Arina Aleksejeva | Tallinn Russian Museum
Arina Aleksejeva had always thought that working in a museum would be boring but found it to be quite different as she got involved in arranging an exhibition and preparing some teaching and learning materials at Tallinn Russian Museum, supervised by Jelena Tšekulajeva.
During my internship, I was given the leadership of a project, which was first planned as an exhibition and then transformed into materials that can be used for online lessons in local schools. The goal of the project was to tell about Johann Adam von Krusenstern – a sailor, who was born in Estonia in the 18th century and led the first Russian circumnavigation – in a fun and entertaining way. My team consisted of two school girls and, because of the COVID-19 restrictions, we had our meetings via zoom. We started to work on the project in the beginning of October and finished its first part by November. In just one month and four meetings we researched Krusenstern’s biography, wrote fun but simple-to-understand texts, chose suitable photos and created 11 Instagram posts. We imagined what Krusenstern would have shared if Instagram existed in his times and wrote posts on his behalf. Since many schools are shifting to contactless studies, materials that can be used online have become in demand. That’s why my supervisor suggested that we go beyond initial project idea and make task sheet for school children that can be used at the lessons. As a result, the final product of my project were 11 posts and tasks connected to them. They are in open access and can be found on the museum’s website.
When I started my internship, I was scared that I wouldn’t be skilled enough or that I would be more of a burden than a help. However, it has been truly enjoyable to work on something related to what I stand for – creative education. I practiced those skills I learnt at the university – through mandatory and elective courses: doing research, working in a team, being a leader, making creative content and editing in Photoshop. I won’t lie it was easy to combine internship, studies, preparation for my research paper and my job, all in one semester. But my supervisor at the museum was very flexible with my timings, which meant that I did not need to come to the museum when I was working on the project. Instead, I recorded my activities, how many hours I spent on them, and reported to her about the progress every week. If I had questions or needed help, my supervisor would always help out. Working for the museum turned out to be a truly exciting adventure!