It's been a fun day at the careers fair today. I've done a lot of talking about museums and a lot of teaching kids how to use a hobby horse. And enjoying the looks on their faces when I introduced them to the smell of carbolic soap.
"That's what history smells like, kids."
This is just a short summary whilst it's fresh in my head. If anyone else out there gets asked to do a careers fair for young people, hopefully this will be helpful for you.
Things that went well
We took museum objects to play show-and-tell with, and they went down very well. From the hobby horses to the washboard, the objects were a great talking point for all the kids from the real little ones all the way up to the 14 year olds. Watching 14 year olds ride hobby horses around a sports hall is at once hilarious and slightly terrifying.
Some kids are clearly there to get as many leaflets as they can possibly manage, so I was glad of the shortened version of the events programme that I'd printed out. The small papers on the web resources went down well too.
Things I'd do differently
We took two boxes of craft materials to make things with the younger children and didn't end up using any of it. They came around in groups of eight or ten and only stayed a couple of minutes, so making anything at all was rather impractical.
Some of the other stalls had stickers, badges, bags and other freebies. Big things are obviously not in the budget for small museums, but a few hundred button badges would have gone down a storm and wouldn't have cost all that much.
Things I overheard
Being a museum, I guess we have a lot of stereotypes that people associate with us. I heard one boy say in a rather derisive tone "a museum? What sort of a job would you have at a museum?".
It wasn't all doom and gloom though. We had a few people who specifically wanted to know about museum working; a few historians and a couple of archaeologists and one palaeontologist.
When I grow up I want to be...
I've asked a lot of children today what they want to be when they grow up. When I've got all the data tabulated I'll share (and of course I'm still hoping for more contributions from everyone out there!) but for now here are my favourites from today's fair;
Boy, 13yrs - "I'm not sure. I always used to say I wanted to be a Teletubby."
Girl, 7yrs - "I want to be lots of things. I want to be a dancer and a singer and a film maker and a pilot."
Boy, 12yrs - "I want to be Doctor Who, but I don't think he exists, so I guess a policeman instead."
Tuesday 28 June 2011
Monday 27 June 2011
When I grow up I want to be...
Tomorrow I'm at the 'inspired to work' careers fair, where I'll be talking to just under 2000 young people about the jobs that they could do in the future. It'll be a great chance to tell kids as young as six and seven about what we do in museums. Hopefully I might even inspire a few towards a career in heritage if I'm really lucky.
But really, that's not what this post is about. I've learnt during my time working with children that one of the things that usually engages children are events and activities that give them the chance to be something they've always dreamed of. Whether it's a spy, a forensic scientist or a pirate, the childhood dream-careers are always a good recipe for a fantastic day out and a really engaging learning experience that they really invest in.
So what are the careers of choice nowadays? I know what I wanted to be when I was younger (an astronaut, thank you very much) but I'm not sure whether today's youth have the same aspirations that I did when I was a child.
I'm hoping to do a bit of research to find out, and I'm hoping that you all can help me. Do you know any children? Anyone aged 16 or younger will do. All you have to do is ask them what they want to be when they grow up. Then let me know what it is, how old they are and whether they're male or female. You can tell me through twitter @Sarah_Fellows or by email at fellows.sarah.m@gmail.com
Easy, yes?
When I've collated all the results I'll share them here. Hopefully we'll all get something really useful out of it.
And of course, I'll try and gather as many responses tomorrow as I can. Surely in two thousand children I'll find some who know what they want to be when they grow up?
Distribute my quest as far and wide as you can and I'll be very grateful. And so will everyone else, when I send the results out.
In advance, I thank you!
But really, that's not what this post is about. I've learnt during my time working with children that one of the things that usually engages children are events and activities that give them the chance to be something they've always dreamed of. Whether it's a spy, a forensic scientist or a pirate, the childhood dream-careers are always a good recipe for a fantastic day out and a really engaging learning experience that they really invest in.
So what are the careers of choice nowadays? I know what I wanted to be when I was younger (an astronaut, thank you very much) but I'm not sure whether today's youth have the same aspirations that I did when I was a child.
I'm hoping to do a bit of research to find out, and I'm hoping that you all can help me. Do you know any children? Anyone aged 16 or younger will do. All you have to do is ask them what they want to be when they grow up. Then let me know what it is, how old they are and whether they're male or female. You can tell me through twitter @Sarah_Fellows or by email at fellows.sarah.m@gmail.com
Easy, yes?
When I've collated all the results I'll share them here. Hopefully we'll all get something really useful out of it.
And of course, I'll try and gather as many responses tomorrow as I can. Surely in two thousand children I'll find some who know what they want to be when they grow up?
Distribute my quest as far and wide as you can and I'll be very grateful. And so will everyone else, when I send the results out.
In advance, I thank you!
Saturday 25 June 2011
Facebook tips
Today's post is on the subject of social media. There's a good number of courses you can go on to learn everything you need to know about social media and more, but a lot of them do cost a fair bit of money and that's something most people don't have at the moment. So, I thought I'd put together a quick how-to on using facebook and twitter for your venue.
First up is facebook.
Creating your page
There are various different sort of pages and groups and so on that facebook has or might have for your venue. Community pages, groups and a 'page' are the main three; most people will want to have a 'page' because it's best tailored of the three to the sort of thing most venues will want to do with facebook. To create a page for your venue, you'll need to go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php
Once you're there, just follow the prompts and enter the information as requested. It's fairly self explanatory. You can have as many page admins as you want. When any admins are on the page, anything they post will come up as being posted by the venue. This applies to photos, links, page status updates and 'likes'.
Creating events
Your venue can advertise 'events' on facebook which it can invite its followers/fans to.
To create an event, click on the events link. You'll find it on the left hand side of the page, under the venue picture, above the 'about your venue' information. The button to create an event is on the far right of the page. From there, just fill in all the information you can about the event; where, when, a picture and so on. You can also select guests to send an invitation to if you want, though you don't have to.
Once your event is live, you can edit the information at any time, as can any other page admins for your venue.
What is a check-in?
Your venue page will say on the left hand side how many check-ins your venue has. A check-in is when a person has tagged themselves in a post at your venue. Keeping tabs on how many people have checked in at your venue will tell you how many people who use facebook a lot are visiting your venue. Geo-location activity, such as checking into a venue, is getting more popular all the time, so it's something worth keeping an eye on in the future.
Sharing photos and collecting photos
A venue can share its official photographs through its venue page. To do this, click on the photos link on the left hand side of your venue page. There, you'll have the option to create new albums and to add new photos to existing albums. Give your albums names that are very descriptive; if it's clear what's in them, people are more likely to browse through them.
Your fans can share their photos of your venue via your venue page too. Whenever they post a picture to your page wall, it'll get collected into the 'photos of your venue' section which you see under your own albums on the photo page.
I hope that was useful! It doesn't include everything that you can do on a facebook page by any means, but it's a good start. If anyone wants hints and tips on anything else by all means ask and I'll be happy to do what I can in a follow-up post.
I'll be looking at twitter in another post.
If you've got questions I didn't answer do comment or drop me a line through twitter @Sarah_Fellows or by email to fellows.sarah.m@gmail.com.
First up is facebook.
Creating your page
There are various different sort of pages and groups and so on that facebook has or might have for your venue. Community pages, groups and a 'page' are the main three; most people will want to have a 'page' because it's best tailored of the three to the sort of thing most venues will want to do with facebook. To create a page for your venue, you'll need to go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php
Once you're there, just follow the prompts and enter the information as requested. It's fairly self explanatory. You can have as many page admins as you want. When any admins are on the page, anything they post will come up as being posted by the venue. This applies to photos, links, page status updates and 'likes'.
Creating events
Your venue can advertise 'events' on facebook which it can invite its followers/fans to.
To create an event, click on the events link. You'll find it on the left hand side of the page, under the venue picture, above the 'about your venue' information. The button to create an event is on the far right of the page. From there, just fill in all the information you can about the event; where, when, a picture and so on. You can also select guests to send an invitation to if you want, though you don't have to.
Once your event is live, you can edit the information at any time, as can any other page admins for your venue.
What is a check-in?
Your venue page will say on the left hand side how many check-ins your venue has. A check-in is when a person has tagged themselves in a post at your venue. Keeping tabs on how many people have checked in at your venue will tell you how many people who use facebook a lot are visiting your venue. Geo-location activity, such as checking into a venue, is getting more popular all the time, so it's something worth keeping an eye on in the future.
Sharing photos and collecting photos
A venue can share its official photographs through its venue page. To do this, click on the photos link on the left hand side of your venue page. There, you'll have the option to create new albums and to add new photos to existing albums. Give your albums names that are very descriptive; if it's clear what's in them, people are more likely to browse through them.
Your fans can share their photos of your venue via your venue page too. Whenever they post a picture to your page wall, it'll get collected into the 'photos of your venue' section which you see under your own albums on the photo page.
I hope that was useful! It doesn't include everything that you can do on a facebook page by any means, but it's a good start. If anyone wants hints and tips on anything else by all means ask and I'll be happy to do what I can in a follow-up post.
I'll be looking at twitter in another post.
If you've got questions I didn't answer do comment or drop me a line through twitter @Sarah_Fellows or by email to fellows.sarah.m@gmail.com.
Wednesday 15 June 2011
Slugs and snails and puppy dogs' tails
I was reminded this evening by a post on twitter just how much gender stereotyping by corporations bothers me. And no, funnily enough this had nothing to do with the Apprentice, though from what I gather from the odd tweet I saw it might as well have been.
What particularly bothers me is the categorisation of fairly mainstream consumables, like toys, magazines, books and so on, into "girls things" and "boys things".
Such as, for instance, Tesco.
I'm a girl. Can't I like Doctor Who and Kung Fu Panda and Pokemon now?
But they're by no means the only ones. The Entertainer split their toys into "girls" and "boys" sections. What saddens me most about their segregation is that there doesn't seem to be anything allowed into the girly side that isn't pink, and all the science experiment kits and electronic puzzles reside exclusively in the blue boys' zone. What message does this send to aspiring young female scientists? Is it any wonder we have universities struggling to attract women to science and engineering degrees?
Having said that, it's always nice to see that there are plenty of rational people out there in the world who denounce such stereotyping and do their best to encourage the positive idea that boys and girls can share interests. I dislike being negative, so I'll end with a link to a wonderfully uplifting story about the power of the internet in breaking down gender-based stereotypes. It's about a young girl named Katie who got teased for taking her Star Wars lunchbox into school, which inspired an internet campaign.
And what has this got to do with museums, anyway? Well, I think gender stereotyping is clearly so rife in modern society that we should be cautious that we don't find ourselves getting swept up in the tide. Just because Tesco thinks that it's ok shouldn't mean that it is. By all means, offer a princess tiara making and a knight crown making session. But if you have a young girl who wants to be a knight, or even a boy who wants to be a fairy (and I've had both) then don't discourage it. Let them find their own interests; we should be here to help children learn and explore, not to discourage them.
What particularly bothers me is the categorisation of fairly mainstream consumables, like toys, magazines, books and so on, into "girls things" and "boys things".
Such as, for instance, Tesco.
But they're by no means the only ones. The Entertainer split their toys into "girls" and "boys" sections. What saddens me most about their segregation is that there doesn't seem to be anything allowed into the girly side that isn't pink, and all the science experiment kits and electronic puzzles reside exclusively in the blue boys' zone. What message does this send to aspiring young female scientists? Is it any wonder we have universities struggling to attract women to science and engineering degrees?
Having said that, it's always nice to see that there are plenty of rational people out there in the world who denounce such stereotyping and do their best to encourage the positive idea that boys and girls can share interests. I dislike being negative, so I'll end with a link to a wonderfully uplifting story about the power of the internet in breaking down gender-based stereotypes. It's about a young girl named Katie who got teased for taking her Star Wars lunchbox into school, which inspired an internet campaign.
And what has this got to do with museums, anyway? Well, I think gender stereotyping is clearly so rife in modern society that we should be cautious that we don't find ourselves getting swept up in the tide. Just because Tesco thinks that it's ok shouldn't mean that it is. By all means, offer a princess tiara making and a knight crown making session. But if you have a young girl who wants to be a knight, or even a boy who wants to be a fairy (and I've had both) then don't discourage it. Let them find their own interests; we should be here to help children learn and explore, not to discourage them.
Monday 13 June 2011
When Rain Stops Play
It's beginning to look like we might be in for another fantastic British summer of liquid sunshine. Working in the open air as I do, I'm used to the unpredictability of the English weather. Activity plans always include a contingency for wet weather, which isn't always "the dry weather programme in waterproofs", though admittedly that does often seem to be the case.
Wherever possible, I try to go ahead with some version of the original plan no matter how foul the weather gets. I've run events in the snow, and torrential downpours, and howling wind. I think it's always more satisfying when the people who do make the effort to come out to visit me in all that horrible weather have a fantastic time regardless. I've found that there is no rain so heavy that it can drown the fun of making hats, swords and anything shaped like a TARDIS.
I have learnt a few things about wet weather planning that I thought I'd share for the benefit of others in anticipation for a rainy summer.
Don't let your craft get soggy
Even if you're inside, if the humidity is high enough then it'll dampen any papercraft you've got planned. Damp paper doesn't have the same crispness of dry paper, so bear that in mind if you're planning headbands or anything else where the paper needs to stand upright. It also reacts differently to colouring pens and so on when it's damp; felt pens will absorb better but with less crisp lines and wax crayons and pencil crayons won't colour so easily.
Maybe it'll pass...
We're all optimists at heart. Even when it's been raining non-stop for the last week, you'll still find that people will dwell longer in the inside, dry spaces, hoping that it might stop bucketing it down outside in a minute. If you'd usually expect a family to do one or two activities, you should expect them to do three in rainy weather. If the children are enjoying themselves then the adults will be only too happy to allow them to stay and carry on in the hopes of avoiding more showers.
It only rains on the adults
For some reason, wet weather bothers adults a lot more than it bothers kids. If the parents are happy to let them, you'll often find most kids don't really mind running around in light rain. Some don't even mind heavy rain. Just make sure that if you do you're running around on ground that isn't likely to get too slippery. If you can provide a nice warm room for them to dry off in afterwards then all the better.
If anyone else has wet-weather hints and tips, I'm always eager to hear them. After all, there's never a shortage of rainy days!
Wherever possible, I try to go ahead with some version of the original plan no matter how foul the weather gets. I've run events in the snow, and torrential downpours, and howling wind. I think it's always more satisfying when the people who do make the effort to come out to visit me in all that horrible weather have a fantastic time regardless. I've found that there is no rain so heavy that it can drown the fun of making hats, swords and anything shaped like a TARDIS.
I have learnt a few things about wet weather planning that I thought I'd share for the benefit of others in anticipation for a rainy summer.
Don't let your craft get soggy
Even if you're inside, if the humidity is high enough then it'll dampen any papercraft you've got planned. Damp paper doesn't have the same crispness of dry paper, so bear that in mind if you're planning headbands or anything else where the paper needs to stand upright. It also reacts differently to colouring pens and so on when it's damp; felt pens will absorb better but with less crisp lines and wax crayons and pencil crayons won't colour so easily.
Maybe it'll pass...
We're all optimists at heart. Even when it's been raining non-stop for the last week, you'll still find that people will dwell longer in the inside, dry spaces, hoping that it might stop bucketing it down outside in a minute. If you'd usually expect a family to do one or two activities, you should expect them to do three in rainy weather. If the children are enjoying themselves then the adults will be only too happy to allow them to stay and carry on in the hopes of avoiding more showers.
It only rains on the adults
For some reason, wet weather bothers adults a lot more than it bothers kids. If the parents are happy to let them, you'll often find most kids don't really mind running around in light rain. Some don't even mind heavy rain. Just make sure that if you do you're running around on ground that isn't likely to get too slippery. If you can provide a nice warm room for them to dry off in afterwards then all the better.
If anyone else has wet-weather hints and tips, I'm always eager to hear them. After all, there's never a shortage of rainy days!
Friday 10 June 2011
Curators of the Future
I'm off to a local careers event in a couple of weeks. I'm very much looking forward to it, because rather than your average hall full of university students I'm going to be talking to kids as young as first school age (6/7/8) about all the things that make working in a museum pretty darn cool.
I've been having a lot of fun today and yesterday thinking about the best ways to present what we do, since I know I'm representing the first contact most of these children will have had with thoughts of working in the heritage sector. So, y'know, no pressure or anything. I love doing what I do, and I'd hate to give any child the impression that working in museums is anything less than the off-the-wall, constantly changing, always slighty-unusual experience that I truly believe it is. After all, as I said to someone today; in what other workplace could you legitimately and seriously say "we couldn't use the room, it was full of tea cosies"? Well, other than in a tea cosy factory, maybe. Or a prolific knitter's house.
Hypothetical workplaces aside, I think I've come up with some fun tasks to give the idea of working in a museum; some dressing up clothes, some collections items, some replica items, some make-and-take craft... what's not to love?
Oh, and did I mention I'm thinking of bringing a pirate with me?
So yes, it should be fun. I'd love some feedback from you out there. Was there anything you wish you'd known about working in museums when you were a child? I've still got time to put in extra bits and bobs (but probably not any more pirates).
Thanks!
I've been having a lot of fun today and yesterday thinking about the best ways to present what we do, since I know I'm representing the first contact most of these children will have had with thoughts of working in the heritage sector. So, y'know, no pressure or anything. I love doing what I do, and I'd hate to give any child the impression that working in museums is anything less than the off-the-wall, constantly changing, always slighty-unusual experience that I truly believe it is. After all, as I said to someone today; in what other workplace could you legitimately and seriously say "we couldn't use the room, it was full of tea cosies"? Well, other than in a tea cosy factory, maybe. Or a prolific knitter's house.
Hypothetical workplaces aside, I think I've come up with some fun tasks to give the idea of working in a museum; some dressing up clothes, some collections items, some replica items, some make-and-take craft... what's not to love?
Oh, and did I mention I'm thinking of bringing a pirate with me?
So yes, it should be fun. I'd love some feedback from you out there. Was there anything you wish you'd known about working in museums when you were a child? I've still got time to put in extra bits and bobs (but probably not any more pirates).
Thanks!
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