The Tour Learning Experience

For 3 to 4 weeks at a time, 30 boys in a big blue tour bus, affectionately called "Gus", travel in a "school on wheels", performing concerts and learning on the road. There is no other educational program like it in this country.

Boys between the ages of 10 - 14 board at The American Boychoir School in Princeton, New Jersey where they are trained to be members of our country's premiere Boychoir.

Since they travel to all areas of the US and other countries to perform, going to school can sometimes include classes in airports, lobbies of hotels and concert hall dressing rooms. It is because their life is so dedicated to the choir, their education and character development that the teacher who travels with them can ask for such flexibility, focus and time management.

Every boy completes a carefully developed and accredited curriculum in every subject. The teachers prepare syllabus based packets that continue the units of study presented in the classroom. All boys take with them math, social studies, health, Spanish, English and science.

Each day as the bus travels from concert site to the next, a teacher starts classes. First there is journal writing where great memories are captured about concerts, special field trips, meeting interesting people, and fun. It is expected that every boy express their appreciation to host families and the generosity they display by writing thank you notes. Although this is a lesson in courtesy it also has the boys learning format and style in their writing.

Then, the assignments are announced for each grade; the tour tutor walks up and down the aisle individually helping and monitoring each student's progress and helping boys with whatever they are studying or learning for that period of the day. While one grade is finishing required reading, the others may be working on science, math or any other subject. Sometimes the boys watch a lesson on the video monitors, or listen to a lesson on the audio networks built into the bus system while the teacher's attention is focused on one particular grade and a concept that needs some further explanation. Careful attention is paid to the boys' pacing so the academics are more about learning and skill rather than just getting things done on time.

Academics on tour have a richness that most students cannot experience in other school environments. When educators talk about interactive and "hands on" materials in classrooms, our classroom on wheels allows us to climb the Rockies, search for seahorses, meet the great Mississippi while reading Mark Twain, sing for the President of the United States and shake his hand, film a documentary at a concentration camp in the Czech Republic and a list of other experiences that enrich and broaden the lives of the students. The written curricula are based on the structure and unique focus of the school while still tending to the development of the fundamental skills in all subject areas.

Upon return to the school after a tour, the boys who have been on the road are at the exact place in the lesson planning as the boys back at the school. This creates a fluency and consistency in the conceptual learning and application of skills for every student.

It is an exciting way to learn and an effective one as well. Every alumnus who returns after graduating usually regards these memories and style of learning as the finest lessons of his tenure here at the school.