For the last three years, APN has taken its two senior classes to Sequoia National Park. We did it back in 2010, too. Most students go. We herd them on a charter bus, feed them along the way, spend two nights with them at the Montecito Resort (where everything is included–students need not bring a dime), bring them home, and feed them on the way home. It’s 200 bucks.
One of the cool things about the Montecito Resort is that it has no cell phone service and pretty crappy wi-fi. Students worry a bit about this; they wonder, and often ask, what is there to do? That is not the cool thing. That part happens when they actually get to the destination. For some of them, they still don’t know what to do. They kind of hang around the lodge, maybe play some ping-pong, maybe get a juice, or coffee, or some food item, since everything is included.
Some check their phones to make sure they, indeed, have no cell service. Oh, the humanity!
But, after a while, something magical happens. They give in to it. They realize that they are 300 miles from home, and go for a walk in the woods. Some keep playing ping-pong. Others break out cards and play games and laugh and yell at one another. Others just talk, or sit by the fire, or take some pictures next to trees (or snow, or water), or slide down snowy hills, or climb rocks, or nap, or eat more.
For those couple of days, students don’t whine or complain about much. And their phones become invisible, like they never had them in the first place.
It’s one of our greatest teaching moments, yet it requires no lesson. It’s getting our kids out of Torrance, trusting that they’ll be able to hang out, and sitting back and reaping the rewards. As teachers, we sit at the same tables they do, often play cards with them, or ping-pong, or rock climb, or slide down a snowy hill. Friendships are made, and people understand others a little bit more when there’s not a bunch of desks in a room and bells going off every hour.
It’s fun. There, I wrote the word–FUN.
Schools should try it, too.