Make an Impact: Teaching on the Road

Learning about various parts of the world in the classroom can be enhanced with the thrill of actual communication from someone who is out there visiting those places.
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I remember writing to the tourism offices of Kentucky and Tennessee in first grade. Our class was practicing writing letters, and each of us was assigned to two states so we could have the whole country covered. I clearly remember the experience of waiting for maps and tourism brochures to come in the mail, and little by little, most of the states trickled in. I finally visited my two states twenty years later, in part inspired by that first-grade experience.

Bike touring gives you a chance to provide that type of impact on young people, especially if you can tour while school is in session. Your “Reports from the Road” via postcard or email can provide teachers with real life geography or social studies lessons and make those subjects more alive for students. You may be able to get into a classroom before you leave so the students can meet you, see you and your equipment, and learn something about biking. Of course, you can also work in a bicycle safety lesson while you’re there or perhaps work with other local groups doing similar safety presentations.

For many of those young students, their own bikes represent their first and greatest freedom, so to see an adult traveling by bike is a great way to reinforce that initial love of two-wheeled travel and keep them on the bike past the sixth grade. And there’s nothing like a room full of little expectant faces to keep you moving on those days you consider heading for home before the end of your trip!

Submitted by Joy Santee

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