Mission
I help teachers integrate travel into their classrooms to develop engaging & meaningful learning opportunities that help students connect to faraway concepts.
Hello, there! I’m Alyssa, a teacher who loves to travel and can’t help but educate others on the affordability and practicality of seeing the world. Even better when those trips can enhance your curriculum, engage students, and inspire them to dream of their own adventures!
I teach high school science (currently Earth science and biology) in Southern Illinois, where I live with my dog, Luna. I love traveling, but also enjoy the stability of working full time and developing a strong sense of community where I live. When I’m not grading papers or jet-setting, you can find Luna and me hiking or swimming.
Engaging Students Through Travel
Have you ever wished you could bring your class to the locations they’re learning about? Students have (jokingly) requested elaborate field trips to Hawaii to study igneous rocks and Death Valley National Park to walk on the salt flats. While, I wholeheartedly agree they would learn more on location than sitting in the classroom, it’s not a reality. Can you imagine submitting a field trip request for 150 students to fly to the Andes Mountains?
At first, I held back from sharing my travel stories because I thought it was too self-focused and students wouldn’t care if they hadn’t been a part of it. Boy, was I wrong. Students love hearing first hand accounts of the places, cultures, and processes they’re learning about.
We talked about how hard it was to breathe as I climbed higher in the Andes, connecting that to how air pressure changes as altitude increases. Four of the largest telescopes in the world are located in Chile because the sky is clear nearly every night of the year. From the tops of the mountains, nebulae are visible with your naked eye, they look like “stardust clouds” – a great experience to talk about when discussing how the solar system formed.
How Teacher on a Trip Can Benefit You
Are you excited by new experiences that also improve your students’ learning? If yes, you’re in the right place to find a plethora of resources that can expand your teaching through travel, motivate you to bring travel experiences into your classroom, and guide you to the realities of affordable travel on a teacher’s budget.
Join the Teacher on a Trip Community
Connect and collaborate with Teacher on a Trip on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. I’d love to see how you engage students through travel in your classrooms!
