Expanding The Class Outside The Classroom Walls

This week was an amazing experience!!  A group of us made a trip up to Washington, DC and it was the first time I had ever been.  Going into the trip, I had no idea what to expect.  I didn't really know the group of students outside of class and was curious to see how well the group would interact with one another.  Although we encountered a couple of bumps in the road along the way, this ended up being one of the best trips I had ever been on!

My favorite part of the trip was touring the Library of Congress.  I never thought this place would have been my favorite site to see, but surprisingly it took my breath away with how beautiful this place was! I learned so much about the artists and people who contributed to the creation of this incredible national library.  I learned that the Library of Congress is the largest library in the United States and has over 170 million resources.  I also learned that any book that wants to be published in the United States, at least two copies of that book have to be stored in the Library of Congress.  This helped the expansion of resources offered at the Library of Congress. 

The paintings, tile and floor work, as well as the layout of the library was unreal!  The four corridors represent the ends of earth.  There are paintings on one of the ceilings in the corridor that represent the five different senses, other paintings have different subject areas, but somehow they all relate back to the of knowledge.  It was amazing to see all of the details that were incorporated all throughout the building.  The tour guide encouraged us to look on their website for further information and for us to also take a virtual tour, I encourage you all to do the same because this place will blow your mind! 

https://loc.gov/

This relates back to the fourth NCPTS that states teachers should facilitate student learning.  A field trip allows a teacher to introduce and show the students something they don't get to see or experience in the everyday classroom.   However, the students are able to have their own experience and will take something different from what they all have learned.