SEEC’s Oscars

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Cynthia Raso

2-2 In keeping with the awards season time of year, SEEC held its annual Staff Appreciation dinner recently in order to recognize the hard work and dedication of our entire team. It was also a great opportunity to kick back, relax, and enjoy some time together.

During the course of the evening, we honored six individuals who have really stood out.

Without further ado, the winners are….

Diane Homiak Award

The Diane Homiak Award is a lasting tribute to the memory of SEEC supporter, parent, and employee Diane Homiak. A fund has been established that annually recognizes the commitment, creativity, and contributions made by a teacher to SEEC. sign-me-up

Melinda Bernsdorf, teacher in one of our two-year-old classes, was the 2017 recipient. With numerous nominations from parents, teammates, and colleagues, Melinda was singled out for fostering a creative and inspiring learning environment, her ability to build independence and inquisitiveness in her children, her willingness to share ideas, and the remarkable warmth she brings to everything she does.  Melinda has been at SEEC since 2014 and holds a Bachelors in Psychology. She has a long history of working with children and says she loves how each child has their own individual way of exploring their world.

Rookie of the Year

First year toddler teacher Elizabeth Kubba was celebrated as this year’s Rookie of the Year!  She, too, was recognized for her creativity in the classroom, her dedication to her children, and her level of communication. As an undergrad, she realized that educating and developing young people was her true passion so she went on to earn her M.Ed. in School Counseling from Liberty University. She has been working in special education at the elementary level for the past three years.

Spirit of SEEC

Brooke Shoemaker was celebrated with the Spirit of SEEC Award.  This award isn’t given out every year – it’s only awarded when an educator who reaches across the entire school really stands out, and Brooke truly fits that bill!  She was recognized for her work supporting teachers in all three of SEEC’s sites, her ability to connect with everyone (big and little), and her outstanding work within the Center for Innovation in Early Learning. Brooke serves as the Education Specialist for Pre-K and Elementary programs. She holds an M.Ed. in Early Childhood Education and you will often find her combining her knowledge of young learners with her love for theater.

Team Player Awards

Logan Crowley

Phoebe Cos

Ace Walton

The Team Player is awarded to staff who is recognized by their peers. Infant Educator, Logan Crowley, and Assistant Educators, Ace Walton and Phoebe Cos were selected as this year’s award winners – each goes above and beyond to support his/her colleagues, with warmth, willingness to jump in, and a positive outlook! We’re incredibly lucky to have such supportive and dedicated educators across SEEC!

While these 6 individuals were specifically recognized, we also took the time at our dinner to recognize each and every member of SEEC’s team.  We’re so incredibly fortunate to have a community of educators as strong and dedicated as those working here each day – it’s what makes SEEC the special place that it is – and we know you recognize that, too! An incredible 27 individuals were nominated this year, and we received more than 50 nominations for these talented educators!

A Playful Experiment

Posted on May 11, 2016 by Cynthia Raso

Originally posted May 2014:

This past week I had the chance to attend one of SEEC’s seminars: Play: Engaging Learners in Object Rich Environments. During the two-day workshop, we explored the meaning of play and how to use it when teaching with objects. We began the seminar by defining play as a group. Some of the key words were: fun, tools, free thought, child directed, social, emotional, intellectual. To help us articulate the discussion, we also read Museum Superheroes: The Role of Play in Yong Children’s Lives by Pamela Krakowski, which distinguishes play as:

active engagement, intrinsic motivation, attention to process rather than the ends, nonliteral (symbolic behavior) and freedom from external rules.1

I reflected on these concepts and how they related to my own teaching. I wondered how I could incorporate more play into my practice, especially when I was in the museums. I decided to try out some new play strategies on a recent visit to the National Gallery of Art with a group of preschoolers.

Asher Brown Durand The Stranded Ship 1844 oil on canvas National Gallery of Art Gift of Ann and Mark Kington/The Kington Foundation through Millennium Funds 2003.71.1

My first playful endeavor was completely spontaneous. I began the discussion by asking the children to describe this painting by Asher Brown Durand. One girl pointed toward the artwork and said:

The sun is always moving through the sky.

I took this opportunity to ask the rest of the class whether they had ever noticed the sun moving through the sky too. They immediately offered their own examples. At that moment, I decided we should play the Earth. I asked everyone to stand up and slowly turn their bodies. I grabbed a parent and had her stand in the center pretending to be the sun. As we moved, I explained how it was actually the Earth’s rotation that made it look the sun was moving in the sky. This was a completely unexpected and child-initiated moment, which was great. I think it was the playful element though that really made the experience memorable. If I hadn’t asked the children to get up and pretend to be the Earth, they would have been less likely to understand and remember the concept of rotation. By having them participate in the experience the concept was made real, tangible.

Part of the seminar was inspired by our colleagues at Discovery Theater. This session was, as one would expect, more theater driven and honestly, really challenged me. As the class continued to describe the Durand painting, I added secondary questions to enliven the discussion. For example, when the ocean was observed, I asked them to show me with their bodies how the ocean was moving and then I asked them to make the sound of the waves. The kids were happy to illustrate both for me so when it came time to talk about the clouds and wind, we added sound effects and movements again. These exercises captured the essence of the painting, encouraged different learning styles and made everything more fun.

As the last part of the object lesson, I laid out several objects and asked them to work together to recreate the painting. They needed no instruction, but went right to work, collaborating until the composition was complete. Was it exactly like the painting, no, but they had used these tools to create their OWN composition. They were quite proud and were completely engaged in the activity. I saw them looking back at the painting, rearranging objects and making their own decisions.

All in all, the visit felt playful and meaningful. I am continuing to think about how to make my lessons more playful and how play can be a tool for learning within the museum environment. If you have any ideas, please share!!!!

1. Journal of Museum Education, Volume 37, number 1, Spring 2012, pp. 49-58.

It’s been quite a year!: Teacher Feature Highlights

Posted on August 20, 2015 by francisag

Written by Alex Francis (Liaison and Curriculum Development Specialist @ SEEC):

What a year it has been here at SEEC! It has been a privilege to bring you Teacher Feature each week and offer a peek into the magical experiences our teachers provide their students. As our school year comes to a close I wanted to take the opportunity to share some of my favorite moments caught on camera during Teacher Feature. Being able to regularly join the classes has only confirmed how AMAZING these teachers are at creating age appropriate and exciting learning opportunities for their students! Here is visual proof of some of the things I believe they are especially great at doing! If you want to read more about the lessons be sure to look back at our archived Teacher Features and to stay tuned in to the blog in the Fall for the triumphant return of Teacher Feature.

Teacher Feature 2014-2015 Greatest Hits:

1. Use of Authentic Objects in Museum and Classroom Experiences.

Three year olds checking out memorabilia during a unit on Elvis.

Infants playing a real piano during a unit on music.

Mobile infants meeting a real caterpillar while reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

2.Lesson Introductions

Two year olds learning about how the human body grows and changes through the use of models, dolls, literature, and an actual baby.

Toddlers learning about symbiotic relationships through the use of puppets and songs about the relationship between anemones and clown fish.

Two year olds learning about echolocation during a game of bug and bat . Here the bat sends out sounds by rolling a ball to the bug. When the sound/ball reaches the bug, it is rolled back to the bat which represents the sound bouncing off the objects to tell the bat where to find it’s supper.

Three year olds meet Gus the Gardener to learn about the tools needed to do his job!

3. Sensory Experiences

Infants learning about flowers explore painting with silk flowers. The sensation of touching and tasting is just as exciting as the experience of squishing the painted flowers onto the paper.

Toddlers learning about pandas explore dirt and real bamboo in the sensory table.

Toddlers learning about ocean animals go beyond water play by adding long lasting bubbles to the sensory table.

4. Classroom Lesson Extensions

Four year olds learning about Camelot give the Sword in the Stone a big tug.

Four year olds create crowns after learning about the royal court during a unit on Don Quixote.

Two year olds learning about Frozen took time to get to know about the country on which it is meant to be based. Here they are painting their own Norwegian flag before reading a Norwegian folk tale and learning about the animals that inhabit that region.

Kindergartners learning about murals took inspiration from Sol Lewitt and tried out his techniques on a smaller scale.

Three year olds learning about architecture create their own dream home models complete with stairs, roves, and anything else they could think up.

Two year olds learning about the letter R through rain and rainbows took time to make it rain in their classroom with just a little tissue paper and glue.

Kindergartners learning about insects had an exhibition complete with models, information displays, and opportunities to speak with the junior entomologists.

5. Use of Technology

Mobile infants bring the bird hall to life with a simple app and a game of matching stuffed animals to the ones housed in the exhibit.

Kindergartners learn about the variety of mosquitoes through images and sounds.

6. Community Visits

Four year olds meet Magic the horse at the Park Police Stables during their study of Dr. Doolittle. They asked great questions about animal communication and how it compared to the talking horse in the book.

Three year olds concluded their pirate unit with a hunt for treasure. Their clues took them to all the place they had visited during their exploration including the Washington Monument.

Mobile infants take a trip to the post office to mail a letter during their unit on communication.

7. Museum Visits

Toddlers learning about holiday traditions at the U.S. Botanic Gardens.

Three year olds examining Michelangelo’s Flying Man at the National Air and Space Museum as part of their study of the real artists that inspired the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Four year olds visit skeletons at the National Museum of Natural History during a study of the human body in their Invisible Man Unit.

The SEE program examining a helmet at the National Gallery of Art as a way to learn about the strength of the head of a Cape Buffalo.

Toddlers closely examining the moon at the National Museum of the American Indian.

Two year olds learn about the shape of a baseball by comparing it to the sculptures at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

Toddlers use binoculars to take a closer look during a safari at the National Museum of Natural History.

Three year olds testing out using their tongues to smell just like a snake at the Bone Hall in the National Museum of Natural History.

Toddlers learning about states of matter, used the fountain at Smithsonian American Art/ National Portrait Gallery during a lesson on liquid water.

Two year olds learning about trains took a trip to The Smithsonian American Art Museum to see a red caboose.

Thank you teachers for a great year! We can’t wait to see what’s in store next!

Shared Curiosity with the Smithsonian Early Explorers

Posted on August 17, 2015 by betsybowersseec

Not many of us remember when we were two years old, but imagine if two mornings a week your day had started out in the Natural History Museum’s Q?rius Jr. Discovery Room space! And, what if those two mornings were spent exploring interesting things with somebody that you cared about – maybe a grandma or a parent, special caregiver or nanny? Wait, though, it gets even better. What if those opportunities for adventure took place in the Smithsonian museums and surrounding DC community? Last year, just such an experience got off the ground!

In September 2014, SEEC launched its brand new Smithsonian Early Explorer program where two mornings a week, children and their adults came together to learn about the world around them through hands-on experiences designed for active and growing toddlers. Activities took place in the discovery room space, SEEC’s art studio, museum galleries, surrounding community, and outdoors on the playground. In collaboration with Smithsonian Early Explorer facilitators, this small multi-generational learning community explored topics ranging from safari animals and the strength of bones, to dance traditions of Bollywood and shelters from around the world.

It is now one year later and we have learned a lot. The second SEE cohort will soon get together for another year of growing and learning together. Children and adults will share moments of curiosity, awe and wonder as we encounter the amazing and authentic artifacts, objects and masterpieces that make up the vast collections of our Smithsonian. Imaginations will be sparked and creativity encouraged. We are excited for what’s in store and look forward to reconnecting with returning families and welcoming new ones. For more information about the Smithsonian Early Explorer’s program visit seecstories.com/see

Cherry Blossoms, Friendship and the National Archives

Posted on April 13, 2015 by Cynthia Raso

This post was written by the Center for Innovation in Early Learning’s Director, Betsy Bowers

Partnership

Friendship was the theme for the National Archives Cherry Blossom Festival Family Day, and SEEC was excited to help plan a variety of activities for the event. Our goal was to engage families of all types and provide fun but informative activities that spoke to multiple generations and varied interests.

Geography

The GeoFind Challenge gave visitors an opportunity to learn interesting facts related to gift giving between nations. For example, did you know that the King of Siam offered President Lincoln an elephant to help with farming but he graciously declined? While several participants already knew, others learned that the city of DC’s many cherry blossom trees were originally a gift from Japan. We met students from all over the world who enjoyed the geography, history and political connections tied to this mapping challenge.

Cranes

For visitors that had family members more interested in using their hands to create a special souvenir to remember the day, many made origami cranes. A Japanese legend says that if you fold 1000 cranes you are granted a wish. Over the years, thousands of origami cranes were sent to the American people and US presidents, along with good wishes from the people of Japan. These are now found in the National Archives’ holdings. Folding the origami crane was a popular activity enjoyed by many visitors. Younger participants were encouraged to try creating the slightly simpler samurai helmet – which also has interesting connections to the diverse holdings of the Archives. Did you know that President Reagan received a very large framed origami samurai helmet made of over 3000 pieces of paper folded by Japanese children?

Treaties

Especially meaningful was the amount of time that families took to work together to create a family treaty. Many took the task to heart as they learned that this type of agreement between two nations required conversation, cooperation and compromise. A wide variety of ideas were discussed. For example, younger family members agreed to clean up their rooms in exchange for time to play with a special toy. Teenagers agreed to balance their screen time with in person family time together. And, members of a high school color guard worked on agreements that supported their group and bound their friendship. After using language from a treaty between the US and Japan and writing the document in special script, families worked together to bind them with a fabric cover. Once finished, this personal connection to treaties inspired visitors to find out more and the discovery boxes which included the examples of materials that were used to make historic treaties. From there, they were encouraged to find an authentic treaty on display in the Archives’ galleries.

Benefits of Working Together

SEEC and NARA worked together to create additional activities that accommodated different ages, learning styles and interests. As NARA and SEEC colleagues reflect on the planning experience, we are reminded of the synergy that these types of collaborations evoke. Each team member brought a different area of expertise to the planning process. We encourage you to refresh your own practice and seek out a similar partnership. Your results may be similar: positive multigenerational learning experiences for families from near and far. More important to us, though, was to see families of all ages having fun together in this national treasure known as the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

Teachers

Want to turn these ideas into classroom-friendly projects? Just visit NARA’s blog for some great adaptations.

Sensory Learning – What and Why?

Posted on August 8, 2014 by Cynthia Raso

Have you scrolled through Pinterest lately and seen all the preschool or parenting boards related to sensory play? Usually it involves some beautifully crafted photos featuring a young child participating in a hands-on activity, but sensory learning is so much more than just getting dirty. As the name suggest, it is learning through the senses. Often times, it is related to the sense o

f touch, i.e finger painting, water table, playing with sand. Sensory learning is not limited to touch and can encompass all the senses.

Why bother with all of this – children and adults learn best through their senses. Sensory learning also helps children retain information. Think about it this way: if you are cooking and your child inquires about the rosemary you are using you can, A: simply describe it as something that adds flavor to your dish or, B: hand some over and give them the opportunity touch, smell and examine it. I can guarantee that your child will be able to recount their rosemary experience better if they are given the sensory option.

Once a child begins to explore something through their senses, a lot of other things can happen. They can use the experience to practice and build upon their vocabulary. Ask them questions: “What color is it?; How does it feel?; What does it smell like?. A parent can also enhance this experience by adding objects that can be used for comparison purposes. , Add parsley, for example, and encourage basic math skills by asking them to find shapes or compare the size of the two herbs. You can also stimulate critical thinking by adding elements like, scissors or water. These elements prompt children to conduct experiments: i.e. “What will happen if I cut the rosemary – will it still smell? or, What will the rosemary feel like when I pour water on it? Adding these components not only gets them to investigate and hypothesize, it also gives them the chance to practice their fine motor skills. Cutting and pouring are everyday tasks that they hope to master one day and using these skills will also aid in developing the coordination required for writing.

You can take the sensory experience a step further by adding some art supplies too. Put out some glue and construction paper, but don’t give them explicit instructions. Let them be inspired to create what comes to their mind. You’d be surprised at what they can come up with! Finally, try including a friend or sibling in the experience, which will encourage social interaction and compel them to practice taking turns and listening to one another. It also encourages them to work as a team and build on each others ideas.

So the next time you see a beautifully crafted sensory experience pop up on your Pinterest feed, don’t feel daunted. Remember, sensory learning can happen organically during the course of the day and you can add to the experience by simply including common art tools and other found objects in and around the home. Too busy to clean it up? Don’t worry leaving it out for awhile and letting your child return to the materials will actually enhance the experience.

Kindergartners and Exhibit Design, Part I

Posted on December 19, 2013 by shoemakerb

That there is a national emphasis on the value of early childhood education goes without saying. So it makes good sense that museums are starting to think more about how they serve this audience. At the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center, our students generally visit museums 3-5 times a week; it’s a space in which they are comfortable and familiar. So when staff at the National Museum of American History wanted to understand more about how young children interact with exhibits, they thought of SEEC. Through a series of discussions, the staff agreed upon using Little Golden Books, an exhibit with obvious kid-appeal, to examine how children felt about their exhibit design. Similarly, SEEC wanted to see the exhibit through the eyes of their students in order to inform our own teaching practices and professional development. Finally, we decided to experiment with SEEC’s Kindergarten class because, at the end of the year, they will be asked to create their very own exhibitions. The experience seemed like a great way to support their endeavor.

We planned two visits to the exhibit. The first visit was simply to familiarize the students with the content and the layout of the space. Prior to going to the museum, Sara Cardello, Museum Educator, planned an interactive, hands-on lesson in which the students identified parts of the exhibit; i.e. object, case, label etc. and introduced them to Golden Books. Almost all of them immediately recognized the Golden Books and were anxious to share their personal stories with the class.

Museum1

We headed over to the exhibit and first, met with the exhibit designer. We then took turns walking through the exhibit in small groups, each with either a classroom or museum educator. During that time, the children got to look and ask questions. Educators came prepared with specific questions to encourage them to think about the exhibit. Below are some of the questions and some of their answers.

What do you see, notice, or what is the exhibit showing you?

Really old books
TV screen helps us read the books
Some of the books have interesting ideas
Each display case has a theme: doctor, transportation, mining, cooking
Measurements along the sides of the larger illustrations
Really old (again)
Some are dusty
Some are new
Golden strip

What do you hear?

Wanted to hear the stories
Kind of loud because we are all in here
No music
Too loud
Conversations about all of our observations

What are you learning, thinking about, what would you add?

Who is in the picture with Mickey and Donald?
Beautiful, looks painted
I see some letters, and I see the same letters, but different pictures (referring to Little Golden Books)
I would add a kids book, like Toy Story 3, even though these are kids books
I would add toys that you see in the books to play with

Who is the exhibit for, who would like this exhibit?

Me and my mom would like this, she read these books
My grandma likes to read
Grandma and grandpa would like them because they haven’t seen them in years
Bullies would not like it because they do not like books
Giants would be too big and they like to break stuff

In addition to these questions, we had some open-ended discussions based on their responses to the objects. Here is an example of one such discussion.

When looking at the case displaying the Here Comes the Parade the students quickly identified Donald Duck and Mickey, but were stumped when it came to Howdy Doody. This was a great time for us to look at the label and see if we could get some more information. Although the name didn’t ring a bell, it did give us a chance to talk about when the book was made and how our parents or grandparents might know about this character. I asked this group if they could tell me where they thought the characters were and after some investigation, they concluded it was a parade. This line of inquiry prompted me to share my own experiences watching the parade on Thanksgiving morning. This encouraged others to share their own Thanksgiving traditions and/or recollections of parades. It was a great conversation and before we knew it, we had been standing at that case for close to 10 minutes, which is considerable for a Kindergartner.

Following the visit to the exhibit, we had a chance to debrief as a whole group (there are 18 students in the class). Below is a glimpse of that discussion.

What did you notice?

A new book, Little Red Hen
An interesting book about cars
A girl cleaning up
Boy and girl playing doctor
I noticed #65 on one of the books

Who would like this exhibit?

Grandma and grandpa would like it because they haven’t seen them in years
Grandma and grandpa would like the books because they would remember them
Moms and dads like books, they would like to visit

How did you feel about the exhibit?

Really like it because they are lots of interesting books to see
Cool. Cool books, cool answers, moms and dads would like it too
I felt surprised when I saw the spine but then I realized that’s why it’s called Golden Books

What would you add or change?

More books!
Add books that you might know
You could bring your own Golden Books once you were done with them
Add a book or a chair to look at books
I love Golden Books
I would add airplanes, they are more interesting
I would add my own books

What questions do you have for the curator or designer?

Why did you choose Golden Books?
Why do they make Golden Books?
Dinosaurs are big and you have to think about cases and storage, you have to think about the size of objects for exhibits

How much did it cost to build this exhibit?

$100 because books can break easily
$60 because book are expensive
$15 because it is a really big exhibit

Kindergartners and Exhibit Design, Part II

Posted on December 19, 2013 by shoemakerb

Kindergarten Exhibit Survey, Pt. 1

Kindergarten Exhibit Survey, Pt. 2

In our last blog, we discussed the first part of our experiment with SEEC kindergartners visiting the Smithsonian National Museum of American History Golden Books exhibit. When we left off, they had just concluded their first visit. The following week, they went to the museum again and like the previous time, we split them up into small groups of three. Each group had an adult and walked through the exhibit with an educator and were given a “survey.” After these were completed in the exhibit, they headed out to a small circle to discuss their observations with another educator.

The Results

1) Look at the other people do they like this exhibit?
Comments:

Looking closely
Beautiful
Pretty good
Really liking it
Liked it
Enjoying everything
Looking at computer
Looking at all sorts of books
Enjoying it
One person was normal, so…so-so
Some were in to it, some were not
1 vote for all 5 choices
All the people were different

2) Look at the objects; do you like how they are displayed?
Comments:

Lots of color, some were dusty
Loved them
They books were having a good time because they were safe in the glass and no robbers were breaking in
Could not see, too tall
Pretty good
Pretty good, a little bad though because it only showed one page of the book
Didn’t like, hard to see

3) Look at the lights; do you like how they are used?
Lights Graph

Comments

Dark but good
Pretty good
1 vote for Liked
Orange, it was ok, and I liked it
ok

4) Look at the colors; do you like how they are used?
Colors Graph

Comments

The ceiling was green, there were good colors
A lot of white

5) Look at the signs, are they helpful?

Signs Graph

Comments

Really focused about creation, someone worked very hard

6) Look at the computers; do you like how they were used?

computer Graph

Comments

I clicked on two books
You could look at the books, I pressed the button and it read the story to us
Really cool
I touched it
I didn’t get to touch it
I chose different books, it was awesome, and not too tall
I liked pressing buttons
Zooming in was cool
It shows the books

7) Look for things you can touch, did they help you enjoy the exhibit?
Touching Graph

Comments

Only one thing to touch
Touching the computer
Computer was just ok
I wish there was more stuff to touch, more computers with newer books
No touching uhhhhh

Outcomes

I was surprised that they found the lighting and signs appealing. Like any exhibit featuring paper, it is a dark space, and I assumed that would be unappealing. Interestingly when the exhibit designer talked to the students during their first visit, he mentioned that the low lighting help protect the books. I wonder if that made a difference. I also wonder if it was the spotlighting to which they felt drawn. Despite the overall darkness, light was strategically positioned to make the cases pop. There was minimal distraction.

I was also intrigued by their positive reaction to the signs. Many in the group are emergent readers and I thought the labels would have been of little or no interest to them. I wonder if they were responding to the fact that the educators, many of whom were not familiar with the exhibit’s content, used the labels to help add to their conversations.

That they responded positively to the colors and book illustrations was no shock. Children are naturally drawn to strong, vibrant visuals. They are also naturally drawn to things they can touch or tinker with. The opportunity to play with the computer at the end of the exhibit got them very excited and made them notice more about the objects in the cases, encouraging them to revisit objects and think more deeply about some of their conversations. Interestingly, the computer engaged many of the children, but not all. Some of them were frustrated because they weren’t certain how to work it, but I guess usability for young children is another topic entirely!

Although we didn’t measure this in the survey, its important to note that the children responded to the content of the exhibit. They were familiar with Golden Books and could make connections to the illustrations, many of which depicted children playing. At SEEC, we encourage our educators to utilize familiar objects or themes when teaching. Finding this thread can be difficult when considering the often nuanced and complex nature of many exhibits. Still, I would encourage museum staff to consider how they can incorporate familiar elements as a way to engage a young child’s interest in new content.

An Intern’s Perspective of SEEC

Posted on August 13, 2013 by shoemakerb

Written by: Beth Anne Kadien
Rising senior at Georgetown University – SEEC Summer Intern

I started in January doing behind-the-scenes work for SEEC’s Museum Education department, creating a database for the objects and prints that are used in SEEC classrooms. This summer I continued my internship, but in a more hands-on way. My experiences have been varied and always interesting. Moving from archival work to observing and leading classroom lessons was incredibly rewarding, both in what I had the opportunity to learn, and the witty student commentary. I came home to my roommates each day with a new story about the kids, which I have pared down to a top three favorite things overheard at SEEC:
1. One student looking over at me and asking “Hey, do you wanna put your stuff in my cubby?”
2. Asking a student where a colleague and I should get lunch, with a response of “Well do you girls like toys? Because then you should go to McDonalds.”
3. Receiving a superhero alter ego and superpower from one of the Koalas. “You’d be Star Girl, and your superpower would be shooting penguins out of your hands.”

What I learned, while less entertaining, will have a long-term impact on my career choices. Here it is, the top 3 (okay, really 4) things I learned from SEEC.

1. I am more creative than I thought. One of my proudest accomplishments, making a photo projector out of a shoebox.
I wrote lessons for both SEEC classes and their weekend family workshops, with a range of topics from food to the science of colors and pigments, to transportation. These all seemed incredibly daunting when assigned, but now I know how to better think out-of-the-box so that I can create an age-appropriate and interesting lessons.
2. Even if you think you have enough work, ask for more. One of my extra assignments was helping to write family programming for a partnership with a museum in my hometown of Memphis. It was so worth it!!
3. Be mindful. One thing that is common in the various people I worked with at SEEC is that each employee takes the utmost care in considering others. Museum educators go to great lengths to be a resource to their classroom teachers; teachers know their students’ dietary needs, pet’s names, favorite things, and greatest fears better than I know my own. Each decision made is made with consideration to how it will affect the teachers and students. This is something I greatly admire about SEEC, and it is now a model to which I strive in my on-campus job.
4. Actually the most important thing I learned, is that Splash Day is the greatest day, but you need to remember a change of clothes or else it’s a very cold metro home.
BethAnne_3
This summer has been incredibly rewarding, and I am more than grateful for the opportunities SEEC has given me.