From the very beginning, I understood that my educational background was the reason why I was selected as an intern for the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. It set me apart from other candidates. As mentioned before, the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage is currently looking to expand itself as an educational resource. The CFCH’s goal to become more of an educational resource is part of their strategic plan. Specifically, their strategic plan is to “develop a comprehensive cross-programmatic education plan in coordination with Smithsonian’s Office of the Under Secretary for Education.” So far, I have been successful in creating educational resources that fit existing content on Folklife magazine. 

I have chosen to transform existing articles that were published in Folklife Magazine into learning modules. I used Canva for Education to create handouts and slideshows that would be featured in these learning modules. Most importantly, Canva was used to storyboard my proposed learning modules. These modules are broken down into topics such as language, fashion, dance, food, history and so on. These themes will always connect back to the main theme of culture. These modules feature handouts and “reading checks” for students to complete. I created these handouts by considering what content was covered in the published article. I had to determine what kind of lesson could occur using the given worksheet. The handouts are dependent on being downloaded by teachers and being uploaded to learning management systems. This was the main platform I used to create and modify my created educational resources. “Reading checks” are in other words questions students are expected to answer as they proceed through the text. When I first began constructing my educational resource, I focused on the vocabulary students would need to know when exploring Folklife Magazine. It is very similar to the process I use when I work from the social studies curriculum to create lessons. I have to prioritize the assessment limits that are identified within the curriculum. These assessment limits revolve around key vocabulary my students must learn. Since vocabulary serves as the foundation for my educational resources, it then allowed me to identify existing articles focused on that particular vocabulary term. Consequently, these articles became learning modules. Eventually, my learning modules will connect to a much larger digital learning project, a digital story map. For the most part, I am happy with what I was able to accomplish with my storyboarding and educational resources. My supervisor was impressed with me. 

Comparatively, it has been challenging to network with more individuals at CFCH. I feel like when I first started my internship I felt like I had more meetings. These meetings were based on introducing myself and the potential project I was going to create. Its been difficult to reconnect based on what I have been able to accomplish. I could possible solve this issue by bringing this issue up to my supervisor who may have further ideas on potential networking candidates.