The purpose of this class is to provide educators with a variety of educational, cultural and historical experiences outside of their regular classroom. More than ever, our students are visual learners who need to see what we are talking about to reinforce our classroom instruction. Teaching Beyond the Textbook is designed to help teachers understand how these sites can be beneficial to our students, and to make sure that they are familiar with the logistics of the locations. Many of our locations feature guided tours, educational resources for loan to schools, and a variety of other programs that can help you provide the best experience to your students.

At the completion of this course, the learner will be able to:

• To provide educators with relevant and direct experiences of important sites/museums in the local area. InTASC 3
• To examine locations that can give students a chance to see real-world applications of the content they learn in the classroom. InTASC 5, 6
• To help educators develop a better understanding of the logistics for bringing a class to the locations, making the actual field trips during the year run smoothly. InTASC 3
• To give educators the tools to help the students understand the social, cultural, civic, and community benefits of field trips and related educational sites. InTASC 4
• To develop professional relationships with field trip destinations throughout the area to strengthen community awareness and curriculum planning. InTASC 6