Take Your Students on a Cruise in 2015!!!

What if all our students got to take a cruise during the course of the school year?  Now before you worry about your average daily attendance or all the missed assignments RELAX and let me explain.  All over education these days, educators and non-educators alike are calling for student choice and engagement for students and nothing provides more opportunity for both than a cruise ship.  If you have ever been on a cruise, you know what I mean, there are countless opportunities to explore interests, learn new things, and collaborate with others.  You also probably jump on a cruise with a ton of excitement and anticipation of things to come.  Nobody goes on a cruise and expects to be bored!  Wouldn’t it be great if our students looked forward to school in the same way?  They would know they were going to have fun and enjoy their learning, but would also anticipate a certain amount of choice and adventure.

However, there is more to it than choice and fun and games. The thing about a cruise is that everybody on the boat has the same destination!  Everyone gets on in the same place and everyone get off at the same place; it is what happens in between that differentiates their experience.  As a teacher, or cruise director, the responsibility is to make sure everyone has a great experience (no matter what baggage they bring on board with them), while taking them all to the same place.  Is the destination the end of the school year? Is it graduation? College? Whatever the port of call may be, the teacher’s (cruise director) job is to find out what students’ likes/dislikes are, push them to try new things, encourage them to meet/work with others, and provide a dynamic learning experience. 

So as we start 2015, take your kids on a cruise!  It will be an experience they will never forget!!