The Benefits of Traveling with Students
It’s just two weeks from the opening of Thespian Festival 2022. As I think back on all of the years I attended the festival with my students, I am overwhelmed by the many wonderful memories that we shared together for almost 20 years. On the EdTA festival webpage there is a quote from a student attending ITF that says, “It is a once in a lifetime opportunity to be around people who love what you love and to experience the art that we all share.” THIS is exactly why traveling with students is so much fun.
Traveling with your students is one of the most important and impactful things you can do as an educator. During my career, “travel” with students meant many things. Sometimes it was a full day spent together in order to see a show downtown or outside of town as a group. It was traveling together for a weekend at our state thespian conference event, or down to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland for the weekend. For some it was traveling to New York City or to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. Being with your students and traveling together can provide amazing and positive opportunities for both you and your students.
At it's core, travel is an exceptional learning experience. It allows students to build lifelong friendships, improve cultural learning, gain independence, develop empathy and experience opportunities that might be available to them in the future. Travel also provides teachers time to interact with students in a very different way outside of the classroom or rehearsal space. It provides an opportunity for professional development and the ability to see your teaching outcomes in action.
Working with your students to explore what kind of travel opportunities they might be interested in and then making a plan together for fundraising events that can help supplement or finance these trips is the key to success. There are a plethora of fundraising ideas on the EdTA website. Some successful programs we ran were a week-long youth drama camp, a one day middle school Improv Festival, variety shows, and one act festivals where the proceeds were entirely used to benefit student travel.
Whether considering your first trip to your state thespian event or planning a weekend out of town to see some professional theatre, attending ITF or making a plan for NYC, it is absolutely worth the time and energy to experience traveling with your students. I am happy to answer any questions or share suggestions. Many of my most cherished memories during my career are from my time spent traveling with kids.
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CJ Hindman
Retired Theatre Teacher
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