Jonathan Paul Loomis

February 19, 1999

Independent Study: Education

Mona Wineberg

Although I do not normally go to Hyde on Thursdays I chose to make the time this particular day because my fifth graders and the fourth graders with whom I did some limited work last fall were going to go on a field trip to Mount Vernon. For me, the opportunity to take part in this kind of special adventure far outweighs whatever I might have done otherwise at American.

When I arrived at about ten to nine the class was just settling down after coming inside. Mary Ann informed me that they had decided to delay the trip for an hour in the hope that the rain might let up. During this first hour the class went over their homework from the night before and I helped by cruising around the room answering questions. We did a short sort of quiz over two-digit long division.

After about forty-five minutes it was obvious that the rain was not going to let up so we packed the kids onto the bus and took off for Mount Vernon. For the ride down I chose to sit towards the back of the bus where most of the fifth graders had congregated and far from Mary Ann and Judy (the fourth grade teacher). We had a few other chaperones on the trip with us: two parents, Ms. Moffitt, and Mr. Tony (a teacher's aid). I ended up in the middle of a collection of the girls from my class, which didn't seem to bother them much as they went right on with their normal conversations as if I hadn't been there.

One of the girls had gone to the hairdresser the night before and had gotten fake braids put in. I thought they looked good on her and told her as such, but they were also a point of conversation as one of them came out early in the morning and was passed around for the remainder of the day. These girls coming of age are both humorous, in that I often laugh to myself to remember being their age, and interesting from the standpoint that I'm currently taking Psychology of Education with Dr. Fox and they represent very clear examples of students making an important developmental transition. I inquired while we were on the bus if one of the girls still carried around a photo of her favorite member of N-Sync, a popular music group right now. She was exceptionally proud of this photo last fall and I wanted to know if it was still important to her. As it turns out, it's not; she has grown up to bigger and better things.

Our stay at Mr. Vernon itself was not as pleasant as we might have hoped simply because it rained almost the entire time we were there. We escorted everyone through the mansion and around the grounds and even were allowed to lay flowers at the gravesite.

On the return trip we stopped at a riverside park to eat lunch. Once again I had the interesting experience of being around the students in a more relaxed setting when I could observe some of their interpersonal skills at play. Although I can't say that anything surprised me, I have to admit that a fifth grade teacher can't rely on the opinions formed of a student in the fall because they change so much during the course of the year.

I personally think that going on field trips with the students is one of the most educational experiences for me as a student of education, probably far more so than going to a class on the subject. I still love field trips!