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Progress Pages For this and every project or proposal, I keep a Progress Page. It includes a link to the event/organization, submission requirements, important points-of-contact, dates and times, and (of course) my drafted, written content. I’m not saying that I write something new for every project. I don’t. That’s crazy and excessive and would kill me. What I do though, is start each project fresh. When writing, I keep every version or evolution of an idea separate; it allows the creative process to unfold for each unique story. Even if the bones of the idea are the same as a previous one (and I copy and paste some content), Progress Pages help me feel like I’m starting fresh. Also, if I’ve already worked on some content for that subject, I don’t have to delete anything to make room for rewrites, therefore losing a paragraph or phrase that might be useful later on. I get huge writer’s block and I’ve found that going backwards in time and re-reading Progress Pages helps me immensely! Once I had a written draft for my spoken story, I recorded myself (using Audacity) on my computer. I read straight from the page; I made no effort to memorize at this point. Reading it aloud while reading from a page also helped me make several good edits to grammar and flow. Written stories sound really different when spoken aloud. The requirement for this event was 6-minute stories. My first go was 3 min and 40 sec too long. I was shocked [read: not shocked] by this. I did two things to edit it down. I organized my story elements, and I adjusted my word count. A Story in a Pie Chart One way to edit a story down is to simplify the narrative; take out the nonessentials. At this point, instead of working within the narrative, I exited it completely and just started an outline of the story’s parts.* It went something like this.
*Soooome people with actual formal training might say that starting with an outline is a good idea. I am happy for those people. I thought about how much time, or how big a piece of the pie, each point really deserved. I thought, to fit my story into six minutes, a distribution of 15 sec (state the moral) - 2 min (world building) - 3 min (main events) - 30 sec (revelation) - 15 sec (restate the moral) made sense. Then, I took a word count of each of my sections to see where I was wasting time. Rate of Speech and wpm (words per minute) Here’s another way to edit a story down: figure out the words per minute. I googled ‘words per minute for a speech’ to see what my rate of speech should be. A lot of podcasters recommended 145-160 words per minute. Thanks to my own experience teaching and with public speaking, I am *well aware* that I am a fast talker. I was sure that 145-160 wpm would be very difficult for me and would sound unnatural. So, I aimed for 170-175 (which, honestly, still requires me to deliberately slow down). So, a six-minute speech at 170 words per minute would be 1,020 words when written. At this point, my story was 1,340 words. That helped me determine what I needed to do with my written draft to get to about six minutes of ‘Niki-talk’. Here are two ways to look at it: If you know what rate of speech feels natural to you and how long your speech needs to be, this is how you determine the word count of your speech: If you have a draft at a certain word count and you know how long your speech needs to be, this is how fast/slow you have to speak: Rehearse Backwards
Once I’ve got my written story done, it’s time to memorize it. A timed, live event is not the moment to ‘wing it’. Something that good symphony orchestras do is rehearse backwards. To prepare for a concert, they start with the ending of a song or the last movement of a piece. The same thing works for rehearsing a speech or story. Start by reading and memorizing the last sentence of the story. Then, go one more sentence in and memorize that, adding on the last sentence you’ve already memorized. By the time you get to the first sentence, you’ve already done the ending several times. This way, the ending or next sentence never feels like a surprise, instead, what you’re saying takes on forward momentum *into* the ending.
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I have a tendency to expect more of kids than most other educators I've met. I believe that if you ask children to perform just beyond the boundaries of their ability, they will concentrate harder, display better teamwork, and ultimately perform better. Think of it as the kiddy table - if you put a child at the kiddy table, they will act like a kid. If you tell them they get to sit at the grown-up table, but only if they use their manners, what does that mean to them? How does that change their behavior?
With that way of thinking, I wanted to see if campers could make a Cloud in a Bottle that I found on YouTube. Not only that, but I wanted to see if they could do it without my leading them, step-by-step. I put my usual list of steps up on the whiteboard:
We talked about these steps and how we have plenty of time to try, and try again with a better design. Then, I invited them to pick their groups (or work alone; some kids, like adults, aren't immediately comfortable with collaboration). After that, I drew their attention to a pile of materials on the front table:
I invited them to write down each item they saw on the table. If they don't know the name of the item, they can ask their teammates or another group, or they can draw a sketch of it. After we reviewed what all the materials are called, we talked about drill safety and hot glue gun safety and we set up stations for gluing and drilling. Once they are ready for these tools, I said, they can approach the station and work with those tools. Then, I invited them to examine the examples I made ahead of time - a plastic jug with a bike valve affixed to the bottle cap, and a tiny spoonful of isopropyl alcohol swishing around within. I asked them to discuss as a group how they might go about assembling theirs. Then, we had about 40 minutes of (noisy) trial and error. During this time, I walked from group to group just asking how it was going and if they had any questions. If they had questions, I responded with a question - Where can we go to find that out? Do you see anyone else in the room working on that same problem? Can we go ask them? - before actually giving them any answers, myself. After about 20 minutes, a couple groups had their bottles made and were ready to test it. When it didn't work the first time, I reminded them of our steps on the board, including 'Rebuild and Retry'. With even more determination, they returned to their designs. About five minutes later, the first successful cloud in a bottle was made! With a satisfying 'pop' and a chorus of "WHOA!" the campers all joined in the victory of the successful group. Then, the groups worked even more feverishly on their designs. All in all, each group had at least once successful Cloud in a Bottle. They even wanted to work through snack time! Here's a video of our first successful Cloud in a Bottle With the advice of some of my most trusted friends and museum colleagues in mind, I decided to change the Greater Phoenix Emerging Museum Professionals facebook page to a facebook group, named Arizona Emerging Museum Professionals. I was hoping to achieve three things:
1. Less authority from the administrator and more input and discussion from group members (with a facebook page, only an administrator can post; everyone's suggested posts show up sort of to the side and not in the same 'stream of consciousness' as the administrator's posts) 2. More social opportunities for members to meet each other (there are so many amazing museum events, and the emerging professionals who work across a variety of institutions now have a place to post their events and learn about others' events) 3. Keep the conversation going, even when I'm not talking (more people regularly posting and zero wait-time to approve posts and comments means the conversation doesn't depend on me-or any administrator-to be actively participating) Now, my next challenge is just to get all the (almost) 400 members of the original facebook page to migrate over to the group. . . and to think of my next great #museumsquad meme. Western Museums Association 2016 Annual Meeting | my second outing as a session moderator2/23/2017 When I found out Western Museums Association was hosting their annual conference in Phoenix in 2016, I was excited to get involved. Their team of conference planners has an excellent reputation and the conference itself is a 'must' for museum professionals (who, as a reminder, struggle with limited budgets for professional development). I was honored to be involved in two ways: as a liaison for the Greater Phoenix Emerging Professionals chapter, and as a moderator for a session titled We Are The Change: Mentors and Peers. The panelists and I all had some relationship to mentoring in museums - for my part, I run a peer-to-peer mentor program among volunteers at the Musical Instrument Museum. Learning from the panelists in the months leading up to the conference and our session was eye-opening and fun. Our session represented everything from formal mentorships, to the informal ones created out of happy hours and a common sense of struggle, to alumni networks that keep old classmates in touch as they take new jobs. As a moderator, I was also responsible for pulling together the various presentation elements from my new museum friends and submitting it via the proper channels. It was an exercise in diplomatic 'managing of my peers.' Check out what fun we had! Since getting involved in the Greater Phoenix Emerging Museum Professionals (EMPs) group in 2014, I have learned so much. So. Much. Recently I was asked by the National Emerging Museum Professionals Network to contribute to their first-ever annual report, on behalf of the Phoenix group. It prompted me to reflect a little more closely on my own contributions to the Phoenix network. Check out these stats from 2015: I was drawn to this opportunity, to lead the Greater Phoenix EMP group, for three main reasons:
There were also some elements to this new role that I wasn’t expecting:
I had so much fun with the STEM Pro Live! team from the Maricopa County Educational Services Agency (McESA), who approached my museum, the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM), to shoot a webisode on-site featuring someone whose job involves science. My background is in science – Biological Sciences – and my previous jobs in informal education have been science-focused. When I took my current position at MIM, I was tasked with building on our existing “Science of Sound” materials. Fast forward a couple of years and I’ve since created, piloted, and implemented a comprehensive STEM + Music program that includes field trips for grades 3-8, online educator resources for grades 3-8 to complement the pre-existing MS/HS set, as well as professional development for teachers. The webisode streamed live at the end of January to 60 or so preregistered classrooms and now lives on their website for teachers to access anytime. It was fun and slightly outside of my comfort zone – since it was prerecorded and (sort of) scripted. The live portion was also so early in the morning, I saw the sunrise for the first time since the 1990s. Thoughts I had while working on my webisode of STEM Pro Live!:
And finally. . .
My fun, interactive approach to object-based learning for novices “Object-based learning” is a phrase uttered time and time again in museums. What it basically means is to use the museum’s collections (i.e. what’s on display) to teach concepts. Teach from what you (and the guests) can see. Why is object-based learning useful? Here are three reasons:
Sounds simple enough. But, as a tenet of good museum education practices, it’s sometimes surprisingly hard to do. It can be especially challenging for new docents or tour guides, particularly if they’ve never worked or taught in museums before. I love a good challenge and, as such, I’ve gathered a series of links and discussion points to help new docents or tour guides get comfortable with object-based learning. I use these materials in a larger set of activities over a four-hour session for training new tour guides. Enjoy! TOOLKIT | Warm-up materials to share beforehand:
TOOLKIT | Discussion prompts:
TOOLKIT | I always kick off the discussion with a personal example: Close your eyes and picture a plate. Now, picture a decorated plate. Is it very detailed? Are the colors bright? How about those collectible plates depicting blockbuster movies or the holiday-themed ones? Reflect silently: What comes to your mind when you picture those plates? Now, open your eyes. Whenever I see a decorated, antique, or collectible plate, I never think of food. Instead, I think of my grandmother. She collects plates and hangs them on every available wall space in her kitchen. As a child, I liked visiting her and seeing if I could pick out any of the new plates she’d added since my last visit. We hardly ever spoke about the plates, but they are indelibly etched in my mind simply as “what Grandma’s House looks like.” So, if I see a collectible plate for sale or turn one over in my hands at a thrift store, I am immediately transported back to her tiny, cozy kitchen and her dozens of wall-mounted plates. How is my impression of a collectible plate different than yours? Facilitator's notes: I take time to discuss each of the examples (Historical Cooties, then the Pope's Fiat). I invite them to react to both items and then highlight how the group's reactions were different or similar for each. Then, I share my personal example. The resulting conversations are always entertaining and insightful. As a facilitator, I don't steer the conversation. I simply let it flow, reinforcing or repeating the responses I get in a slightly different way, to keep the discussion going. This discussion usually lasts about 15-20 minutes. For the second year in a row, I was lucky enough to get to ring in the new year with some amazing new friends and emerging museum professionals. As the program coordinator for the Greater Phoenix Emerging Museum Professionals, it's up to me to plan events, meet-ups, and programs. Since I've taken over the Greater Phoenix EMP's, I've learned a lot and every time I plan an event, I am amazed and humbled all over again by the quality of those emerging professionals in my field.
This year's Happy New Year Happy Hour was at OHSO Brewery in Arcadia and there were some new faces and some old friends. The conversation was even better than the guac (which is really saying something, because that guac is incredible). Thanks for making working in AZ museums so much fun, you guys! Can't wait for more fun in 2016! During summer 2015, I was selected to be a member of the second class of Manifesto Project-AZ apprentices. Manifesto Project-AZ has a mission to connect millennial professionals to partner organizations as non-voting board members. From the Manifesto Project-AZ's facebook page I was paired with the Booker T. Washington Child Development Center in Phoenix (in the East Lake Park neighborhood). It's a Head Start program in Arizona for preschool-age children and their families. What have my takeaways been so far?
So far, it's been an invaluable learning experience and I've learned that their mission, supporting families in the East Lake Park neighborhood, is one that I'm passionate about. 2015 was a year to remember. Professionally, I had a lot of firsts. I supervised an intern for the first time. I wrote my first resignation letter. I joined my first non-profit Board. I spoke to a college Museum Studies class. I took 6Sigma (process improvement) training. I coordinated and moderated a panel of speakers at a museum conference. I collaborated with educators from another museum to create a volunteer training session. I took CPR Training (my "practice dummy" lived, thanks to my fast-acting efforts to revive her!). Developed pre-Kindergarten programs for the first time.
Phew. I could not be more proud of "2015 Niki." She's a busy, driven person. But, I can't expect "2016 Niki" to out-do her by simply doing more. No. Instead, I hope to use the momentum from my first few years in the museum field as a springboard into 2016. This will be my fifth year working at the same institution and my eighth year in museums. It's no longer about checking things off my "firsts" list. Actress Emma Stone said something along the lines of, "you get to this point in your career, where you don't feel like you just have to take every little thing that comes your way. You get to pick and choose and something amazing happens: you get to begin to do your own thing." Far from pick my own roles as an award-winning actress, I still relate to that idea, at its core. When I first began working in museums, I was desperate to prove myself - I said "yes" to every project, joined every association, took on every extra-curricular activity I could because I knew I just needed to get myself out there. But somewhere along the way, I began to learn what I was good at, and what I was better at and, most importantly, what I really love and how I can really do the most good in my field. In 2016, I hope to do what I really love - and to be as present and focused as possible while doing it. |
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This is Niki.Niki Cuccinotto is a consultant, science educator, and writer. Archives
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