Andrew Phelan Internship

My name is Andrew Phelan. I am a Graduate student in the History MA program. While my undergraduate research interest was in Jewish Antiquity, I am transitioning to research on the Ancient Near East and Middle Bronze Age archeology. For my summer internship I am working with Full Measure Content & Consulting on their Stories for Young Historians K-3 curriculum as a Curriculum Development Intern. I want to be a professor of history for my career. I reached out to be a part of this program because I feel like seeing how curriculums are designed and how the goals of education are met will give me great experience for my future career. Because this is a Catholic publication and I am not religious, I also feel it is valuable to get out of my comfort zone and experience how people with different backgrounds understand history.

My first week with Full Measure Content & Consulting was focused on learning the goals and routine of the company. The team is working on publishing a Catholic K-3 historical textbook that integrates faith, historical accuracy, development, and storytelling into one curriculum that changes how social studies is taught at the elementary level.

My first task was to go through a selection of materials from the project that gave me an understanding of how projects like these are done behind the scenes. The first thing I looked through was the flyer that the team is using to pitch the project to its target audiences; educators and Catholic schools. While reading this carefully and taking notes about questions that came up, I gained a deeper understanding of the specific goals of the project and how the team wants the work to be publicly perceived. Some of the things I noticed were the use of imagery and design to engage readers with certain messages and keep the flyer engaging. As well as the clear stating of educational goals that are at the core of the work.

After situating the goals of the project in my mind I was able to look through more complex plans that were provided for me so I could see how the planning and editing process takes place. A looked through the book map, book prototype, content cold read, and the timeline detail page. This took me around 3 hours of detailed reading and note taking. What I took from this time was how organized and efficient this process is. The comments left by editors expressed attention to detail. I also noticed how the goals of the team were repeated everywhere throughout the project. They did not allow themselves to veer away from the chronological, story and faith-based book that they were trying to make. This showed me what professionalism looks like in publishing.

Now that I have been given time to become familiar with the project and the work that has already been done, I am excited to move forward and become more actively involved. With a project like this, which is trying to infuse intensive historical authenticity into a young elementary curriculum, it is vital to be detail-orientated and precise about every decision. As my role on the project becomes more involved, I understand the expectations will be that uphold the professionalism that has been on display so far.