Teacher on the Trail™ sleeping bag

One of the very cool responsibilities that the Teacher on the Trail™ is tasked to do each year is design a patch that’ll be sewn on both the Teacher on the Trail™ sleeping bag and also the teacher’s personal parka. Year after year of being in the classroom, educators often come to expect certain things from students and are not too surprised when those things occur. I continuously am taken aback by how creative and talented the students are, in particular, their inventiveness, individuality and imagination. Having recognized this and also acknowledging that I am not the greatest artist, I knew the best approach would be to have the students design my patch. Ergo, I organized a patch design competition that was open to every student in my school.

After receiving more than forty student submissions, it became incredibly challenging to determine which design should be selected and created. I decided to have the staff in my school cast votes in order to aid my decision. After careful deliberation and tallying, the winning patch design ended up being submitted by one of my eighth grade students, Riley Moriarty. Her design included great symbolism and it also looked awesome, or in New England terms, wicked cool. 

The husky running through the center of the patch very much symbolizes the Iditarod and the amazing sled dogs.

The green background and the “C” represent our school’s color and the town of Canton, MA.  

Behind the husky and within the center “C” is the symbolic shape of our town’s still operable viaduct. The Canton Viaduct was designed and constructed in the early nineteenth century for the Boston and Providence Railroad. For many years, this viaduct was the longest and tallest one in the entire world. This engineering feat continues to support the trains while also allowing the water from the Canton River to continue flowing.

I can confidently say that I am proud to wear this patch that represents me and my school community. 

If you are in need of a fun lesson, consider having your students design original patches that represent who they are. Students can share their work with each other and carefully evaluate who and what represent them as individuals. Also, have your students practice drawing inferences by having them closely analyze the former Teacher on the Trail™ patches. Students can deduce information about each teacher based on the things that were included on his/her patch. After students draw their inferences, they can review information about the past Teachers on the Trail™ and see if their educated guesses were accurate.