For my external credits, I did some work at a law firm for my aunt and one of her coworkers. To give some background before I explain what I did, my aunt had a case during which some of her clients missing files were found in the basement of a police station. Along with her clients files, there were hundreds of other peoples. These files contained information that was withheld from them and their attorneys during the time of their trials, and could potentially prove their innocence. After finding all these missing files, my aunt decided to contact every person whose file was found. She sent a letter to each prisoner. One of the things the letter explained was that the courts ordered her to not give any of these prisoners their files, the only way they can have access to them is if they have their own lawyers contact her. The problem with that being that the majority of these prisoners no longer have lawyers and aren't able to contact any. In response to her letter she received hundreds of responses, not only from the people she wrote to, but from other prisoners who heard what she was doing.
What I did for my aunt over a couple months, was went through all the letters and figured out who was writing to her and why. I summarized each letter for her, and had them in categories: who she wrote to, who she did not write to, who she wrote to about a different topic, and who she did not write to but their letter made it seem as though she had. Once we got through that bunch of letters we created 3 different generalized response letters, answering the questions many of the prisoners had, and explaining the situation. After that the work consisted mainly of folding the papers, fitting them into envelopes, stamping them, and mailing them. With some hours left to go, I returned almost two months later, to go through some new responses she received, and basically restart the process with the new letters. I learned to be more open minded from this experience, so many people had very interesting stories where they spoke of many unjust things that happened to them. It showed me that even though people assume everyone in prison did something horrible, it reminded me that that is not necessarily true for many people. I think I really made a difference with this, because I was helping people whose form of living was at stake. I was helping them with a process that could potentially free them from a hell on Earth. When I volunteer in the future I plan to keep this open-minded mentality, I think that is a very important quality to have in life and especially while doing service for others. This experience is one that I want people to know about, because it is such a crazy situation. Police are breaking laws and not enough people are paying attention, and I plan to do everything I can to educate those people, and tell them about this situation along with many others.
For our final STEAM unit, Pitch in Entrepreneurship, we researched all the skills needed to pitch or sell your business. We started out with 15 second pitches, later made 30 second pitches, and finally for our action project made 3-4 minute pitches, that covered all the important facts an investor would need to know about our businesses. This unit was fun, because it was taking all of the work we did in the first two units, and combining it into a video. I'm proud of my video because I did a lot of extra editing, which was challenging for me, but I really liked the final result and think it was more than worth it.
For our final Humanities unit, Apotheosis in Endurance, we studied what it really means to fully dive into your journey, and what post-katabasis life looks like. In this unit we investigated the endurance of survivors, and we used their wisdom as inspiration for our own lives. For our action project, we were assigned to write a survival guide, which is our way of sharing knowledge once we reached apotheosis. I found this project difficult because I was, for once, at a loss for what to say, but I'm proud of myself for completing the project and all of it's components.
For our second action project in our Entrepreneurship class we took all the information we learned in the first unit and applied it to the real world. We looked at many examples and then made it more personalized by either creating our own business or working on an existing one. I chose to look into Insomnia Cookies and make many improvements. We then had to each create a business plan for those businesses, as our action project. The project was pretty difficult but I'm proud of all the work I did and that I completed it.
For our second unit of Endurance, Katabasis, we got to dive more into our missions. Throughout the unit we studied different endurers journeys and used them as inspirations for our own. We then began to pursue those journeys. We learned how to turn our visions into missions, start our journeys, and document them. For our action project we were assigned to do just that. We each chose a mission and spent 12 hours doing and documenting our process. Doing something repeatedly for 12 hours was challenging at times but I'm proud of myself for following through and doing what I set out to do.
My mission was to learn to contour, with the guiding question: what is the best contouring technique for my face? Looking back on this experience I'm really glad I had this project as motivation to try something I've been wanting to try for about a year. I'm someone who really enjoys makeup and use it as my creative outlet on a daily basis. I saw many contouring videos and images and thought it was something really beautiful and interesting but never personally got around to trying it. It's something that looked very simple but I knew wouldn't be, so I put it off to the side and never tried it. So when this assignment was given to us I saw it as the perfect opportunity to finally give it a shot. Doing the project was really fun but very time consuming --obviously. It also took a while to find the technique that was best for me. You have to find the best brand, the best blending technique, the best tools for the blending. All of that sounds easy, but it isn't something you can just figure out on the spot. You need to try again and again before you find the thing that works best for you. I'm really glad I did this project for 12 hours though, because now I have a new skill that I enjoy using. I plan to expand my contouring knowledge in the future and learn more tips in order to get better, but for now I am more than satisfied with what I've learned.
For our final Humanities course of our senior year, Endurance, we started out with the unit Morpheus. In this unit we read Dante's Inferno and Strayed's Wild, both books about two individuals' journeys. Throughout this unit we figured out what our own missions are and what our journeys look like. For our action project we were assigned to write an autobiography that takes place 30 years from now. I'm proud of my finalized project because it's hard to say what my future will look like because I don't really know what I want my path to look like yet.
For the first unit of our Entrepreneurship course, Know, we learned about all the fundamental concepts of business. We studied entrepreneurs, missions, visions, accounting, marketing, legal structures, investments, sales, management, and exit plans. I’m proud of myself in this unit because there was so much different information but I think I mastered them all. I showed this mastery with our action project. This project was a lot different than ones I’ve previously done at GCE. For this unit, our action project was taking a blue book test, showing that we are ready for the upcoming units, as well as the immense amount of preparations that happened prior to the test.
AMD . Untitled . 2016
The purpose of the entire first unit was to prepare us for the next two where we will be creating our own business plan. Without this basic knowledge of business that we learned, we’d be going in blind. I also got to see specific ways all the different information we learned is actually used. I I researched and spoke to over 15 different entrepreneurs and businesses. The ones that stuck out to me the most were all the entrepreneurs I spoke to directly, because I think you can get a much better sense of a business when you speak to the founders directly. The person who inspired me the most is the founder of GCE, Eric Davis. He is making strides every day to reinvent education and to improve the the way kids are taught. It was crazy that even though I have gone to this school the past 2 years, there was so much I had no idea about that Eric was able to shed a light on. From the way it was started to where we are now, there was so much I found out about GCE and what I am a part of. It was an interesting perspective to hear, as well, because of how honest he was and how he was able to address the mistakes that he’s made, not just the successes. When he spoke about himself personally, we were able to see what a motivated person he was, and it inspired me to be the same.
For the actual action project we spent 3 weeks learning about the 10 concepts I mentioned earlier--entrepreneurs, missions, visions, accounting, marketing, legal structures, investments, sales, management, and exit plans. We also did our own research, created our own study guide, made our own test questions, planned and participated in group study sessions, taught our own lessons, and then took an hour and a half long test showing the mastery of all those concepts and that we know how to apply them to the real world.
I’m nervous going into this next unit because it’s one thing to learn all these concepts and see how other people use them, and it’s another to have to use them yourself. I’m not yet sure what I want my business to be, or how I will plan everything out, but I’m excited to figure it out. I know that whatever I choose it will be an intense yet extremely useful two units. I’m looking forward to creating my own business plan and maybe even follow through with making it happen.
For our final action project of Equality we were assigned to conduct an interview with someone about an important event they were a part of. I chose to interview my aunt, a lawyer, who has had a very unique and interesting case. I was really proud of the work I did because it was a difficult but very important subject and I was glad to be a part of educating people on it. To read more info on the subject you can read her blog here, as well as other writings here and here as or with a simple Google search.
For our final unit in Systems and Models, we studied I-O Psychology, specifically its history, relevance, systems dynamics, and an organization’s ability to attract and serve its employees. Psychology has been around since the 4th century but wasn't considered a legitimate science until the APA was formed in 1892. I enjoyed this unit because it made me think more about what is important to look for when getting a job and what types of places I may want to work for in the future. For our last action project we each chose a part of the school to focus on and then were assigned to create a SWOT based on that part. I’m proud of my final result because it was about a part of the school that I am a part of and think is very important, so I was glad I got to represent it.
AG . Examples of Maslow's hierarchy implemented by Student Council . 2016
For my SWOT I focused on the Student Council. As President of the Student Council, I have a great insight on how everything is run and what strengths and weaknesses there are. When thinking about this group, you must also think about the “Tragedy of the Commons,” which is the potential to abuse a shared opportunity and everyone shares the consequences. There are multiple different commons in my scenario. One of those would be time; the Student Council meets each Thursday during lunch, which is an hour long. However, Falcon Fiesta got added to the schedule making lunch 55 mins. We then allow the Council members 10 minutes to get lunch, cutting our time down to 45 minutes. If Falcon Fiesta runs longer, or if members take extra time getting lunch, that affects everyone else on the Council because we can’t fully start without all the members. It also interrupts the discussion every time someone walks in late. Another example of the commons would be the entire student body. The Student Council is the student body’s representation on any issues; if the representatives of the school aren’t doing their job, then the entire student body, and in turn the entire school, is impacted.
The way the Council solves problems reminded me of Six Sigma. They have two processes for improvement, DMAIC process consists of: define, measure, analyze, improve, and control; the DMADV process consists of: define, measure, analyze, design, and verify. The DMAIC is for existing processes that aren’t meeting expectations and the DMADV is to develop new processes or products. I compared this to the way we look at issues in Student Council and how we implement policies, we pretty much used the same steps. I also saw similarities to Total Quality. A part of the Total Quality Management definition is “In a TQM effort, all members of an organization participate in improving processes, products, services, and the culture in which they work,” this is what members of the Council do as well. I was glad to notice these comparisons because I feel that it validates how the Council works. If this is how these big, well known, companies run things, it must be effective.
When interviewing people about the Student Council, I got a lot of positive comments which reminded me of all the strengths the Council has. I wanted to get a range of feedback so I made sure to interview a student on the Council as well as one that is not on the Council. Similarly when interviewing the staff, I wanted to interview the teacher who is present at all Council meetings as well as someone who only sees the external effects of the Council. JM, the Student Council Vice-President, stated that “The Student Council is a really helpful tool for communicating with teachers. A lot of times there are issues in classes that have easy solutions but the class doesn’t feel comfortable telling the teacher because we don’t want to negatively affect the classroom dynamic. Through the Council, we’re able to respectfully let a teacher know about any issues and what solutions we have come up with.” BKJ said “I feel like it finally gives us a voice” which I was very glad to hear. Hiu told me that “Spirit week was awesome” but also suggested that “more events like that should be put on, not enough community action from the Student Council”. I thought her suggestion was really good and decided to get some more advice from people on how to improve the Council. Jamie who is present at all meetings suggested: “The Council should collaborate more frequently on projects that will directly engage students and staff to build community.” Eric also pointed out to me a really interesting opportunity I had never considered before, the opportunity to meet and talk with Student Councils at other schools in order to learn from each other.
I was thinking about possible solutions to the Council’s weaknesses and possible threats. I wanted a solution that related to systems thinking, so that we really solved the root of the problems. One of the issues that I thought was really important to think about more closely was the lack of communication between the Council and the rest of the student body. I thought a good solution that would actually solve the issue is a mandatory sort of exit slip at the end of every two weeks. This way everyone would get a chance to say what they think, and it would be anonymous so they would be able to tell us things that they might not have felt comfortable letting us know one on one. This would be really beneficial to the entire school because it will address more issues to the Council and give us the opportunity to help come up with solutions for these issues. Another issue I came up with a systems thinking solution for was not having a designated space, which causes confusion and some members to not show up due to not knowing where to go. A solution to this would be to have a set space in the new building where we are already scheduled to meet each week and cannot have the space taken from us. This will remove confusion and thanks to that more members will show up. The more members show up, the more insight the Council has on new issues and the more minds we have available to help brainstorm solutions.
Works Cited
Koppes, Laura L. "What Is I-O?" A Brief History of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Inc.-. SIOP. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
McLeod, Saul. "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs." Simply Psychology. 2007. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
T.L. Brink. (2008) Psychology: A Student Friendly Approach. "Unit One: The Definition and History of Psychology." pp 9 Web. 18 Mar. 2016
"Total Quality Management (TQM)." TQM. ASQ. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
"What Is Six Sigma?" ISixSigma. ISixSigma. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
For our Equality class, we split our unit into three subgroups- Race, Gender, and Class. We looked at each of these groups, as well as others, as examined the inequality in our society that these groups face. We read a book- Invisible Man, to get a more in depth glance at how someone's life can be affected by these inequalities and disadvantages. For our action project, we were assigned to discuss how this book related to one of the many theorists whose work we read, and compare how their theories were shown in the book. I’m proud of the discussions I was a part of in this unit because I feel like I went really in depth in explaining my opinions, while also listening and respecting other people’s beliefs.
AG . Invisible Image on Page 36 . 2016
The 1952 novel Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison was published during the Korean War and two years before the Civil Right Movement started. It was a time when people were fighting to end racial segregation and discrimination against African Americans. Ellison was born in 1914 and pursued a variety of different jobs throughout his life, from an artist to being a cook in WWII to being a writer. Invisible Man follows the life of an African American man living in the Jim Crow south during this time period, whose name we never discover and is simply identified as an invisible man. We see how racism and other obstacles affect him and how he deals with the alienation he feels throughout his whole life. The book begins with the narrator explaining why he calls himself an invisible man, and telling us he decided to live underground in order to write his story. He then narrates his life story, through college in the South, a move to New York, memory loss, joining the Brotherhood, a riot that led to his decision to live underground, and ending with an understanding of himself and the truth of invisible and structural American racism. W.E.B. Du Bois, an early twentieth century African American writer, sociologist, and critic, offers an interesting way of analyzing Ellison's novel. The first chapter from Du Bois’ 1903 book, The Souls of Black Folk, “Of Our Spiritual Strivings”, introduces one of his main concepts for understanding race and racism is: “double-consciousness”. Du Bois describes double-consciousness as the “sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity,” meaning always having to think about how other people are seeing you, and that affecting how you see yourself (Du Bois). Du Bois also pushed African Americans to do the most in life and to strive to get an education and do more than just the things expected of black people. These concepts are shown many times in Invisible Man.
One of the many ways Invisible Man illustrates Du Bois’ beliefs and theories was by pursuing a greater education, despite society saying his race wasn’t good enough for that. In the scene early in the novel the narrator had been asked to show a benefactor of his college, Mr. Norton, around the campus. The two characters were making conversation, and Mr. Norton was talking about the college, and described it at “a great dream become reality”; he then stated “Slavery was just recently part. Your people did not know in what direction to turn and, I must confess, many of mine didn’t know in what direction they should turn either. But your great Founder did” (Ellison 38, 39). This brings to light Du Bois’ writings about how many people believed black people should only do hard labor and stick to what they know, but how he pushed them to do more and strive to get an education. Mr. Norton was a man who agreed with this point of view, and he believed that black people deserved to have an education as well. This also brought up the other perspective-- Norton had said that the invisible man’s people and his people both didn’t know what direction to turn, many people including black people, didn’t know how to act or what to do. While theorists like Du Bois were pushing them in one direction, many other people were pushing them back down in the other direction. This caused even more of an internal struggle, and caused many people to be lost and not know what to do and what they were expected to do. This is what I believe is a big factor in creating the feeling of double consciousness within African Americans.
Another of double consciousness occurs also early in Ellison’s novel when the invisible man is asked to give a speech to the white leaders of his southern town, supposedly because they saw him as a great orator. The narrator realizes pretty quickly, however, that these men he has been taught to look up to, fear and respect aren’t paying attention to his words or intellect. In fact, the narrator spent time revising his speech in order to present a more appealing and respectable message to his audience. He reveals:
On my graduation day I delivered an oration in which I showed that humility was the secret, indeed, the very essence of progress (Not that I believed this--how could I, remembering my grandfather?--I only believed that it worked.) It was a great success. Everyone praised me and I was invited to give the speech at a gathering of the town’s leading white citizens. It was a triumph for our whole community (Ellison 17).
This quote showed how he was treated as a black man in a society of white men. He was a successful student, and yet his mind wasn’t valued simply because he was black. It also showed how he was so conscious of what he said and how he acted for fear of how he would be perceived. He made sure to only say the things that the white men wanted to hear, because he knew if he didn’t say what they wanted to hear they would just refuse to listen. This is shown even more so in the battle royale scene, which occurs directly after the invisible man delivers his racial uplift speech to the disinterested white audience. Our narrator was told fight other black men simply for entertainment while the white men watched. Black men were seen by white people as animals simply there for their entertainment; they weren’t valued for anything else.
Finally, we see double consciousness is illustrated Invisible Man through the narrator’s struggle to unite his black identity to his American identity, which is exactly how Du Bois defines this concept, in terms ofthe inner conflict between being both black and American. The invisible man struggles to see himself in any other way than through other people’s eyes. This is a struggle not only he faces, but all black people in America. Ellison uses symbolism to show this when the narrator describes the statue of the Founder of his college holding the veil over the face of a slave. It is unclear whether he is pulling the veil up or pushing it down to keep it over the slave’s face. The narrator states: “I am standing puzzled, unable to decide whether the veil is really being lifted, or lowered more firmly in place; whether I am witnessing a revolution or a more efficient blinding” (Ellison 36). It shows a black man’s relationship with the world, how it blinds him from the truth, and how he is misperceived by it. It also represents how members who are higher up in the black community keep other black people down and below them, by making them believe in false notions and how they should interact with whites. They are told by others how they are supposed to act and what they are supposed to be, and it causes them to struggle with their identity and become lost in themselves, as the reader sees played out through the invisible man's often chaotic and confusing journey away from the school and into the North.
Ralph Ellison demonstrated Du Bois’ theories a number of times throughout his novel. He showed double consciousness and had his character go to school and do work that wasn’t just hard labor, just like Du Bois wrote about and encouraged. Invisible Man is a book filled with metaphors and so many of them relate to double consciousness and the struggles with identity for an African American male of this time period. I focused on some of these examples that took place in the beginning of the book but they are found throughout the entire novel. Du Bois’ theories were proven time and time again. These connections all show us the relationship between society and black people, specifically men. We see the way they are stereotyped and misperceived by society, and the way that makes them question themselves. They are forced to second guess all their actions in order to make white people happy while also not betraying their race and themselves.
Works Cited
Bois, W.E.B. Du. "Chapter 1 Of Our Spiritual Strivings." The Souls Of Black Folk. Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co., 1903. Print.
Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. New York: Random House, 1952. Print.
For our second unit of Systems and Models, Groups, we looked at how ones’ behavior changes when in the presence of others and whether or not they are aware of this change. We looked at trends and group dynamics and what makes them work. My favorite part of this unit was the different team building activities we tried out, they were really fun and really helped us come together. For our action project we had to conduct an experiment for a research study. I’m proud of how my action project turned out, because it was a topic difficult for people to discuss sometimes, and I know my form made some people uncomfortable, so I’m really glad I was able to complete it and how it turned out.
For our first unit of Systems and Models, a STEAM class that studies people and their roles in society, we self-reflected by taking a range of personality assessments. Each of these assessments brought to light something new such as how we deal with conflict or what our motivations are. I very much enjoyed taking these tests because they made me realize things that I wouldn’t have otherwise. For our action project, we were assigned to create a self portrait using any type of art that shows how we see ourselves and reflects some of the information we gained from this unit. I’m proud of the things I’ve learned this unit because, after reflecting on them, I have been striving to be more conscious of my actions and reasonings.
Title: Giving
Medium: Video
Length of Video: 2 minutes and 9 seconds
With all the tests we took, I had results that reflected how social I am. One of the tests we took was the Enneagram test which tests your motivations. My result was a Six - Loyalist, which is someone who would do anything for their closest friends. I was also very close to being a Two - Helper, which is someone who strives to help people and be kind to everyone. Both of these are very true for me; I’m a very social person who always tried to help others and I definitely would do anything for those closest to me. Sixes are described as “reliable, hard-working, responsible, and trustworthy” and Twos are described as “friendly, generous, and self-sacrificing,” again all traits that the people in my life tend to describe me as. I care about helping others and making sure others are happy, because other people’s happiness leads to my own.
In the work setting, I got similar results: someone who is very social. The DiSC test, an assessment of how one interacts with others in a work environment, reinforced that. I got the result S/i a blend of Supportive and Inspiring traits, which describes me as people-oriented and as trying to solve conflict. At work, this is exactly how I am; in fact my actual job is basically that. Instead of having an exact role, I just help with everything around the office. Anything my boss and coworker need me to do, I do. Any issues that arrive, I solve. I have a number of roles depending on who needs what each day, and that just shows even more so, that I am someone who does all that I can to help others.
Another test we took in class was the Myers Briggs Test which tells you which personality type you are out of 16. My result was ENFP, which is Extraverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Prospecting. Some of the terms used in a longer explanation of my personality were “compassionate”, “connect emotionally with others, giving them cherished insight into what motivates their friends and colleagues”, “empathy and sociability”, “ such strong people skills”, and “supportive”. Once again, the results showed that I am a social person who cares about the wellbeing of others. There were different categories that you could choose to look at deeper, I explored all of them to see how I related to others. It told me that outgoing types gravitate towards me but that I also strive to get to know more reserved people. It also stated that I am someone who knows how to be friends with all different types of people and all types of different groups and that I am someone who boosts moral in different types of settings.
One of the tests I that took outside of class, was What Divergent Faction Would You Be In? While this may not be as accurate as the ones assigned to us in class, it showed me similar results. I was put in the faction Candor, which revolves around Honesty above all else and doing the right thing. I don’t think I value this as seriously as those in the movie who can come off as cold and putting honesty before people’s well-being, but I do think honesty is important and that it is an important trait to have when it comes to others.
Aside from all the tests we took, we also looked at many different case studies. The one that grabbed my attention the most was the Stanford Prison Experiment because it showed that, in the right situation, everyone has an evil side. I tried to put myself in that scenario and I can’t imagine myself ever acting the way the guards did; I couldn’t even inflict any sort of psychological torture. I’m sure I’d enjoy being in power but I know my limit and what line not to cross and I don’t understand how some people don’t have that restraint or why anyone would want to act that way. Similarly, there was a study done at Yale, with a “teacher” and “learner” where the teacher is being told to shock the learner. I understand this one more because you assume that authoritative people know what they are talking about and we are taught to listen to them. However, I know myself and know that I wouldn’t be able to do that to anyone. I am a vegetarian because I can’t think of animals being hurt and if I can’t hurt animals I definitely couldn’t personally cause pain to any people either.
My self portrait is a video clip of my life: an action of service for the people around me. I decided to bake, wrap, and give my loved ones cookies, which I felt it perfectly represents my life, and all the results I got. I am someone who does things for others to try to make them happy and just to be nice. The reason I chose to give them to the few people that I did is because they are the people in my life closest to me and the people I care about the most; they are the people whose happiness I care about the most. As a Loyalist, it is hard to become someone who is very close to me, but once you are one of those people, I would do anything for you. While I have hundreds of friends, I didn’t go and give them all cookies because there are less than a handful of those friends who are a part of my close circle.
The purpose of my project was to show what kind of a person I am while at the same time making the people I love happy. I wanted to do something that wasn’t just ordinary art, and something that would allow me to go out into the world and do something positive. In an interview I conducted with an experienced artist, I was advised to create something with a purpose and make it clear why it is important to me. I might not have made a huge impact on the world with this project, but I know I made four people’s days a little bit brighter and that all I need to make me happy. I hope watching this video provokes people to think about their loved ones, and inspires them to take the time to go out and do something nice for those loved ones.
For our final action project in the course If These Walls Could Talk we had to bring to life the image in our groups’ swatches, and turn them into a mural inside of our school’s new building. For our entire last unit we focused on making plans to enlarge our mural and make those plans happen. We looked at all of the different options and tested out our different ideas to see what would be best for the area we were given to work in. Our options became more limited when it ended up that we couldn’t work in the actual space until 3 days before our project was due, so we are still in the process of finishing our mural, but we expect a great looking outcome, and for everything to be finished this week.
This mural is a tribute mural to GCE as well as a revolt mural showing GCE’s mission to reinvent education. It depicts a golden boat with 3 people inside going towards a huge wave. The boat is made out of a banner and has the words “Overcoming the Wave” written in it. There were a lot of steps going into making our mural into large-scale. We first made a sketch on a regular piece of paper, then we projected it and traced it on paper, piece by piece, for a total size of 112 x 352 inches, then we mixed paints to get the colors we wanted and painted the pieces of paper, as well as spray painting part of it. We currently still have to wheatpaste the papers onto panels in the new building, as well as add acrylic media as a final touch. For the paint we used mostly blue hues, with a touch of green. We kept a similar color for a lot of the mural and only changed the value and intensity. We also made our boat a shimmery gold to stand out and show victory. Our mural gives a strong and powerful representation of GCE, which is perfect for our space because it is in the entrance, so it is the first thing people will see when they walk in.
Working on the mural was a challenging but very fun experience, there were many bumps along the way and things to work through, but I was really glad to get to work on this amazing project because I think in the end it will end up looking great. There were four different roles during our process-- Artistic Director, Director of Operations, Mule, and Documenter. I had each role at least once, as did the rest of my group members, but in general I was someone who often organized things and kept people on track with what they were supposed to be doing. Throughout the whole process I was also always a part of the cutting, sketching, painting, and pasting. My favorite role was director of operations because I was managing what people were doing and making sure everything was going smoothly which is something I’m good at, because I’m someone who is good at organizing things and managing people to make sure they’re doing what they are supposed to. My least favorite role was being the mule because I don’t like doing the dirty work of running around and fetching stuff, I felt it was an ineffective use of my time because it would be more useful of me to help more with organizing and planning.
We hope that in the end our mural ended up looking as amazing as we planned. I would have preferred to get to work on the space directly instead of having to paint of paper and then wheatpaste. There are four panels in the space and working directly on the walls would have probably looked neater and we would have seen exactly how what we were doing would look, instead of having to wait and hope for the best. On paper you get a thinner paint look, and when you wheatpaste you can tell that the art was done on paper and not directly on the surface. Both options can look really great, just different.
For the elective term of my senior year, I decided to take the class Book Bound, which is a course that explores the relationship between the reader and the materials used to read in this day and age. Many people these days read online or not at all, and we looked into how this affects our society. My class was assigned to read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a very well known book that is in the literary canon. I personally am not a fan of the book, simply because I strongly dislike many of the characters, and I am someone who prefers to read a book where I like and make a connection with the characters. I didn’t believe this was a book that belonged in the canon, but I understood why it was there. We also talked about libraries, because we were supposed to design our school’s new library. I pictured it with bean bags, work spaces, and hundreds of books. Unfortunately, we are no longer getting to be a part of the construction process as much as we had planned, but our suggestions are still being considered. I enjoyed the field experiences we went on because I got to experience all different types of libraries; there was a huge variety and they all strongly differed, which surprised me. For our action project, we put together a portfolio of our best work that we did throughout this course. I liked the fact that we are showcasing a digital portfolio, because it shows all of our work throughout the term, as opposed to just one assignment that might not be the best reflection of how hard we worked. I included my favorite project in my portfolio, which was the My Choice for the Canon Slideshow.
Storyboard
For this assignment, we were told to create a storyboard that tells a story about us reading, and more specifically, learning to read--it had to include at least 5 frames and captions. This related to our course because it had to do with reading, and it helped us make connections between us as individuals, and the act of reading. I selected this assignment to showcase because not only did I think I did it well but also due to how much fun I had with it. I think this was one of the assignments I enjoyed the most. When I began my project I struggled with what exactly to show in my story. In the end I decided to show my reading progression over time, from when I was a baby until now. I later also made revisions to perfect the images and add captions to help explain the story shown. I really love how it turned out in the end.
For this assignment, we were put together in a group and told to create our own literary journal. This included pieces of writing from all group members, as well as images, and some external submissions. This related to our course because it has to do with all different types of literature and shows the huge variety. I selected this assignment because it shows not only the work I have done, but also my peers’, which I think is just as important as my own. When going about this project we began by splitting up the different tasks among members and making a time frame for deadlines. There were some challenges along the way - as there often are with groups - about miscommunication and timing, but in the end we got everything we needed and published our journal. I was really proud of my entire group for getting to that point. To get it ready for our blog there were some final touches I needed to make, and some page setup changes, and afterwards it looked as great as we had planned.
Literature Poster
For this assignment, we had to make a poster based upon a guiding question we created about literacy and reading. We then had to research the answer to the question using valid sources. This poster is to help promote reading and literacy, especially in the new library space, which is what our entire course was about. I thought this was a very important thing to add to my blog because it brings up the issue of illiteracy which is shockingly still a big problem in our world right now, and because I gave a lot of facts and data that I think people should know. I want to encourage reading to everyone as much as possible and I think this assignment helps to do that. I decided to make my poster on a design site called canva.com. At times it was difficult to size everything and make it look the way I wanted, but I overcame that and made it as perfect as I could. I’m proud of the final product because it all looks really neat and eye-catching in my opinion.
AG Literature Poster 2016
Slideshow
For this assignment, we had to chose a book that we believe belongs in the literary canon, explain why, and present/defend the book as best as possible. This project was about the canon which is an important concept in literature. The reason I chose to publish this assignment to my blog is because of how enthusiastic I was about both this project and the book I chose. I want to get the word out even more about this series because it really is amazing, in my opinion. I chose the book series The Night World by L.J. Smith and made a slideshow about it, including all of the components that were required to teach others about the book. I struggled very much to find a good video to add to my slideshow because there were very few that related to the series and the audio books don’t portray the books very well. To get my slideshow ready for the blog, I just perfected it as much as possible by fixing any typos and grammar mistakes. I’m really proud of this project because I’m helping to spread the world about a book I love very much. The audience seemed to really like the series and asked a lot of questions about the plot and characters, many of them agreed that it should be included in the canon.
