Halfway There

After almost three months at the Amon Carter, I have just about passed the halfway mark on my fellowship. It has been wonderful to work in the Carter's education department and I have started to get a clearer idea on where I would like to focus my attention.  I found that I really enjoy working on the community outreach programs. There are less guidelines and the programs are more freeform than those strictly designed for school students. The school programs are so well established and the school district has a very clear idea on what they would like to focus on that it can be rather daunting to try anything new. The logistics of getting 60 students in and out of the museum also limits exactly what can be done. Whereas the community outreach programs typically have less attendees and take place offsite so the kids that come can do more outlandish projects. The next few months my time at the Carter will mostly be spent helping with those programs. I have also gotten the chance to write lessons for the school tours and the afterschool programs and write some content for the Teacher Resources web. The next two weeks will really consist of me editing all of those before the museum reopens. I also need to decide what I want my major project at the museum to be. I have some options, but I am unsure if I would want to present an idea to the department or try to design an entire program. If I go the program route I want to come up with something that would actually be desired by community and would reach an audience the museum doesn't really reach. The museum does a lot for children, but there are not a lot of programs for teens. I wondering if it would be worthwhile to try to design a program for teens. I hoping I get a clearer idea soon so I can begin the planning and logistics part of the process.