Underground tunnels to the Parliament, fourteen floors of priceless artifacts and an archives building that has security tighter than Fort Knox! These sound like all the key elements of a great spy novel, however, they are just some of the highlights of my first week at the Royal BC Museum in Victoria, BC.
It’s been only a week since I began my Community Field Experience (CFE) but I’ve experienced what feels like a year’s worth of learning. Wow! Where do I even begin? I suppose the beginning is as good a place as any.
I left for Victoria Saturday evening as I wanted to give myself some time to get settled in before starting my CFE Monday morning. My uncle and his family have graciously welcomed me into their home for these three weeks. I am not sure how I can ever repay them.
I spent Saturday evening and all of Sunday catching up with my cousins and exploring the beautiful city. Part of the reason I requested to be placed at the museum was because I wanted to challenge myself to go out of my comfort zone- a motto/theme I have been following for the past year or so if you will. So continuing that theme I decided to try some baby octopus (something I never would have done a few years ago) for lunch on Sunday. There’s another thing to check off that very long bucket list!
At the Museum
There are two of us that have been placed at the museum and both Sean and I agreed in the weeks prior to beginning our CFE that we weren’t sure what to expect. Nevertheless I arrived at the museum Monday morning ready for anything. Our museum contact, Janet MacDonald (head of the learning department), welcomed us before taking us over to security to get our ID and keycards. It was around this time where we were also given the two most important pieces of information we needed to know: the location of the washrooms and where to get good coffee! We then met the rest of the team (including a recently graduated Education student) and were given a tour of the two galleries (Natural History and Human History). I was familiar with the galleries having visited the museum once before but that didn’t stop me from taking pictures of the amazing displays.
Later in the afternoon the four of us sat down to discuss what the next three weeks would look like. They explained to us that the museum is currently undergoing a lot of changes including changes in their field trip programs for schools; they are looking to create more self-guided and inquiry based lessons and activities. Part of my job for the next three weeks is to come up with various science related lesson plans that incorporate the displays on the second floor of the museum (Natural History Gallery). Other tasks I have been given include providing my input (from a teacher perspective) whenever and wherever needed, helping out with the Kids Club Morning Exploration event, and doing some of the groundwork for a new project based on Communication and Conflict they are hoping to run next Fall.
I spent most of the week working on my lesson plans; I currently am working back and forth between three lessons including an activity that engages students to use their cell phones for learning in the museum. We will be doing a test run of this activity next week. No pressure right? In order to create lesson plans based on the gallery displays I have been spending some of my time up in the gallery brainstorming ideas, taking pictures, and observing various groups of students that visit. I then take that information to create a lesson that connects the museum to the BC Science Curriculum. It’s very interesting work!
On Wednesday we were given a tour of the other major areas of the museum: the collections building, the underground tunnels, and the archives building. It was really cool to see all the different areas of the museum that I wouldn’t have seen as a visitor. It turns out that out of all the items they have only about 5-10 percent of them are actually on display in the galleries-the rest are stored away in the collections building. I was just in total awe walking through the rooms up there. We then visited the underground tunnels where the craftsmen/artisans and various audio/visual artists worked. At one point while we were walking down there we came to a pathway that led to some locked doors-we were told on the other side of those doors is the Parliament building (which is across the street from the museum). One of the most epic things I’ve ever seen! To conclude the tour we visited the archives building. It’s here where the both of us will be spending some time doing research for the Communication and Conflict project. Now to get into this building you need to run through security again and let me tell you they run a tight ship. For example, we had to put any pens (pencils only inside) we had in lockers outside before entering. So after going through the necessary motions we were granted access to the building. Sean and I spent the next few hours doing some research. Reading original letters from soldiers from World War I was something I never thought I’d do. It was a very surreal moment for me.
I have enjoyed the learning experience so far. What’s interesting is that I took my students on a field trip to the Vancouver Aquarium during my long practicum and I used an activity they had on their website. Now I’m on the other side creating those activities for teachers to access when they visit the museum. As a science student I was nervous coming to the museum but all that changed when I learned how much untapped potential there is here-it’s usually only social studies teachers that bring their students to the museum but there’s a lot for science teachers and their students to explore. As a student teacher I am slowly learning about my own teaching philosophy and pedagogy. This past week has had me reflect on what I consider important and vital when it comes to learning including that learning doesn’t just occur in the classrooms. I have had many discussions this past week about these issues and it’s so refreshing to see others who share that perspective.
My only regret for this week is that it’s over! Why oh why?!!
