My critical incident was something that I didn’t realize would inspire me so much.

My
group wanted to go look at Star Studio, to see what they do there. Since Payton mentioned that it
was a spot that had an activity for children. Walking down that hallway to Star Studio, I was
glancing around at all the glass-blown art and almost tripped on a little girl. I had no clue she was
there, she was sitting on the floor, criss-crossed applesauce, deep into the TV. As we walked into
the Star Studio, I looked back and saw she was watching someone making glass-blown art. It
made me giggle. She didn’t care that a couple of people almost kept walking over her as she was
so deep into the video.
There was a little drawing section, then a small room inside of the studio that had some
art and had bird noises. I really wasn’t paying attention to it, so I walked out of that section to the
entrance to the studio. You see the little girl still sitting there, as you see a father figure walking
up to her. He said something in a language I didn’t know, the girl replied very quickly and didn't
move. In the end, the father figure stood behind the little girl as she kept watching the
glass-blown art-making video. I felt quite inspired because of this little girl.
I personally am writing about this because it reminded me of what the Education Director
said. She described, when answering a question, that the museum is for lifelong learning, while
taking inspiration to see what others do. It made me realize that the little girl was curious about
glass art making and wanted to see how it was made. Another thing it reminded me of is
something Payton explained during the panel. She expressed how a museum can be for anyone;
it’s available for all ages and anyone can learn something new there. From that panel, it placed a
new meaning for me seeing this little girl deeply engrossed in the video. I was smiling as my
group walked away from there. You just see the little girl and the father figure watching the glass
art making video.

With everything involving my feelings and my incident I described, this trip was a very
good start to our many study trips. It was exciting and to visit, you realize the value of a
community working to help people learn new things. Relating back to Show Your Work!, by
Austin Kleon, he expressed building yourself up to help others, saying, “You have to be a
connector” (Kleon 127). It all relays back to the role of the community in the education
department of the museum. They were very flexible throughout the Covid Pandemic to still have
children learn more. Not only during the pandemic, but also building connections with
home-schooled families that keep coming back to Newfields. The Newfields curriculum is, of
course, changing, but their goal is letting everyone learn something new. Whether it’s inside the
galleries or with the many options they have outside as well, they change it to continue to
educate. Amanda did mention the curriculum they are rebuilding, which includes Harvard
Project 0. It focuses on the deep dive of intelligence, thinking, creativity, and ethics. I believe
that can benefit the museum curriculum greatly! Those can all be applied to looking at art, or
looking at bugs outside, like the Education Director said she was doing with pre-k students that
day before talking to us.
Overall, this trip was quite helpful because it did change my definition of what a good
classroom environment is. It doesn’t have to just be in a school, with desks, and an interactive
group of students. I felt engaged, just like their goal is for learning. A good school can be an
environment that you can move around in and learn diverse things that are shown from specific
cultures. This goes very well with the COE Shared Commitments stating, “represent our histories
as well as our opportunities to learn and grow in our beliefs and practices.” Which I feel like
Newfields did for myself and can for anyone who goes to visit in the future. By creating a
learning space that educates others with something new each time. Whether it’s a school or
museum, there are people present to learn something new. I never considered doing this for my
career. However, the Education Department panel’s points: looking around the museum, and
seeing the little girl. All of those made me realize that there are so many different opportunities
interested students can go into.