version of the “exhibit guide” that the Virginia Living Museum and many other museums and field trip sites provide for students. While the VLM exhibit guide these offers a basic level of support for grades K-12 instruction goals, no generic museum exhibit guide can connect with your students more effectively than the product of your own research, thought and experience. A Focus Guide developed by you (or together with fellow teachers) provides the following significant advantages: ■ It can coordinate the time of year for your field trip, the VLM’s specific learning opportunities, and the sequence of your instruction. A teacher-developed Focus Guide will ensure that
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your students connect with the information and experiences that best support your specific instruction objectives at the time of year these connections are the most valuable. ■ It will reflect your style of instruction – how you ask your questions, how you communicate expectations for engaging in observations, measurements, predictions, problem solving, etc. ■ It provides important opportunities for students to work and produce results as teams. ■ It helps improve students’ behavior. Your expectations and learning goals emphasized by the Focus Guides in their hands
helps them understand they are “on a mission” vs. “free-floating.” In addition, it helps chaperones understand your goals and expectations – and gives them a tool to help maintain a “productive structure” with their assigned groups. ■ It will provide a tangible bridge between your pre-visit instruction and your post-visit review and integration. When students return to your classroom with results based on your specific requirements, and if these products are used to support continued instruction, it helps them understand that their VLM field trip experience was part of the “big picture” of their education – and not just a “day out of school.”