We Be Trippin'

Typically, the educational process works in the following manner:  teacher plans curriculum and lessons to meet or achieve certain grade level specific standards outlined by a state's educational board or by an accrediting body, students work diligently to learn and demonstrate proficiency in the standards, assessment occurs to assess the gaps in proficiency, and maybe a field trip is included to supplement the learning goals and expose students to opportunities to learn outside of the classroom. 

Flash forward to our place of employment where the educational process is thrown out the window along with standards, best learning practices, and all common sense.  Yesterday, our school decided we needed to check off the "field trip" box so we packed up the whole school and headed to .... wait for it .... a giant supermarket.  Yup, we took 4 hours of classroom time to take students to a grocery store where we were walked through the aisles (coincidence that our tour snaked us through the toy, games, candy, and soda aisles),  had our students spend 10 minutes "making bread" and then let us have "lesson time" for 2.5 hours in the middle of a grocery store.  (Note, our "principal" informed us that lessons could include comparison shopping, itemized pricing, and caloric intake options -- yeah, that will keep the interest of a 7 year old!).  The effectiveness of this trip was summed up perfectly by one student stating, "Well I had fun.  Well, it was fun to be out of class.  I thought the rest was just silly."

Big C Superstore.  Think Walmart meets Vietnam.

They made the mistake of bringing out the mascot.  Our students mobbed it and by the end, its clothes were hanging off.  Seriously!

Decked out and waiting to head into the bakery.  What did our principal have them do while they waited?  Sing.  No joke.  Yeah that's one way to make an even bigger scene.

Getting down and dirty to make some banh mi.  The highlight for the 10 minutes it took.