Literary and Fine Arts Education Teaching and Research Internship

The Literary and Fine Arts Education Teaching and Research Intern is a paid, full-time opportunity that is part of the ExxonMobil Community Summer Jobs Program. The internship will begin June 1, 2010 and end July 26, 2010.

Description of Internship

In June, the Literary and Fine Arts Education Teaching and Research Intern will serve as a lead intern for a larger team of our summer workshop interns. During workshop hours, the intern will provide fine arts and creative writing instruction to children by team teaching with professional teachers and writers, offer constructive feedback to students on their writing, work with small groups of children who need extra or advanced assistance, and observe and document best teaching practices. The intern will be asked to focus his/her teaching and observation on lessons that incorporate the fine arts, including assisting visiting artists and administering field trips at local cultural venues.

After workshop hours, the intern will help administration by preparing for faculty meetings, meeting with teachers, assisting in the production of anthologies, and in other administrative tasks as assigned. The intern will administer and curate a special poetry reading to be held at The Menil Collection featuring students and instructors from the summer workshops. The poetry reading will be open to the public, and the intern will produce a corresponding anthology of the works read that evening.

In July, the internship will focus on researching and gathering materials, documents, and lesson plans to produce a compilation of best arts in education teaching moments and practices into a book-length publication. Working directly with the WITS Associate Director, the intern will comb through the WITS lesson archives, materials documented at the workshops during June, and materials produced by students to shape this cohesive memoir. Also, the intern will interview veteran writers and key Menil Collection staff to gather and include anecdotes and historical background information. The intern will be responsible for the creation, editing, proofing, and publication processes for this compilation.

The intern will be required to attend an internship organizational meeting, two workshop training days, the three-week summer workshops, and weekly faculty meetings.

Eligibility/Requirements

The Literary and Fine Arts Education Teaching and Research Internship is open to all interested candidates who are currently undergraduate students enrolled in a college or university full-time and who will be returning to school full-time in Fall 2010 as undergraduate sophomores, juniors, or seniors. Candidates must demonstrate an aptitude in arts in education, creative writing, pedagogy, art history, museum studies, and/or non-profit administration. Interns will be subject to a criminal background check, which must meet WITS standards, prior to beginning the internship. Writers in the Schools encourages applicants from all backgrounds to apply and is dedicated to a culturally diverse staff.

• Interns will gain work experience and classroom experience
• Interns will be exposed to career goals
• Interns will gain experience in non-profit administration
• Internship will serve as a networking opportunity: interns will meet colleagues in Education, Arts Education, and Creative Writing fields
• Interns will build their résumés
• Upon successful completion of the Internship, WITS will serve as a reference and will provide letters of recommendation