Small Groups, Outide the Classroom

This past June, my husband and I were visiting Kyoto with friends of ours from the States. Kyoto is the historical and cultural capital of Japan —the city of a million temples and shrines. It’s a beautiful place and oozing with history, whereas in Tokyo you have to dig through the ugly concrete to just get a glimpse of the past.

Anyway, we were taking our time strolling down the Philosopher’s Walk, a two-kilometer-long, nature path that was made famous by a Kyoto University professor who used to walk the path to meditate. Walking the same route, we noticed two or three groups of Japanese students led by, what appeared to be, a teacher. The students were about 12 or 13 years old, dressed in school uniforms, and the teacher seemed to be explaining to them the nuances of this famous site. Likely the Philosopher’s Walk was just one stop on their tour of Kyoto, as we saw similar groups at other sites.

Seeing this small learning group (outside the classroom) really struck me. What a great way to learn! This was a learning environment that was completely removed from the pressures of peers and the confines of the school house. But, to add to it, the small group is so brilliant—no one gets lost at the back of the pack; no one misses what the teacher says; no one gets to get into a tussle with a fellow student when out of the teacher’s sight. This is a great concept to bring back to the US. Even if it was only for a couple of hours, once or twice a year, if one teacher took only three students on a field trip, the specialized learning time and personal attention would likely more significant learning-wise than five group field trips. Those Japanese students were raptly paying attention to what the teacher had to say, they were all participating, and genuinely seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Has any one been able to take the small group learning concept outside of the classroom?

Comments

[Robyn]

Last year, a couple of teachers we were working with got permission to take a small group of students into Chinatown over the weekend of the Chinese New Year. This is exactly the type of experience this post is talking about -- small and powerful. Granted this required the teachers to put in "extra" hours but I would imagine that the reward of knowing that this experience will stay with the students for years to come was well worth it. What are some other types of *special* experiences teachers out there have offered students and was the extra effort worth it?