I love road trips. Whether it was as a young child in the summers traveling between the Midwest and the Northwest or todays trip where I am turning around to go home.
Why would I connect this passion with the teaching of social studies? It is my humble opinion that you cannot grasp the scope and scale of this wonderful experiment we call the United States without traveling it on the ground. Whether it is by car, motorcycle, bicycle (I think these people take it to a whole new level) bus or train. When you do this you can actually see the progress of westward expansion. The 30 miles between towns so you could water your horse, the trade routes that developed into larger towns. The rivers that fed expansion. You should see it to gain the passion to explain it.
Now I’m sure there are great teachers that have never road tripped. For the way my mind works you have to see the earth. I know Vietnam came alive for me after I visited. It helped me understand the space between Hanoi, DaNang and Ho Chi Minh City. It helped to understand just how narrow that country is and why Loas and Cambodia became so strategic.
I know it is late this summer but it’s never too late to start. Get out there and see what you are teaching!
The Embed Educator 