Thanks to a connection through current volunteer Tori Clayton, the Student Pennsylvania State Education Associate (SPSEA) invited PALS to present at their conference at Westchester University on November 5. When considering what would be most relevant to a room full of aspiring teachers, we kept coming back to one idea - how immersive experiences outside of the classroom, like PALS, make teachers more confident, motivated, and passionate when they step back inside the school building.

Over the years, hundreds of teachers have joined PALS for a week of camp, and we have seen firsthand the impact that PALS has on our volunteer teachers. Their willingness to step outside of the classroom has helped them to grow, provided them with opportunities to learn about people, and challenged them in new ways.

In our assessment of current volunteers who are teachers, coupled with the learnings of 2018 UMASS Study done on PALS, we identified three main benefits to an experience like PALS to share with our session attendees:

Better understanding of student behaviors
Better understanding of students within the context of their community
Better understanding of yourself through an immersive experience

During the presentation, we asked students to share an immersive experience they had that was formative in shaping who they are. Students shared about traveling abroad, living away at college, hiking through the wilderness of Maine, serving for a month at a summer camp in New York, to name just a few. As we sat in the room, we asked what all these experiences had in common, and one student put her hand in the air and replied, “None of them took place in a classroom.” While we know that vital learning happens inside of the classroom, the changing of attitudes, transforming of lives, and inspiring a world of belonging often happens in the experiences outside of the classroom.

We are so grateful for SPSEA of West Chester University’s invitation to present during their conference. It was great to meet the future teachers that will inspire our next generation! Our goal was for each of them to walk away from our session feeling inspired & excited to be lifelong learners. We hope that by venturing outside of the classroom, they will have experiences that will make them more confident, more knowledgeable, and more motivated teachers inside of the classroom. PALS might be that experience and we hope to see them this summer!

Click here to see more about How Stepping Outside Of The Classroom Makes You A Better Teacher Inside Of The Classroom.