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Chaperone Responsibilites with David H.

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Whether you’re touring with 20 travelers or 100,  your chaperones can make a big difference on your next educational tour.  Chaperones provide an additional level of support and group flexibility when it comes to making sure everyone is staying together and having a good time.

This week, we caught up with Group Leader David H. who shared some of his tried-and-true tips for assigning chaperone responsibilities.  Here are his suggestions for how he works together with his chaperones:

  • Each chaperone is assigned to a group of students before tour. David usually allots one chaperone for every two rooms of students (which pans out to about 8 students).
  • Serve as the “Bus Commander.”  The Bus Commander serves as the main point of contact for group check-ins.  There should be one for each bus.  The benefit of having only chaperones as Bus Commanders is that as a Group Leader, you have the flexibility to shuttle back and forth between buses to make sure everyone is accounted for before departing.
  • Assist with hotel arrival.  David has the chaperones get off the bus when they reach the hotel – the students all stay on.  They get the room cards distributed to each of the chaperones who, in turn, call their students off the bus group by group.  Keys are handed out, room numbers given and a chaperone takes the students inside to find each of their rooms.  He likes to think of this as the “timed release” method.  Instead of 95 students barreling down the halls at once, they go in slowly with less chance of disturbing the other guests. (This is especially good if it is late.)
  • Have small-groups check in with their Bus Commander. David says  they never have to wait long when doing head counts – he simply says: “Lincoln Group! Got your kids???” (They will have already done a head count of their 8 students when boarding the bus.) Thumbs up from the “Lincoln Group” Chaperone? Great! “Roosevelt Group! Got your kids?” (And so on.) It goes very smoothly.
  • Make sure everyone is up for breakfast. In the morning, each chaperone is responsible for making sure both rooms are awake and at breakfast at least half an hour before the bus departs.  Generally, they do a door knock at “wake up time” then go down to breakfast. While eating, half an hour before getting on the bus, David checks with each chaperone to make sure they have everyone in their group. If not, they do a second check at the rooms.
  • Get your group’s cell phone numbers.  Each chaperone should have the cell phone numbers for every student in their small group (if they have one). This helps a lot if they are not at the bus on time to move to the next location.
  • Keep them loosely connected with travelers during site seeing activities. While touring, the students generally go with the chaperones – at least until they get into the museum or attraction. You don’t need to require students to stay glued to a chaperone – just loosely connected.
  • Help build a sense of team unity. Don’t forget to have fun!  Create group names to build a sense of unity.  David names his groups after U.S. presidents.  On David’s last trip, he created little contests or scavenger hunts to start some friendly competition.  As an example: have your entire group (chaperones included) take a photograph in front of something that belonged to your team’s president. So if you are team Lincoln, you could take a picture in from of one of Lincoln’s hats.  Once they take the picture, have the chaperones text it to you and offer small prizes each day for the best one.  This really helps create a team spirit and interestingly enough, most groups end up staying with their chaperone after that.

So whether you’re the only chaperone or you have 8 others, David’s suggestions are a great way to prepare for an exciting student tour and make sure that everyone is staying together and having a good time!


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