: A computer and internet connection.

Our ability to explore the world beyond our neighborhood may be hampered at the present time but that doesn’t mean our imaginations have to stay put. This activity was inspired by two friends who live in separate buildings with facing windows. Once a week they get on the phone and sit where they can see each other through the windows and as they talk they plan a fantastic trip to a faraway land. It doesn’t quite compare to actually going on the trip, but the escapism helps.

In the following activity we take this idea into an academic realm because planning an actual trip requires many of the skills we aim to teach young people in school. Luckily the internet can bring many of the sights and sounds of faraway places right into our homes!

What to do:

At a basic level, the assignment is to plan a trip from start to finish including where you wish to go and what you wish to see when you go there. But to turn this into a multifaceted learning experience we’ve outlined some of the subject area skills learners can build in the process.

MATH

Determine the distance you’ll have to travel to get to and from the destination and from place to place throughout the itinerary. If the trip is something that can be done by car, figure out how much gas will be needed. If the trip will require air travel do a cost comparison of flights on different airlines.
Provide your learners with a budget for a week long trip and have them outline how much they will spend each day on food, travel, lodging, tickets, etc. Here is a lesson plan from Scholastic that explores this activity.

SOCIAL STUDIES / GEOGRAPHY

If you are teaching a grade level where students are learning about their home state or the US, you can focus the trip on particular regions they have studied.
Have students identify the various landforms and regions they will travel through during the trip and find pictures online that capture the diversity.
Students can still “visit” National Parks through virtual tours. You could focus the assignment on a national park and have them research things to do there, or include a visit to a national park in the itinerary.
Students can also “visit” various museums, zoos, and other attractions online. There are several lists out there to explore but here are some you might include as resources if you include a virtual tour as part of the assignment:
- Bored at Home? Here’s a Massive List of Museums, Zoos, and Theme Parks Offering Virtual Tours (Good Housekeeping)
- Check Out These Virtual Tours of Museums Around the World (Timeout)
- 17 Famous Art Museums You Can Visit from Your Living Room (We Are Teachers)
- Here’s a List of All the Virtual Tours You Can Take Right Now—for Free! (Taste of Home)

LANGUAGE ARTS

Have students figure out a format for detailing their trip plan. Will they use an outline? A daily calendar? Some online tool? A slide show presentation? This article explores some resources: Ready for Vacation? Here’s the Best Tech for Trip Planning (New York TImes)
After students have created a plan for what they will do each day, consider having them write a travel journal that explains what they imagine they see and do.
You can create mini-writing assignments to go with various facets of the trip they plan. Some examples include:
- Look at the menu for one of the restaurants you plan to visit on the trip and write up a description of the meal you’ll order there.
- Take a virtual tour of one of the destinations on your trip and write a description of something fun you do there.
- If you’re driving by car as part of the trip, look at a map of things you’ll pass by along one leg of the journey and write a short description of what you imagine seeing out the window as you pass through these places. What will the landscape look like? What kinds of buildings or natural features might you see?
- Create a music playlist that you’d use on this trip. Choose songs that relate in some way to the anticipated experiences of the trip and for each song title write a few sentences explaining your choice.

Inspired Teaching Connection:

In this activity, the product as well as the process provide Wide-ranging Evidence of Student Learning. Students are usually participants in trips but rarely active planners; this activity positions them as Experts which can awaken curiosity and perhaps even the seeds of some future explorations! In every fact of their planning the 4 I’s will be hard at work as Intellect, Inquiry, Imagination, and Integrity are all essential companions in travel.

See our instructional model here.

Micaiah Anderson

Community Outreach Specialist

As a Community Outreach Specialist, Micaiah is responsible for program promotion and outreach support for Inspired Teaching events and workshops. Micaiah has a passion for collaborating with community members to build-power and connect. She is an educator with a heart for youth and has experience supporting students fight injustices within their schools and communities. She has a BA in Political Science from, the real HU, Hampton University & anticipates graduating in May 2024 with a Masters of Arts degree in Educational Policy Transformation from Georgetown University.

AUTONOMY

"I want to have a say in what happens to me."

Autonomy is the need for independence; the ability to make choices, to create, to explore, and to express oneself freely; to have sufficient space, to move around, and to feel unrestricted with opportunities to exercise free will.

Brady Maiden

Outreach Coordinator

As the Outreach Coordinator, Brady helps maintain Inspired Teaching’s social media presence and supports the organization’s mission to connect with DC community leaders, educators, and parents. Brady has her Master’s in Public Policy from George Mason University and her BS in Political Science from Northern Arizona University. She is passionate about community, equity, and coalition building recognizing that learning and growing with the community at large is how we continue to be impactful.

What brings you joy in life?

I find joy in spending time with my friends and family and meeting new people. I like going to concerts and festivals, and finding new books to read.

The Learner’s Cycle, Wonder-Experiment-Learn, and the Teacher’s Cycle, Observe-Plan-Instigate, comprise Inspired Teaching’s approach to engaging students in inquiry-based learning.

When they are engaged in the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, students are immersed in learning. They take the lead in designing authentic learning experiences around their own interests and their school’s standards of learning. Each discovery leads to a new question which in turn leads to more wondering and more learning. In the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, Learn is not a destination or an endpoint; it is a deeper understanding, leading to a deeper wondering and new possibilities that create new entry points to further exploration. The cycle continues because what students have learned generates more wonderings that require more experiments that foster more learning – and on and on.

The Observe-Plan-Instigate Cycle is the work of an Inspired Teacher. While a student is expected to follow the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, the teacher joins them on the learning journey while following their own cycle of Observe-Plan-Instigate. This cycle ultimately serves to ensure an inquiry-based atmosphere is at play in the classroom.

Jaqueta Abbey

Teaching and Learning Specialist

Jaqueta is the Teaching and Learning Specialist for Inspired Teaching. In addition to her current role with Inspired Teaching, Jaqueta is a first-grade teaching assistant. Her background features a variety of traditional and non-traditional experiences in the field of education, including working as an adjunct professor, teaching summer reading programs to children and adults, and tutoring children in the foster care system. Jaqueta earned a B.A. in Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an M.A. in Interactive Media from Elon University.

What brings you joy in life?

Creative self-expression! In addition to my passion for storytelling, I love dancing of all kinds. I've studied belly dance, bachata, and Brazilian Zouk among other styles. I also enjoy glass fusing, crocheting, photography, and cross stitching. These art forms allow me to express myself and build connections with other people at the same time. I think life would be a lot less vibrant without artists and storytellers!

Michelle Welk

Communication & Marketing Specialist

As Communications and Marketing Specialist, Michelle is responsible for finding and creating new ways to highlight Inspired Teaching and promote its programs in order to expand and deepen the organization's impact. Michelle has worked in communications in an array of settings, from creative agencies to state politics to national nonprofits. She has a BA in Journalism from Temple University in Philadelphia and is passionate about education, access, and equity.

What brings you joy in life?

My son, the beach, making a persuasive argument and good food!

Max Peterson

Real World History Assistant Teacher

Max received his Bachelor’s degree in History and African American Studies from Boston University in May 2016. He has worked in museum curation at the Museum of the White Mountains in New Hampshire and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Max has worked with young people of varying ages from young children to young adults transitioning to college.

Feedback and Accountability

We grow through feedback and an understanding that the quality of our work is a reflection of what we are learning, but the shift to remote learning this spring disrupted a lot of the tools teachers were used to using to evaluate student growth. How might we do things differently this fall? Participants in this workshop will explore ways to bring meaningful assessment into the virtual and/or socially-distanced classroom and approaches to student feedback that strengthen motivation, and build relationships and achievement.