Got to National Geographic Society Tuesday 9/7/10 and have been here a week so far but have yet to start up blog due to breaking my laptop right before moving.
The First day -
All of us interns met "Under the Stars" which is the lobby on the M Street Building where the EDU interns are kept away in an office that we are still trying to decide on a name for - currently it is called the 'cave' but we don't really like that name. Apparently the formation of the "Stars" (lights in the ceiling) is the same as the night was when NGS was formed way back in 1888. Karen Gibbs met with us and we all went around saying we who are, where we are from, what major, etc. HR and paperwork followed but around 11:30 we were taken "Under the Stars" again and met with our supervisors.
My supervisor is Sarah Wilson who works on the Oceans Team but before I even really knew what was going on - in my mind I had no clue what I was doing other than 'education' when I first met her. We were given no for-warning of what our assignments would be but I quickly caught on when Sarah showed me my desk and said "Here, I pulled an Ocean Special Edition Magazine for you".
My assignment is to work on the Oceans Team - last summer (right as BP was at it's prime) the Oceans team held a NTLA (National Teachers Leadership Academy) for teachers grades 9-12 and gave them a new curriculum based on the ocean. They met for a few days to learn the material and how to teach an ocean based curriculum. NGS Oceans has a million dollar grant from Oracle that runs out this year and part of that grant is outreaching high school teachers and making it known that the Earth starts with the ocean and without conservation efforts climate change will become an even greater problem.
I am/will be working closely with Julie who is located out of Florida. Julie is our teacher support point person and works with this program called Moodle. My job is to help her organize and research anything she might need.
Last week and part of this week I have been researching teaching standards for English/Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies for grades 3-5. Oceans is applying for another grant through Oracle so that we can hopefully have a conference for teachers next summer in both highschool and grades 3-5. There is still some money left on our current grant and our goal is to have standards and lesson plan ideas pulled so that we can hire the people to write the lessons for our unit. A major emphasis on the unit is to incorporate all of the subjects together with the underlying theme being Oceans (writing prompts about whales, social issues based on fishing, etc) so that teachers will be able to better fit the guidelines of what their schools mandate.
I have also been pulling lesson plans from different sources (EPA, NOAA, Smithsonian, etc) to see if we can use them or if it would be a concept worth teaching.
Today (9/15) was probably the coolest day so far - the new NGS magazine came to the office and I got to help open up the boxes and mail them off to the teachers in our 9-12 program. There were some extras so the interns get to keep them and read them before they even go to the stands which is just amazing! This issue is on the Oil Spill with some really neat maps and diagrams.
---
Some of the other neat perks of being at NGS is all of the different research classes we get to take - if we complete a week long course and take one extra course of our choosing (say environmental or GIS research) we get a certificate and can put on our resumes that we are certified in research by NGS. Whenever there is an explorer in town we also get the option of meeting him/her. Last week we met with Dr. Dollar who works in Madagascar with the Fosa and helps promote conservation at a grassroots level.
Tomorrow is an NGS/NPR lecture on the Oil Spill and I am really excited to go to that as well!
There is also the 'basement' which is an area that is a free for all of old magazine issues, books, travel guides, etc. as well as a free maps section in the library and a couple of us in EDU raided the section and now have a fully decorated office.
It's really neat working with all geography kids - I finally feel like I'm with 'my people' as silly as that may sound - I've never really known anyone else that has the same academic interests and goals that I have that work on a competitive and driven level. I am one of two from a state school which is an interesting dynamic to compare with the private schools but I definitely think I have one of the better relationships with my professors in terms of projects I have been able to work on at UMF. I'm also the only one (there are 11 of us) that doesn't come from a legacy of other NGS interns which is a neat feeling knowing that I've been able to put UMF on the 'map'...so to speak.
No comments:
Post a Comment