Sharon Lee | CIIP 2023 Blog Portfolio
Posted: July 5, 2023
Week 1
My first day of placement, or actually even the whole week, was basically another orientation week. My supervisor took me around to tour the museum, introduce me to my work email and Teams, and we talked about our schedule and expectations. The first day is also where I met Carly, the other intern at MCHC this summer. She just graduated from Loyola and is also working in the education department, but part time! I’ll see her every Monday and Tuesday.
I was nervous that for CIIP, we were going to be the only intern placed at our respective sites. However, I really appreciated that I would be seeing Carly a few days each week too. We each have different projects and schedules, but it was nice to see someone close to my age that I could talk to.
One challenge I faced this week was being physically sick for a few days. My supervisor was really understanding of this however, and allowed me to take rest days and also more virtual days this week. I was worried that not being in person for most of this week would put me behind or leave not the best impression, but in my meeting with Deborah on Friday, we discussed these feelings and made a timeline for the project I’ll be doing this summer, which eased my anxiety.
My project this summer is about creating an outreach educational program for the new Jim Henson exhibit, and part of it will have to do with finding organizations this summer to pilot the program. I was very thankful to have the CIIP community for this; later in the summer, I’ll reach out to some friends in CIIP for partnerships!
Week 3
Week 3 was an eventful week, so when sitting down to write this blog, I reminded myself of the goals that Deborah (my supervisor) and I had set for ourselves in the beginning of the internship. To be specific, Deborah and I had set 3 goals for the summer: 1.) deliver tours/programs of the Jim Henson exhibit, 2.) develop an outreach educational program for the exhibit, and 3.) a personal project of my choosing.
On Monday, Deborah walked Carly and I through the Creativity Unlimited program. The Creativity Unlimited program is one of two existing school programs for the Jim Henson exhibit, and it involves students (grades 3-5) making paper bag puppets and performing their own short plays. After doing some canvas trainings, this walkthrough was our next step to delivering the programs ourselves. The next step would be to shadow Deborah delivering the program, which is happening on 7/10!
In regard to the outreach program goal, I was able to finalize a plan this week and share a rough lesson plan by Deborah by Wednesday; I’m developing a plan for lower elementary students that focuses on social emotional learning. By Wednesday of the following week, I’ll have a final plan that I will share with her and hopefully get approved for piloting! I’ll share the details of the plan in my blog next week. During the site visit on Wednesday, Deborah and I talked to Whit and Louisa about the placement, and chatting with them made me realize that I was really lucky to have even an office space to work and where I could communicate freely with my supervisor.
I finally made progress on my third project! Deborah and I talked about a possible language access project early on, and we decided on adapting the materials used in Creativity Unlimited to Spanish. Compared to the texts I had to translate for a Hopkins class I took a couple semesters ago, the material in the Jim Henson program were simpler, yet it still felt scary. This wasn’t for a grade, but for real life. I had a lot of fun doing this though, like changing “short play” into “obracita” and deciding between “títere” and “marionette” for “puppet.”
The week ended with puppet making! We needed for examples to show students during programs. I’ve attached a picture. Sadly, Deborah’s puppet isn’t in the picture because it was still drying, but she made a peacock puppet with a very intricate tail.
What are your favorite ones?
Week 4
This week I had Monday and Tuesday off, but it was still a busy week at work regardless!
First, I was moved into a new office again (this is now our third relocation). It was because the museum hired somebody new, and they needed an office space. I was moved into another space with multiple desks actually, and working across from me is Carly, and working next to me is the new high school intern that I haven’t met yet! It’s been a while since I’ve talked to someone in high school, and Deborah told me and Carly that we would be her mentor. It felt strange coming into this internship, expecting to be mentored, to become a mentor. I’m excited to meet her on Monday.
On Thursday, I had a chat with Karen, MCHC’s Grants Manager. In the staff bios that Abby (another staff member in the education department) had me read in June, I remember Karen’s profile standing out because of her previous experience as a teacher. Our conversation today was absolutely phonomenal. I’ll be really honest here for a second: when I see people around the office, I just say “hi [no name]” because I was introduced to everybody so quickly and I don’t see most people enough to put a name to the face. I’ve been seeing Karen around the office for a while and not knowing it was her; she always greeted me with a smile and I thought she was so friendly (side note: I did some self reflection after our chat and decided to study the staff bios a bit more and memorize names). Anyway, just in the hour or so I spent talking to her, I was inspired by her character; she went into the reasons of why she left teaching, what job she had after, why she left, and how she got into grant writing. Her passion for learning new languages and English resonated with me, and her struggle to find a job that fit her needs comforted my current worry of trying to find the “perfect” job after graduation. It’ll all be ok. I also learned a lot about grant writing and proposals, what a 990 is, and what exactly qualifies as a non-profit. She also introduced me to Tia from accounting. I will be chatting with her next week!
Finally, I’ll end my reflection with a little update about my lesson plan project: it’s coming along! I also connected with Raquia this week, and it looks like we have another school group coming for a Henson program and a potential organization for us to pilot the new lesson plan….more updates coming next week!
Week 5
Week 5 of the internship started off strong with shadowing the Creativity Unlimited program on Monday. About 25 students (8-16 years old) came in for the program, and it was so cool to see a Henson program in action. Carly and I helped out the groups make their puppets, create their scripts, and watched them perform. Some funny moments from the day include a child pointing at a statue related to German immigration (on the way to the Henson exhibit) and asking, “Is that Jesus?” and another child naming himself “Mr. Tesla” as the director of his group play.
I also got lunch with the new high school intern, Iyonna, on Monday. It was unexpected; I didn’t bring my lunch on Monday so I stopped by Ceremony and she also ended up coming in. It was nice getting to know her. We bonded over our obsession with animal crossing (lol). I’ll be seeing her on Mondays and Wednesdays!
On Tuesday, there was an all-staff meeting in the morning; the agenda involved discussing the IDEA collaborative, (from my understanding, a DEI initiative) for MCHC. Topics of discussion included drafting a Land Acknowledgement statement, creating work groups for small projects, and getting approval of the board for the funding of different projects. After the meeting, Abby (the education specialist) checked in on me and Carly to see what we thought. Abby expressed that this was one of the most productive DEI meetings she’s ever seen at MCHC, and she’s also worked as an intern in 2017. That says a lot, she continued explaining; as progressive we want to be, getting approval of the board to launch these initiatives has been difficult. I asked a lot of questions about the board. Who are they and why do we need approval? The short answer was funding. This made me think back to orientation week, where we discussed how non-profits often rely on external funders to function, and this means catering to their wants.
Finally, I want to address my lesson plan project! I made some final touches this week, and we are ready to reach out to organizations for piloting. I looked through the blogs this week and made a list of interns to reach out to– hopefully we will be able to collaborate! For all of next week, the education department is hosting a summer teacher institute at MCHC. I’ll be attending many lectures and also going on a field trip to Fort McHenry!
Week 7
This week I was able to pilot the outreach lesson plan to the education team. It was actually a lot scarier than I thought; I hadn’t been in front of an audience in so long, especially presenting my own project. Roy from the video team also came to film, so the pressure was on. It felt also kind of weird to address a group of adults like they were children (the lesson plan is for lower elementary), but the group was so accommodating and friendly that it made the experience very fun. I was able to get some nice feedback to make the final touches for the last week.
Another main thing that happened this week was another Henson program, but with high school students. For context, the Creativity Unlimited program is geared towards 3rd to 5th graders. We had a brainstorming session earlier in the week and decided to customize the program and it ended up being really fun. The students made 30 second commercials and the staff judged and gave our prizes. It was one of the only Fridays I came in-person for this summer, and Carly was there too. We also went to the Walters after; Abby is an expert on the Walters so she gave us very interesting backstories.
One fun thing is that Eubie Blake Center (Raquia’s placement) is hosting Rise Summer Camp this summer, and we had talked about a possible partnership earlier this summer. It’s finally happening! They want to come in for Henson programs. It might be happening after the internship is over, but I am happy that what we talked about in the beginning of the summer is becoming a reality.
