Teacher as Tour Guide

1. Teacher as Tour Guide Annie McKenzie

2. The Tour Guide needs to be a leader and think quickly on their feet, being ready for all types of situations that may occur during their expedition. As a leader it is important to know your group and what they want to get out of the journey, knowing their needs and abilities will help accommodate them.

3. Learning As a Tour Guide it is important to provide exciting learning opportunities for the group and be opened for extra learning development. It is my job to make the learning interesting, to take the group on an adventure. While on this adventure the group needs to be captivated and interested in the topic. I need to be able to hold everyone’s attention and to take aboard their learning style.

4. Learning The journey will need to include visual, written and hands on learning, catering for everyone’s needs. As well as the group learning, I will also need to learn along the way. By this I mean I will need to learn different strategies to handle situations, as well as researching my topic before presenting it to the group.

5. Motivation and engagement The Tour Guide needs to hold the attention of their audience, keeping in mind that within their group there are all different levels of knowledge. The journey must be fun but also needs to engage the group.

6. Motivation and engagement If the group finds the journey fun and enjoyable they will be motivated to keep engaged and learn about the topic. The Tour Guide needs to involve the group in the discussion and activities, prompting them to develop further knowledge.

7. Classroom environment The Tour Guide would set up a classroom with lots of visual cues for learning. It would be a safe and friendly environment welcoming all the guests. There would be specific learning areas set up around the classroom where the participants could explore different elements of a given topic. These areas may include a writing area, art area, play area etc.

8. Classroom environment As the leader of the group it is important for the Tour Guide to have visual contact in all areas of the classroom and make sure that all group members are participating in the given tasks. The classroom would also be set up to cater for everyone’s needs, for example to take into consideration that more space may be needed for a wheelchair.

9. Classroom environment Desks would be set up in smalls groups. This will allow participants to discuss their work and get other views on the topic. There would also be singular desks in the room for participants to work at. These desks may be used for an activity that a group member needs to do alone.

10. A Tour Guide is responsible for the learning outcomes of the group, therefore needs to have knowledge and understanding of the topic and the group. It is their responsibility to provide a safe learning environment for their group.