Tips for Trips
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This page is a work in progress, so please add to it as you see fit!
Contents |
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Planning
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Instructor Team Alignment
- Complete the Trip Planning Outline as part of your planning process
- Go through the Instructor Team Questions to align your team as to your goals, objectives, and working personalities and preferences. DO NOT IGNORE THESE STEPS! Good course outcomes can almost always be brought back to good instructor team dynamics. When courses go bad, it is very likely due to a lack of commitment and investment in this step.
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Logistics
- Pick a location early on and research to verify that it's a good place to go.
- Emphasize up front (at the pre-trip meeting) the level of the trip (beg, intermediate, advanced) - make sure students will know there will be a variety of experience levels
- Plan a short first day - a lot needs to be discussed/taught that day.
- Inform gear room early not only about group gear but also about personal gear (like sleeping bags and packs) so that they can be set aside.
Questions to ask the ranger station:
- Do we need to hang our food?
- Who runs evacuations - what is their number?
- What's the weather like this time of year?
- Do you recommend any particular guide books / sections of trail or river?
- Do we need permits to camp/park/fish, etc.
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Lessons
- Start lesson plans early on in your planning stage - the last few weeks will be taken up by logistics and you may be too burned out to do lesson plans.
- Have a conversation with co-leaders about individual leadership styles - what's the best way for you to make a strong team?
- Have a conversation about how you will meet the challenges of peer leadership.
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On Course
- Check in regularly with group about how trip is going
- Find possible individual connection to each student
- Teach with questions - incorporate knowledge of group in the lesson
- Make transparent decisions - make group decisions wherever appropriate
