As students walked to East River Park for the field trip, someone sang “London Bridge is Falling Down” while crossing a bridge to get to the other side of the highway. One student in particular was already terrified of walking across a bridge on top of a highway, but someone singing that song made it much worse.
The ninth graders’ community field trip sparked excitement between the ninth students and teachers. Wide Angle Vision organized a whole day of activities and games with one goal: To create a strong community within the ninth grade.
At the beginning of the field trip, students were split into seven groups with 15 to 20 people, some they knew and others they had never seen. Each group did a different activity prepared by Wide Angle Vision.
Some activities included blindfold Jenga, tossing a stuffed goldfish into the air and an activity where one had to walk in a tarp with their group of nine people, which operated almost like a hamster wheel. All of these activities required students to communicate with one another and work together to successfully complete the activities, all while getting to know each other more.
However, was Wide Angle Vision successfully strengthening the bonds between the ninth grade community? Several students and teachers shared their opinions on the field trip.
The students all had mixed responses. Some thought that it was effective, while others thought it wasn’t.
One student, Danny Li, said “I wouldn’t say so because you’re stuck with one group the whole time and like you’re gonna be with the same people all day.”
Li recommended switching the groups more frequently, as they were with the same group the whole day, and therefore the students still didn’t know some people at the end of the day.
However, one student, Joe Lei, thought the opposite. “Yep, because we get to meet new people,” he said.
Another student, Lyne Aici, agreed with Joe’s statement and said that she also got to meet people that she hadn’t spoken to or even seen before.
It seemed that additional things were ruining the experience of the field trip. “It’s too cold for, this,” Li said.
Many students and teachers were bundled up in their winter clothes, as the winds were strong and freezing. The weather was a high of 54℉ and a low of 44℉, and it was extremely windy, with wind speed reaching a max of 28mph!
Furthermore, the commute to the park was an almost 45 minute walk, which caused some of the students to be tired out before even reaching the park, so this was another contributing factor that may explain why students may have had mixed feelings about this trip. Similarly to the students, Deborah Glick, one of the ninth grade global history teachers, also brought up the commute. “The walk was long,” she said.
Unlike the students, who seemed to have mixed feelings about this trip, the teachers all seemed to agree with one another.
“I think it’s great … I love that they were put in groups where they got to meet new people instead of just being with their friends because I think at this point of the year, not all of the 9th graders know each other, so it’s nice to mix it up,” said one of the ELA teachers, Carolyn Castagna.
Glick agreed with Castagna, saying, “I think this field trip was really fun…I feel like everyone seems to be really having fun and the activities seem really focused on how to build communication in really creative ways so it’s giving you guys [ninth graders] opportunities to learn about each other.”
If there was one thing that the teachers and students could agree on, however, it would be that they recommend this field trip to the upcoming ninth graders. “I’d say … yeah. It was fun at least,” said Li.
“I would! I think it’s fun. It’s a lot of positive energy so I think it would be good for them,” Glick said.
So was the field trip successful in bringing the ninth grade community closer? Teachers and students seemed to simultaneously agree on the results that they got to meet and see new people. The students also enjoyed some of the activities that we were able to participate in.
At the end of the day, kids had fun doing things like throwing a stuffed goldfish up in the air with a tarp and seeing how long they could keep it in the air, and walking on a tarp that resembled a hamster wheel.
Overall, Wide Angle Vision was successful in making the field trip enjoyable and refreshing, giving students a break from all of the work in the classroom.
