Pre-Departure Reflection Questions for Students Before a Teacher-Led Trip
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Pre-Departure Reflection Questions for Students Before a Teacher-Led Trip

Throughout our programs, we have group discussions and reflections to hear how students are engaging with their surroundings and the program. Typically we sit in a circle and give everyone a chance to respond so they can hear each other’s reflections. We also allow time for journaling and written reflections if preferred.

Use some of these prompts to start conversations with your students about the experiences they’ll have on your trip.

Your Community

  • Tell me about your own community in less than three sentences.
  • What is your favorite thing about your community and your home?
  • What do people in your community eat? What are the origins of this food, both culturally and agriculturally?
  • What is one of the biggest social issues in your community?
  • When visiting someone else’s community, how can we be sure we are asking the right questions and avoiding generalizations? What are some questions you’d like to be asked about your life and world?

Reflections on Traveling

  • What are you most looking forward to?
  • How do you think you will be perceived?
  • What do you think locals’ first impressions of your group will be?
  • What personal identities are you most conscious of when you are traveling?
  • What can you do to ensure you’re an excellent ambassador of those identities?
  • What is an issue you want to learn about in your host community?

Group Dynamics

  • What do you think you will learn about your classmates on this trip?
  • What do you think will push your own limits?
  • What is one way you want to grow as an individual? As a class?
  • How do you think this trip will affect the way you relate to your classmates?
  • What is the benefit of traveling as a class?

Get more pre-travel prompts to get your students thinking broadly about their upcoming trip and begin exercising their travel brains.


Click below to learn more about how to customize the perfect Rustic Pathways Group Travel program for your students.

About the Author

Lauren DeAngelis Alvarez

Director of School Partnerships

Lauren brings experience from across Rustic Pathways’ sales and operations, including as our Strategic Partnerships Manager and USA Country Director. She lives between two Caribbean cities—New Orleans and Santo Domingo—and spends time by the ocean in New England where she grew up. She is a Temple University alumnus and non-fiction reader. You can usually find her hosting unexpected parties, exploring cities, or hiking the bayous with her family.