Guidelines for Chaperones
Your attitude sets the tone, and all students will take their enthusiasm cues from you. Inspire student travelers by expressing interest in your destination, listening to the tour leader, and asking engaging questions. Your positive attitude will make all the difference when their energy begins to flag. Choose to motivate, not deflate!
Your top priority as a chaperone is student safety. Keep your designated group of students together while touring and conduct frequent headcounts. We recommend chaperones to space themselves in the front, middle and rear of group.
Maintaining discipline and control is the responsibility of the chaperone. One of the primary purposes of this trip is education. We ask the cooperation of the chaperones in keeping the students quiet when the tour leader is giving commentary or instructions.
We pack our trips with fun and engaging activities. It is critical that we stay on schedule to see it all! Chaperones greatly assist the trip by keeping the group together (including the slower walkers) and gathering the students at the designated meeting spot on time. Additionally, encouraging students to quickly find their seats on the bus is a great help.
Students aren’t the only ones who learn on educational trips, so do the chaperones! Even if you are an expert on the trip topic, you will likely learn something new during the experience. The tour leaders share a wealth of information and there is always something exciting to see. Traveling can often be the fastest way to learn.
It can be very rewarding to view your destination through the students’ perspective, to see their eyes open to new experiences, to see what inspires them, and what engages them most. It is also rewarding to share your perspective with students, who may have a more distant memory of an event that deeply impacted your life. For example, your recollection of where you were on 9/11/01 or John F. Kennedy’s assassination can offer valuable insight and perspective for a student who may not have memories of the event.
Promote Lifelong Learning:
Learning doesn’t stop when you leave the classroom. As a chaperone, you inspire students to become lifelong learners. Your enthusiasm and engaging questions speak volumes about continuing to grow and learn regardless of your age.
Demonstrate a personal interest in what students are learning and in the development of the students themselves. Since this is an important stage of their personal development, your presence on a trip will help shape students’ minds and instill values of leadership. You are an active role model and can have a lasting positive impact!
Being a chaperone allows you to see a destination for a substantially lower price than you could see traveling on your own. In addition, your tour leader will share stories, information, and other hidden places that you may overlook otherwise.