Yes, You Can Take a Field Trip to India!
I have been involved with technology
in education since 1980, and I still be-
lieve that technology will revolutionize
education. So when I was preparing
for my long-awaited trip to India and
thinking about what I should bring, it
hit me: I should bring a class.
sanitation, which led to questions
about all the shots I had to get before
traveling to India.
in October I left for a three-week trip to India. I took along my iPad, my camera, and a virtual third
grade class of 24 boys and girls from
East Los Angeles, California, USA.
Let me explain: I am a former classroom teacher who has spent almost
30 years producing media for schools.
The next two slides really hooked
the kids. One showed an Indian toilet,
and the second illustrated how to use
it. None of us had ever used a bathroom like this!
Then I showed a slide with the number 1,210,193,422. After a quick math
lesson, we discussed population and
compared India to the United States in
size and population. We talked about
rupees versus dollars and the time
change, and then I shared some of the
things I was scheduled to do.
Finding a Class
Because I was already involved with
the KIPP Raices Academy, a charter
school in East Los Angeles, I emailed
the principal and explained that I was
looking for a class to take along on a
virtual field trip to India. She got back
to me with the name of someone who
was interested, Mario Echeverria, a
third grade teacher who also believes
in the power of technology.
I explained how I would blog and
that we would also Skype. I gave the
kids a book on India and took their
photos for the blog. I was pretty excited, and so were they.
Off to India
I was apprehensive at first, because
I thought maybe an older group of
students would be a better fit. After
all, what would interest 8-year-olds, I
wondered. The answer turned out to
be unexpected: bathrooms.
A week before my trip, I visited the
school and presented a slide show
about India, beginning with a world
map. This opened up a discussion
about continents, the equator, weather,
and time zones.
I wrote my first blog post the day
before I left. It featured photos of my
virtual travelers. During the 17-day
trip, I wrote 13 posts on my Adventures in India blog ( comeonalong.
blogspot.com). Each post had a photo
or two and observations of what I saw
that day. I didn’t censor anything, but
I was careful. I didn’t show close-ups
of the temple figures in Khajuraho
illustrating the 64 positions from
the Kama Sutra.
The next slide depicted a map of
India, and I talked about all the places
Along the way, I bought children’s
books to go along with what I saw, and
I selected keepsakes that I thought the
children would enjoy. One day I found
little wooden Indian elephants for all
of my virtual companions.
I would visit.
Another slide showed a sink with
water flowing from the tap. I explained
that I could not drink the water in India. This spurred a conversation about
I also took lots of photos of sights
that I thought the kids would find
interesting. For example, we were
invited to have tea with a couple in a
village. They showed us their tiny hut
and answered our questions. As we were
sitting down, I noticed toothbrushes stuck
in the thatched roof. Their home is so small
that is where they store their toothbrushes.
I thought that would interest my class, so I
snapped a picture of it (above).
