Hello friends.
Seven weeks ago (wow!) I began my fellowship at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in the Museum Education Department, focusing on k-12th specifically in the gallery teaching section of the department. Although I started my position seven weeks ago tomorrow, I still feel like it's barely just begun! This probably has to do with the fact that I'm only going in one day a week and everyone is having a hard time adjusting to virtual teaching, so lots of deadlines are being pushed back. All of the programs this year are going to be virtual, which comes with a plethora of issues that no one in the department has ever dealt with before. Nonetheless, I am excited about the possibilities and already feel very comfortable around the wonderful group of educators that I will be working with.
I have already looked through a lot of the past lessons that the education department keeps in their archives and have been brainstorming how I can write my own lesson plans. I have written lesson plans for children before for past jobs, but never any that were as complex as these, so I would say one huge thing I'm looking forward to learning is how I can draw really interesting connections from books to artwork to poems to the student's individual experiences and turn those into lesson plans. Also, all of the lesson plans I've written in the past have been solely my ideas, but the Amon Carter is huge on collaborating and always working with the whole team, which I love! I am so excited to learn about how valuable team work is to the process.
I have already locked myself out of my work computer, gotten lost in the building, set off alarms, and been late/missed meetings, so hopefully I can only go up from here on out (fingers crossed!). This year is so incredibly different for everyone, so I am positive that the skills I learn this year during a global pandemic will be valuable experiences that I will reflect on for possibly the rest of my life.
I can't wait to read about everyone else's experiences and build a community! Here's to pandemic pedagogy and the craziest year I've seen yet.
Emma! I am so excited to hear more about the lessons that you will be collaborating on. It -IS- such a crazy year but it is going to be such great practice to learn how to be flexible and adapt to anything that life will throw at us in our future careers. :)
ReplyDeleteOnwards and upwards! I can promise you that no one is judging you for locking yourself out of your computer or setting off alarms or getting lost! It happened to all of us too when we were new too.
ReplyDeletePandemic pedagogy is a great term that I need to be using more! I love that the AC is all about teamwork. Like Julianna, I look forward to hearing more about these lesson plans too!
Thanks for being so honest about your experiences. You are not the only one who has set off an alarm here and there! Congratulations on working sucessfully with a team to create and implement curriculum.
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