Five Reasons Why
I am passionate about museum education. And after nearly 15 years in the industry, I want to give back to my colleagues with a reliable source of professional support. Here are my top five reasons why I believe writing about and for the Museum Education community is vital.
I want to remind you that you are not alone.
Museum education sometimes feels lonely. Maybe you’re a department of one or two. Maybe you spend your day, not in the office with co-workers, but in the children’s gallery. Maybe you using glitter and no one else wants to get near it. (Ask me how I know about that!)
As museum educators, we sit in the intersection of several disciplines and competing motivations. We are teachers without regular students. We write curriculum, but our administration might not read it. We care about preservation, but we want to get our hands on history. We understand the need to drive revenue, but we long to be fully accessible. We want to illustrate the weight of the human story, but we want to make it fun.
It can be professionally and personally conflicting to be a museum educator at times. And when you’re alone in your work at your institution, it can feel like no one else will ever understand. So, I hope this little corner of the internet will remind you that there are people who do understand. We know what it’s like. You are not alone.
I want to increase your effectiveness and save you time with easy-to-adapt ideas.
Sometimes you just can’t think of another craft idea. Sometimes the professional and creative well is dry. Sometimes you have too many irons in the fire. Allow me to offer you a hand.
I have over a decade of experience in planning programs. In fact, planning fun and educational programs is my jam! I know some people really struggle with this aspect of museum education, but it comes easy to me. I can’t help it - cool program ideas just pop in my head all the time. Honestly, I think my husband considers this strange quirk to be somewhere between really annoying and really cute. For example, just the other day, we were watching one of our favorite Youtubers and I paused the 17-minute-long video to launch into a 10-minute description of why I now had to come up with a reason to do a program on ancient Aztec chocolate because how cool would little cacao beans made from air dry clay be!
But seriously, if you just can’t with another toilet paper tube craft… I promise I can help.
I want to recommend the best resources for our professional development.
Too often “professional development” in the public history field means only attending one conference a year. Not that I don’t love a good conference, but there are so many wonderful resources waiting for us out there in the world. Museum educators especially can benefit from a wide variety of professional development resources, because our work falls under the umbrella of many disciplines and fields of study.
Moreover, as “educators” we work primarily with children and therefore, often gain a reputation in our institutions for having childish work. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Not only is the work we do hugely important for our culture and our world, but it is also highly nuanced and carefully planned. Just because the end result might involve playdough doesn’t mean our work isn’t incredibly professional.
I want to offer a round-up of the best practices, the leading theories, and research that supports the work we as museum educators do every day. Let’s continue to raise the bar of our little section of the field together.
I want to contribute to the discourse.
While I might spend a disproportionate amount of time sorting crayons or cleaning scissors with blunted ends, I actually have a great interest in museum education pedagogy and theories. I also read a lot about the state of museums, in general, and museum education, in particular. And I have thoughts about our work - about our role in the community, about the ethics of what we do, about the effectiveness we have long-term, and much more.
I look forward to ongoing conversations about the nature of education within the museum environment, the best practices, and the prevailing theories that should guide our work.
I want to elevate our work by educating the rest of the world about what we do, how we do it, and why it’s important.
Museum education, particularly K-12 education, is hailed as missionally important in many institutions. Yet few executives and even fewer Board members really understand the work and the professionalism that goes into planning and executing student and family programs.
But even if they don’t know our work well, at least they know it. Outside of the museum industry, our particular field is nearly invisible. How many times have I filled out a form requiring me to designate my field of work and been stumped? Do I check Education? Tourism? Nonprofit? And when I tell people I work at a museum, I always have to clarify, “No, I’m not a curator.” At least, I’m not the kind of curator they’re thinking of, anyway.
So, in addition to supporting museum educators in our collective work, I want to advocate for us all by raising awareness of what museum educators do and why it is vital to the success of our institutions and the health of our communities.
Join my growing community of like-minded educators
If you’re looking for an easy way to stay on top of trends in the industry, consider joining my growing community of educators! We talk about everything from our favorite places to buy markers in bulk to methods for integrating leading learning theories into our programs. I’d love to have your input!
