Trip Diaries
While children and their families are not encouraged to take annual leave during school term time, this can be unavoidable. We are not able to dictate the parents when they take the children from school for holidays because the circumstances are beyond our control.
Parents will sometimes come and approach schools and teachers for work to be done while children are on holidays either interstate or overseas. It really works! The work state is that best sporadically completed. Young people also feel it to be an imposition and don’t approach tasks with a positive mindset.
I was often confronted by families taking leave during school time. Home work as described above was never said. Rather, I’d sit down with children, talk with them about trip diaries and encourage them to compile a journal that covered the holiday period.
Children who accepted this task were rewarded when they returned to school. This happened in a number of ways:
Children had their diaries read, were able to share them with classes, and received certificates commemorating the work that they had put into their journals.
Students shared their journals with their classes, educational units, and often at unit or house school assemblies. One of my methods was to interview children during assembly using an “question-and-answer” technique.
On occasion, local media was contacted meaning of the children were featured in the local newspaper with the work they had done being acknowledged.
Encouraging children to complete diaries commemorating their travels gives them and indelible and everlasting reminder of the undertaking. It has the added benefit of encouraging them to keep records, the strategy that will stand them in good stead throughout life.
Consider this as a strategy that may be useful during your teaching career. And a valuable research and observational opportunity for students
EDUCATION, A LIFE FORCE 
👍👍👍
I did this with our my daughter on a March Break trip to Mexico. It was before 9/11 and the steward showed her the cockpit. She kept a journal and drew pictures of the cockpit and other places as well as writing brief comments. As you suggested in your post, she did bring her journal to school when we returned, and her class and teacher seemed to really enjoy it, from what the teacher told me. She was in the second grade at the time ( 6 or 7 years old). I still have that little journal. It brings back wonderful memories!
I encourage diary keeping. With a few missteps I started diary keeping in 1970.
I did too in the 1980 but the kids were small so there was nothing interesting going on so I stopped. What I did realize though, is I had items and notes on calendars. I ‘ve kept those over the years. I find they serve as my journals and trigger memories as well.
Quite a few students at my school, when returned, had stories of their travels highlighted in the local newspaper.
It must have been exciting for them! Great memories for them.
I also used to have the students display that trip diaries at whole school assemblies. I would do an interview “Question and Answer“ session with them to share their experiences from their lips with the whole of the audience. When the whole school was assembled, they were in order of 400 students.
That was really good for their confidence and public speaking; as Wellers encouraged other students who may be going on holidays to create a trip diary, journal, or travel log of their adventures.
How wonderful it must have been when you were there. My kids school was maybe 250 students. It was the same school I attend over 50 years ago!
They are wonderful records.