Internship Post #4

My partnership with Washington DC Public Schools continues to be fruitful.  While I was attending the National Social Studies Conference in Chicago, I had the opportunity to personally connect with Scott Abbott.  Scott and I met for an impromptu but very productive lunch meeting on Saturday of the conference.  The back and forth dialogue and the ability to look at curriculum guidelines together presented opportunities for us to “be on the same page” literally and figuratively.  We were able to look at the working draft of the DCPS Authentic Experience Plan for A Right to the City. Scott was able to make some suggestions, but he was also able to appreciate how the plan fits into the larger project goals for connecting DCPS curriculum to ARTTC both as a museum in the near future and as a virtual experience when the exhibit closes.  Scott connected me to some DCPS teachers to get their feedback, but the goal is to have the Authentic Experience Plan in place for teachers to access in January.

The biggest challenge continues to be responsiveness from ACM staff.  My requests for feedback, for information on workflow and most importantly for digital content continue to go unanswered.  As an intern, I can only push so much.  I have expressed this concern to my internship supervisor, and he was to have brought it up at a meeting yesterday.  I was hoping to hear the results of that meeting, but I will reach out on Monday to check the status of the conversation. 

However, this issue is a concern on two fronts.  It it will cause problems in my ability to produce what the museum has asked for. It has also made the process of meeting performance goals in amassing the number of hours I need for the internship. I do believe the project has plenty of hours of work; however, those hours are going to come at a much slower pace and will likely bleed into next summer. 

I am hopeful that museum staff will see that I am meeting deadlines with what I have agreed to produce in Phase I and that will ignite some excitement and personal investment on their end for Phase II.  I am also hopeful that the conversation between my mentor at the museum and the rest of the staff is fruitful as well.

One other strategy I might employ is trying to call some of the museum staff rather than to email them.  I am also planning on trying to Skype more with my museum director because I think it will help for us to “be on the same page” as well.




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