Last night was my first opportunity to represent KQED at an exhibitors fair, as part of the annual Presidio Teacher’s Night. This event brought together twenty-some Bay Area educational institutions to connect with and educate local teachers about their programs and offerings.
It was awesome getting to chat with local teachers from kindergarten through high school, from Marin County to San Jose. Understanding their needs and interests is key to my work designing professional development resources and courses for them. So getting facetime to just talk about what they are doing, their concerns about the media and technology, and what excites them about our work is so instructive.
There were bunch of awesome institutions in the room that I got to learn about too, during some of the downtimes. I loved getting updated on the work of fellow museum educators at the Oakland Museum, the Exploratorium, SFMOMA, the Walt Disney Family Museum, the Contemporary Jewish Museum, and of course my former colleagues at the California Academy of Sciences. Other groups present included SFUSD, Facing History and Ourselves, and Hip-Hop for Change.
The event was in the beautiful and elegant Presidio Officers Club. I’m eager to return to check out their exhibit on the Japanese internment camps, which looks really powerful and moving.