Most of my time in Onstead is about planning, writing and communicating.
Peter gets communications from school districts, cities, museums and other groups inquiring about workshops. Sometimes we do a visit or meeting with the people who reach out. Other times it's all phones calls and emails.
From there we help them figure out specifics; whether it is something we have done before or completely new, and whether it will be held at UNT or offsite. We reach out to potential and returning session leaders, or we plan to run the sessions completely with in-house staff.
Session leaders cover a wide range of topics: from pedagogy to art making. It all depends on their specialty. Regardless of whether the sessions leaders are guests or staff, a lot of thought goes into their planning. It's a lot like preparing assignments for classes when you are a Teaching Fellow, except you have to consider your audience much more. Is it a professional development for teachers? If so, what grade do they teach? Elementary teachers require a completely different type of workshop than secondary educators. Is the session actually for students in K-12? If the workshop is being requested by someone other than a school district representative, is it a community event?
Once workshops are planned and leaders are in place, we order supplies and verify spaces, all the while keeping in close communication with the people requesting the development. It may not be glamorous, but it's kind of fun making sure that everything is in place for the day.
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