(The tombstone of Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn, Hall of Fame Pitcher and Major League record holder for 60 wins in a season.)
On Tuesday, June 23rd, I had a chance to shadow Candace Summers. She is the Director of Community Education for the McLean County Museum of History. This shadowing involved some time spent at her office as well as a photo session at Evergreen Cemetery.
(A picture of Candace's office)
I first met Candace at her office on the third floor of the McLean County Museum of History. This space contained her desk, computer, and collaboration space with other colleagues at the museum. As the director of community education, most of her time spent in this space is spent coordinating programs, communicating with museum partners, and planning activities for the museum. Candance admitted to me at the beginning of the meeting that she does not consider herself very tech savvy, (she said she only has had her first smart phone for 4 years) but she has been forced to get better as of late due to Covid-19.
(Candance's work space: She likes cats)
Like most teachers, Candace's job required a lot more technology during the pandemic. Prior to 2020, most technology that she used in her position involved email, adding to the museum website, and the occasional podcast. Sometimes she would also help scan paper documents into PDF's, allowing the community to view them online. However, when the museum was closed for nearly a year, Candance spent time working from home (or alone at the museum) zoom meeting with various community partners or other people in the state. The museum could not offer any programming at this time, so Candance used the time to confer with others in the field and try to plan for what reopening could look like. She also began using Google Apps in order to plan/work with others at the museum so they could continue working on the same projects. She stated that her time during the pandemic required her to sharpen her tech and communication skills.
(Gravesite of a deceased Union soldier containing a metal Grand Army of the Republic Star. The GAR was one of the first major veterans groups in the U.S. after the Civil War.)
For the second part of the shadowing, Candance and I went to Evergreen Cemetery in Bloomington. One of the oldest cemeteries in Bloomington, it is most famous for being the resting place for two-time Presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson II. Here, Candance met with her college intern who used a digital camera to take photos for an upcoming informational pamphlet for the annual Evergreen Cemetery Walk. During this event the museum researches people buried at Evergreen and bring in local actors to play them during a walking tour. Schools from all over the community bring students every Fall to see the performances. Candance lead me on a tour of various gravesites and filled me in on who would be recreated for the tour in October.
(Gravesite of five month-old Dorothy Gage. Dorothy's uncle was L. Frank Baum, author of the Wizard of Oz, who named the main character after his deceased niece).
Implications for Teaching: Just like other educators, Candace admitted her position at the museum only required her to use technology sparingly, since they focused on physical exhibits and hands-on activities with students. During the pandemic, she was required to use more communication tools in order to continue during her job. I think this is similar to a lot of social studies teachers: more so than others we can be set in our ways and not always quick to adopt new technology. I also used Zoom this past year and love using Google Apps to assign work for my students because it is so much easier to track in Google Classroom. However, I also like hands-on activities so don't always seek out the newest stuff right away.
Doing - the technology discussed in this observation allowed Candance to continue communicating with others and carrying out her job during the pandemic.
Meaning - the communication tools allowed her to share information with others at the museum and in her field.
Relation - using Google Apps allowed her to work on projects with other staff members of the museum.
Thinking - the communication tools allowed Candance to share her ideas
Being - The technology allowed Candance to continue to work in the field of history and communicate with others, even when physical contact was not possible.
Conclusion: After my experience with Candance, I think there are a number of ways her position can inform how I teach. For starters, just like her, I think there are more oppurtunitites for collaboration in social studies with both people and artifacts that can happen through technology. Most museums have digitized their collections, whether they are writings or pictures of artifacts, and put them online even before the pandemic. Even if something in person is not possible, just like Candance had to adjust herself, I can certainly get my students access to different things by using digitized collections.
I think a further way I could learn from Candance is interacting with others through technology, especially trying to bring others into the classroom via zoom. I already have an idea about trying to zoom with a congressman with my Civics class this year just because all of them already know how to do it as well. Just like Candance had to interact with others in her field this way, so can I. I personally think this is something that will remain the norm anyway, as Candance stated that there would be more conferences held as online PD's than in person.
Finally, I think somethings my students need to keep in mind is how much of Candance's job can change for the better by continuing to utilize technology. Candance mentioned that the museum usually produced paper programs to create a buzz for the cemetery walk, but now she was using a student assistant from ISU to create digital fliers and artwork (which is why her assistant was there taking pictures that day). I think this is something that will get more interest for the cemetery walk and is a lesson my students can pick up: transitioning to the digital age can certainly help create more interest. Even maintaining a social media account (social studies Instagram?) could be something students could use in order to bring about more interest in the field.
Candace is awesome! I really loved reading your project. She was instrumental in helping me get the cemetery project I did with my kids off the ground. I did the director of our local museum for my project and like you mentioned in yours, the pandemic has really forced museums to take a different approach and incorporate more technology. Local museums can be an important tool for schools and students to utilize.
As you explained in your post, the pandemic really changed how we use technology as educators. We were forced to adapt, but we all learned a ton and gained technological skills. It will be interesting to see how the pandemic changes education moving forward. From taking this class AND experiencing the educational technology changes through the pandemic, I think we are going to learn how to be very thoughtful when selection tech tools to use with students.
Very interesting to think about the shift she needed towards technology in the pandemic. I also think there is no going back now. I was in a meeting yesterday where we were talking about when to offer clubs and activities for students. In the past, it needed to be during the school day to be equitable for all students regardless of transportation, jobs, and duties at home. This year, all clubs and activities shifted to Google Meets which would make meetings and recordings available to all students outside of school hours. We also all saw coworkers (or maybe even ourselves) who had resisted technology for years who had no choice but to dive right in. I was most impressed by…