Reach the World: Classroom World
We are not learning for school but for life.
Don´t worry, this post is not about how to be a great student. Nor about recommendations for the beginning of the holidays. Nor about my – traumatising – youth.
No, it is a blog about a project, where students not only learn “for life” but “through life”. Through the life on the road.
Screenshot of the website http://www.reachtheworld.org/ - each kid gets in touch with someone from abroad.
In the US-project ”Reach The World”, travelers are made into teachers, who talk about their experiences in the big wide world in the classrooms. That´s not a new project, but one, which has been connecting students with travelers for about 14 years.
“Europe, where´s that?” This question, asked several years ago when I visited a school in Arizona, can be answered by the 15.000 pupils from elementary schools, who participated already in the program. At least, that´s what I hope. More than 600 teachers – mostly exchange students, who spend one or two semesters outside the US – show where they are, where they live and work. The main goal is to learn geography, but apart from that, the kids also understand technology better and how to deal with the internet.
Nancy of www.familyonbikes.org participated in RTW and finally meets on of “her” classes. Picture: Family on Bikes
Once a week, the traveling teachers write about their experiences, post pictures and videos for online games. Or rather should. “Well, we aimed for every week”, describes Nancy of Family on Bikes her experiences as RTW-participant 2010, “but that didn’t really happen – we got something up whenever we could.” It might be a bit harder on a trip like hers – traveling on bike with her family from Alaska to Argentina – than for a people who live abroad. In addition to the blog posts, Skype calls are part of the teaching, which does not require being educated as teacher. “Skype calls with classrooms were the best”, so Nancy, “it was so fun to talk with the kids and answer their questions.”
Nancy in the RTW office in Chicago. Picture: Family on Bikes
The program, which is mainly for schools in New York, not only brings fun, but also is a challenge for the teachers, as Nancy admits: “It was a lot of time and effort!”, the mother of two and teacher in “real life” as well says, “to really be there for the kids is an enormous task and you have to be very dedicated. Although I knew that when we started, I didn’t expect it to be that much!”
And what about you: Would you take the effort and teach while traveling?
More about Reach the World: http://www.reachtheworld.org/
Nancy and her family are on the road again, this time without their bikes and without RTW. If you want to follow their stories: http://www.familyonbikes.org
