olee

Blog Post #4

The past couple of weeks have been amazing! At the museum we wrapped up field trips, for now, and started working on Kindergarten activities for their field trips.  We started preparing the coal buckets and the past v. present activities.  Moreover, in the afternoons I worked in collections recording new information and donations.  I learned how to use Past Perfect and actually like the process.  Much like my job at admissions, there is a process that is followed for different types of scenarios.  For example, when books arrive, we catalog and look to see if they have been received previously and enter their accession number, ISBN, etc.  Overall, I have enjoyed work in the collections, but will be excited for the next round of field trips starting at the end of March.

Recently, I had a wonderful opportunity to work at an evening event.  The Virginia Association of Museums was hosted in the Roanoke Valley for the first time in many years.  I was asked to be the hostess and greet guests and the toured museums in downtown Roanoke.  Upon arrival, I helped with set up and flower placements.  We had many activities planned such as train rides, a ballet dance, and tours.  The place was full of guests in the range of 120-200 people.  I was introduced to many Virginia museum workers and directors.  The experience was amazing and very busy.  It is events like this, that show me another side to museum work and my internship.  I was so lucky to have this opportunity and cannot wait to assist at the next evening event.

Blog Post #3

Welcome to the Museum Life!

So far, I still love this internship.  I work with students, staff, and volunteers every day! Last week we worked on taking down an exhibit. I had no idea how hard it was to take down an exhibit.  Moreover, last week was our last school groups for a while so now my job will be changing a little bit.  I will be working the archives collection room organizing artifacts and information.  I should be starting this within the next couple of weeks!  In the meantime, I have been working on creating a new packet for teachers and sharpening a lot of pencils.  Usually schools forget to send students with pencils so normally we provide them with pencils or pens.  Thus, the intern of course gets to re-sharpen all of them after they leave around 12:15pm.  Recently I had the opportunity to walk around the museum and learn a little more about the items and exhibits in the museum.  Therefore, I have found out a lot more about Roanoke’s transportation history! I had no idea that the founder of the Tuskegee Airmen was from Roanoke.  Nor, did I know that Roanoke College used to have a flight school back in the 1920s!

Next, I have also been taking new pictures of updated exhibits for the website and teaching documents to hand out to schools as a type of advertising.  This job has shown me that museums are constantly changing to keep up with new technology and information.  For example, several years ago the Aviation gallery only had one plane and hang glider.  Now, we have a piece of a Jet, planes, and an exhibit about Roanoke aviation history.  Moreover, we now have computers where visitors can explore through interactive videos and images.   In the coming weeks, I look forward to working in collections! Below are several pictures I have taken around the museum!

Blog Post #2

Hello!

Recently at the Virginia Museum of Transportation I have been very busy with field trips.  Since my last blog post, I have begun to take on more responsibilities while students are here at the museum.  I can now instruct at three of the four exhibit activities.  These include the Auto Gallery “Travel through Time,” “Railways and Regions of Virginia,” “Model Trains and More.”  My favorite exhibit to teach in is the Auto Gallery.  First, we look at four pictures from the same angle and location in Dumfries Virginia.  Each picture sports a car from a different decade showing the transformation of roads, cars, and tires.  Then, as a class we explore the gallery and look at the all the cars while trying to match the pictured tires to the tires in the museum.  I specifically enjoy this teaching opportunity because the students have the opportunity to explore and ask questions during a kinesthetic activity.

Next, I volunteered at “Train Lovers Day” last Saturday.  I created a lesson plan and activity for children to use throughout the day.  I made 10 large pink hearts and scattered them across the museum at different exhibits or artifacts.  Next, I made a scavenger hunt worksheet to go with the hearts around the museum.  The children had a wonderful time doing the scavenger hunt and seemed to learn some fun facts.  Throughout “Train Lovers Day” I also worked with children in the exploration room while they played with toy trains and read books.    I loved volunteering for the special event and cannot wait to help with the next.  In the coming weeks, groups will slowly stop coming to the museum until the Kindergarteners come in late March.

*Below are pictures from “Train Lovers Day” and a picture of the hearts I made for the scavenger hunt!