{"id":78899,"date":"2023-10-26T12:56:31","date_gmt":"2023-10-26T17:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/casel.work\/?post_type=blogposts&#038;p=78899"},"modified":"2025-10-16T13:52:32","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T18:52:32","slug":"exploring-the-city-discovering-themselves","status":"publish","type":"blogposts","link":"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/exploring-the-city-discovering-themselves\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploring the City, Discovering Themselves"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"key-points\"><strong>Key Points<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Every year, Harlem Academy\u2019s middle school unit, \u201cExplore,\u201d challenges students to create their own day-long field trip in New York City.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Over the years, students have visited an array of museums, landmarks, restaurants, and cultural sites all across the city\u2014from Japanese and Vietnamese eateries to the Invisible Man sculpture to the Brooklyn Museum and more.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Experiencing the diverse offerings of their city is a method for students to develop empathy and strengthen leadership, collaboration, and communication skills\u2014and have fun along the way.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>When students take a field trip in their own city, it can be a learning experience in more ways than one\u2014especially when they have the opportunity to design the outing themselves. Every year, Harlem Academy\u2019s middle school unit, \u201cExplore,\u201d challenges students to create their own day-long field trip in New York City. As they navigate the complexities of this project, students also develop their social and emotional competencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The \u201cExplore\u201d unit has been a staple of Harlem Academy\u2019s program since 2011. Over the years, students have visited an array of museums, landmarks, restaurants, and cultural sites all across the city\u2014from Japanese and Vietnamese eateries to the Invisible Man sculpture to the Brooklyn Museum and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity to see things we haven\u2019t seen before, even though we live in New York City,\u201d says 7th grader Christiana. \u201cThe trip taught me about planning and being independent, and it also made my class closer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-importance-of-teamwork\"><strong>The Importance of Teamwork<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p>Once our middle schoolers are divided into small groups and given broad parameters guiding them toward a shared goal, they work within a set budget to design an itinerary\u2014selecting destinations within at least two of New York\u2019s five boroughs, planning activities, and coordinating schedules. It\u2019s a six-week project that requires creativity, collaboration, and organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because each trip must include unfamiliar cuisines, an interesting landmark, and an institution of learning, initial research is critical. A variety of questions have to be addressed before an itinerary can be created: <em>What sites should we visit? How will we get there and how long will it take? What foods should we try? How much will everything cost?<\/em> Students determine how to divvy up the work, then reconvene to present their findings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDividing the tasks was pretty easy,\u201d says 8<sup>th<\/sup> grader Jayden, who took on a leadership role in his group. \u201cI asked who wanted to handle transportation, who wanted to review restaurants, and people raised their hands. Everyone was able to do something they were excited about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Christiana\u2019s group, tasks were matched with strengths. \u201cIf you had leadership skills, you took on that role, which is what I did,\u201d she says. \u201cIf you were good at math, you became the money manager. It was easier to do it that way because no one had to struggle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"building-consensus-and-resilience\"><strong>Building Consensus and Resilience<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p>As ideas are discussed and decisions are made, differences of opinion are bound to arise, requiring students to listen, be open to suggestions, and tap their communication and negotiation skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhenever we disagreed, we\u2019d meet and try to find a way to include people\u2019s opinions,\u201d says Christiana. Compromise was the key. For instance, when selecting restaurants, everyone made a suggestion. \u201cThen we took a poll to make our final selection. While some people were disappointed that we didn\u2019t have certain foods, in the end we all enjoyed our meals together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even if a setback happens once the trip is underway\u2014getting off at the wrong subway stop, for instance, or a site turns out to be closed\u2014it teaches students how to pivot and problem-solve. When Jayden\u2019s group started to run behind schedule, several students stepped up and rallied everyone to stay optimistic. \u201cTeamwork becomes very important,\u201d says Jayden. \u201cIf the trip isn\u2019t going as planned, everyone has to keep a positive attitude.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the end, experiencing the diverse offerings of their city isn\u2019t just a great way for our middle schoolers to try new foods, visit museums, and see interesting landmarks. It\u2019s a method to develop empathy and strengthen leadership, collaboration, and communication skills\u2014and have fun along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This unit has worked so well for our students that we published a paper, &#8220;A Field Trip That&#8217;s Not About the Destination but the Journey,&#8221; in <em>Middle Grades Review<\/em> to help other educators weave it into their classrooms and extend Harlem Academy&#8217;s impact beyond its walls. <a href=\"https:\/\/harlemacademy.myschoolapp.com\/ftpimages\/1688\/download\/download_3137796.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Read the paper<\/a>, along with our other published articles highlighting innovative programs and successful strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The views in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of CASEL.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Angela Ebron<\/strong> is the communications director at Harlem Academy, a K-8 independent school dedicated to driving equity of opportunity for promising students.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Related Posts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/sel-skill-building-at-summer-camp\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SEL Skill-Building at Summer Camp<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/why-museums-are-the-new-frontier-for-sel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Why Museums Are \u201cThe New Frontier\u201d for SEL<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/sel-skybridges-museums-as-partners-in-social-and-emotional-learning\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cSEL Skybridges\u201d: Museums as Partners in Social and Emotional Learning<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"write-for-us\"><strong>Write for Us<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p>Are you interested in writing for CASEL\u2019s blog,&nbsp;<em>Constellations<\/em>?&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1zSZFveKA8xsmlCADpfDP8t-y9emN0qswHQh1MnfmqBI\/edit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Learn more<\/a>&nbsp;about what we\u2019re looking for and how to pitch your idea!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Points Back to top When students take a field trip in their own city, it can be a learning experience in more ways than one\u2014especially when they have the opportunity to design the outing themselves. Every year, Harlem Academy\u2019s middle school unit, \u201cExplore,\u201d challenges students to create their own day-long field trip in New [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26603,"featured_media":78901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","theme":[199],"class_list":["post-78899","blogposts","type-blogposts","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","theme-spotlights"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blogposts\/78899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blogposts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blogposts"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26603"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78899"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"theme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/theme?post=78899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}