Final Leadership Reflection

     When I first decided to direct a play for my Leadership Project, I envisioned that I would be able to write a small script and have a couple of my friends act it out with me. Today, though, I know that I am more capable of achieving what I want than I thought before this project. My hard work and all of the effort that my crew members put into this production truly paid off since not only did the audience enjoy its outcome, but we were also proud of ourselves for putting on such a great show. I got so many positive comments about how funny or interesting my version of The Cat in the Hat was, and I am sure that the beautiful performance that my helpers and actors put out there deserved all of them. My parents and peers are proud of me for going through all of this work and not giving up when things went wrong, and this has raised the confidence I have in my abilities by a lot. My main goals were expression of talent and creating a benchmark for the school, and this project has done a great job in helping me achieve them. I am very thankful to all those that have helped me, and I am positive that this play has created a new image for all of my actors since others can now realize what they are capable of.
    
     The few things that I feel went wrong with this project look pretty minor now that the final performance seems to have gone so well. The biggest change I would make if I could do this project all over is begin to use all of the time during rehearsals and dedicate them purely to working with the actors. When rehearsals first started, I paid more attention to finding something for the volunteers to do and left my actors to work by themselves through the script. Even though the actors all turned out to give an extraordinary performance, it was my duty as a leader to make sure that I didn't leave them alone while I made sure others were busy. A solution to that would have been if I had one of my helpers pay attention to the volunteers since they also knew the side-jobs that had to be done by the volunteers. In the end, I started staying more with my actors as well as dedicated a few special days after school to just the characters since I owed them that, but I wish I had done this from the beginning.
   
     Also, I had been really worried from the start that we might not be ready to perform on the day that I had arranged (or today) because we weren't prepered, and that worry almost became a fact. Until Tuesday of this week, I was really stressed about the confusion between actors concerning their roles and positions during the play, but as Wednesday night's rehearsal came along, I started to see everyone connect with each other through ideas. The previous line mix-ups and stage-bumps went away after that, and I realized this would only be a successful play if everyone worked together and listened to me. This realization pushed me to come to Thursday night's rehearsal even though Natalie was leading it because I wanted to see my actors communicate without worrying about anything else. My presence made a big difference, and I can now see how efficient my leadership skills make me.
    
     My next step as a leader would be to take on a bigger project revolving around something I enjoy because that seems to motivate me. Although I can work with projects that don't interest me much, I am able to express my skills as a leader best when I have fun with what I do. Not only is working with my talents a thing I want to do again, but I would become a much better leader if I learned how to demand more from my group. My biggest weakness is that I am passive when it comes to leading; I tend to take more work on myself than give work to others, and this can be very negative since those "helping" take this for granted. When I do the work that I originally assigned to someone else, that someone else most likely is going to start expecting it and I will end up with more to do. This happened with my volunteers because I kept letting them do whatever they wanted during rehearsals, and that increased the load on me without getting any other work done for the group as a whole. Next time I lead, I want to make sure that effort is demanded from the very beginning so that I never have to go through that kind of stress again.

Here is some of my play...Enjoy:)

Final Reflection for Aidan (Blog #4)

     Aidan's project went very well overall, but I was often confused about my part in it. Whenever I talked to Aidan, it was a bit unclear of what he wanted me to do, and so I ended up either guessing about my task or pondering him with questions. Aidan was no doubt a good leader in the sense that he was willing to take time and answer questions I had, but I feel that there would never have been a need to ask so many questions if I was told what to do in the first place. It seems that Aidan never told me what was going on and how I could help, so there were multiple times I thought I was doing nothing to assist him. I don't want to label him as being unclear, since he was most likely keeping me away from the work in his project because of my already busy schedule, but it would have been much better if he had updated me on things.
     There was major task that I was assigned to for this project, and that was to come up with ideas that Aidan could add to the manual he was creating, and I did exactly that. Since I didn't have very much else to contribute to, I made whole lists of ideas for him, from making examining the wiring to observing him experiment with the sound system. He accepted the ideas I gave him and said he would make sure to consider them, but I haven't really been able to see any of the actual manual yet (I am not even sure if he wanted to continue that idea or not). I feel that it is not at all my fault for knowing so little about what was going on during this project since I did what was asked from me as well as asked about things that stumped me. I sometimes felt that Aidan didn't even think that I was involved with his project even though I told him about my progress with the manual every couple of days.
     Although I think that I wasn't able to do much for this project because of the lack of knowledge for it, I have a feeling that all of the goals originally planned for it have been accomplished. The main goal was to fix the problems of our sound system, and that all was done almost right after Aidan started his project. I learned much about the sound equipment when he told me his process so that I could note it down, and when he was setting up mikes for my play project later on. This was a good experience for me since my dad is a computer engineer and he is always telling me to take a closer look at how things work; I am much more interested in technology now that I was before helping with this project. The accomplishments that this project has done are going to helpful for people who want to work with our troubled sound system in the future, and I know that our group has done a great job in repairing because I was able to compare how the system worked before and how it does now.
     I think that I could have had a much bigger part in this project than I was given, but considering what I have been able to learn and what Aidan was able to get done, my contribution doesn't seem so small after all. I just hope I was helpful to Aidan, otherwise I wasted both his time and mine. Aidan just needed to let me know what my part was more clearly, and I should have done a better job scooping out my tasks (even though I might have gotten on his nerves if I asked more questions than I already did); I should have tried to find things out myself. 

Final Reflection for Hiren (Blog #4)

     Hiren's project was not only a cool experience, but it was also very fun and I was able to show a little bit of my creativity with it. In the end, the biggest thing that I did for this project is that I made a poster by myself for an inspirational concept that I had chosen, and this was very fun for me. I am not too artistic of a person, so it was also a bit challenging to create a product that would be good enough to hang up somewhere in the school. I spent all weekend one week cutting, pasting, writing, and coloring a poster about "being a good role model", and even though I wasn't too fond of the end-result, I was glad to know that Hiren liked it. I chose this specific topic since role models are a big key to not only getting guidance for the future, but also in advising one on how to become a better leader oneself.
     Hiren was a good leader to me and his other helper because he constantly updated us whenever something in his project changed, and he always showed us examples of his own posters to get ideas from. He was very supportive as well, since he knew how time-consuming my project was, if I told him that there would be certain days where I couldn't help him with something, and I think that was very unselfish of him. I do want to state that he can be somewhat critical, so there were many times where he unwillingly put down my work, but it didn't really hurt me since he is my cousin and I am used to his criticism. On the other hand, though, his criticism was constructive, and so it inspired me to make my poster so incredible that even he wouldn't find any flaws in it; he can be a true motivation, and I truly respect him for that. Hiren is a type of leader that doesn't fall behind in getting everyone on track, but he is also not one to push his helpers when they are busy with other things.
     I thought that my role in this project was pretty minor, but I seem to have done more than I think since this was a busy yet simple project to conduct. I did everything I was told to, and my limited time in and out of class for this project motivated me as well to finish the tasks he assigned to me before he asked for them. I went through with all of the tasks that go along with being a helper, doing the things I was asked to as well as asking my own questions to avoid misunderstandings. I feel that this project turned out very much how I expected it would:  with colorful bursts of creativity on paper that helped me discover that such small things like posters can be noticed and help change how others think. I always scouted the hallways for new posters that Hiren periodically put up, and I have to say that even though I was involved with parts of their creation, the things written on them where pretty interesting to stop and read.
      All in all, it appears that all of the goals we had set as a group for Hiren's project have been met since none of us ever failed to create inspiring posters or do our research about whether others are actually taking away from our work. We all successfully worked together as a team, never having any disputes, mostly since this was a project about expression through artwork. I feel that these posters are helpful for those who read them because they are well-written and have the ability to remind people about the brighter side of learning life's lessons. As I previously stated, my limited time available for this project was my main concern, but I was able to pull through all clean since Hiren or other members of our group would tell me if something was needed of me.

This project was very fun! Here is a picture of the poster I created:

Leader of Project (Blog #6-Optional)

     It is only a week or so until the date of the performance, and I have to say that I am very impressed with the effort all my actors are putting into learning their lines. So far, though, the volunteers and Hiren haven't started to construct a stage set, and that gets me worried even though the design we have chosen for the stage is extremely easy. Hiren has been coming to all rehearsals to help me, but Jenni, Camila, and Aidan haven't been showing up because of other priorities. Camila feels sorry for this, so she and Jenni have decided to hold a session at her house where all of the volunteers can meet up and start (maybe even finish) the construction of the set. Even though the load on my shoulders has lessened because of this, I am still worried about the small things not falling into place on time. Seeing many potential problems that can occur on the performance date, I have used the advice of those involved to find solutions for them. For example, my actors are a bit afraid that they won't be able to memorize all of their lines, so the whole group had a vote on whether we should have an open-script play where the lines are read directly off of the scripts to make it easier for them, and we came to the conclusion of that being okay. To make it look more professional if we did this, we have decided to add some small comedy bits that have interaction with the papers in the hands of my actors.

     At the time to buy last-minute things, there is much going on with volunteers being selected to bring in certain items, and I have stressed this enough with them, NO LATER THAN FRIDAY OF THIS WEEK! I went shopping with my mom this past weekend looking for the costume of the fish (Andy Beal), and it took us hours to find anything like an Ariel dress, but it was relaxing when we finally did. I primarily worry at this point of people forgetting to bring things in and my having to go to the stores with barely any time left (along with the set construction of course). In order to make sure that my volunteers and actors have as much possible time as I can provide to practice and arrange, I have gotten the gym for everyday during lunch next week instead of every other day, which will be very helpful.

     In order to publicize this event, I have asked for your help, Ms. Fitz, to let other teachers and staff at our school know about the event. I am extremely happy to find that the entire Leadership class will be attending, and I just hope that seating is not a problem for us. I have to let all of my crew know to inform their sixth period teachers about missing class and such so that there is absolutely no misunderstanding.  I can't wait to see the result of all of our hard work, but I am very freaked out about the hundreds of things we still have to accomplish in a week for a successful performance.

     Lastly, here are some pictures Hiren took during rehearsals. Enjoy!:)

Actors and I turning our backs on the camera (except for Andy Beal)

Actors and I actually looking while rehearsing (except for Natalie Cullinan)

Volunteers minding their own business and eating lunch

(P.S. I will talk about my fourth and fifth milestones in my reflection post since they haven't happened yet.)

Leader of Project (Blog #5)

     My rehearsals are moving along now; in fact, we just had our fourth one today. Managing all of those people at once and getting them to listen to me is very difficult at times, but I have seen that once I am able to grab their attention, we are a productive team. I have considered being up front with my words when I talk to them without being rude since Ms. Fitz, Camila, Aidan, and Jenni all suggested that I need to be more affective with how I talk. There have been times in this week and a half of rehearsals so far where I have felt I am not a good leader because my volunteers find it more interesting to talk to each other than with me (well some of them do). Today, I came right out with it, and the first thing I said during rehearsal was that I was glad to have all the help, but those who weren't going to listen to me shouldn't come to waist my rehearsal time. I think it worked since no one left, and everyone worked peacefully with me for the rest of the day.

     Production wise, our group has been gradually progressing, but we will need to work faster in the future to meet our performance date. In my opinion, last week wasn't that good for us since we were mostly acquainting ourselves with each other and the idea of the play, and this week should be able to help us out significantly before break. I have been working with my actors through their lines and addressing problems they may have, while my Leadership helpers have been working with the volunteers about what they should do to prepare and what everyone can bring in to contribute. Even though I haven't seen too much happen yet, I also have just started working with this group as a whole, so I have full confidence that everyone will stick with me and our final product is going to be great!

     As for the things I said I would handle in my Force Field Analysis, I have taken care of them as well as I could. I have asked my helpers if any of them are willing to stick in for roles if an actor is gone on an important day, and I have gotten many offers in which the role assigned was not a problem. I didn't have to search outside of my group for this at all! Like what I said before, I am working carefully and planning things out in order to make sure we finish all of the background props and sets in time. Also, Mr. Hoehne has been very nice to us and convinced the custodian to let us eat lunch in the gym if we pick up EVERYTHING when we leave (he has also agreed to help the custodian hoist anyone who leaves food behind up the flagpole).

(P.S. I plan to add pictures next time I post!)

Leader of Project (Blog #4 Force Field Analysis)

Driving Forces:

1. Brings out hidden talent in students that would otherwise be kept bottled up.
2. A great opportunity to bond with new people.
3. Helps students with their community service hours.
4. A great way to learn responsibility when others count on you.
5. Helpful in getting over stage-fright for students.
6. Provides an entertaining break and something fun to work on after a stressful day.
7. Marks the start of something new at AHS.
8. Is a wonderful experience to take away from.

Barriers:

1. A lead or other actor may be absent the day of the performance or on an important rehearsal.
2. The sound system may fail us during the play.
3. People may not show up to watch the performance since it is optional to come (or only a few will).
4. We may not be able to prepare the sets and such before the final date.
5. There may be a problem with our venue during rehearsals or the performance.
6. There might be an issue st school that would cancel the play.
7. Volunteers may stop coming to help out/someone might quit because of other priorities.
8. Students may want to eat their lunches on rehearsal days.
9. Students may forget about the things they volunteer to bring in for preparation.

Top three barriers I will try to change:

• An actor may be absent the day we perform or on an important meeting date.
• We may not be prepared in time for the big day.
• Students may want to eat their lunches at rehearsals.

An actor may be absent when we need him or her:

     In order to avoid this problem as much as possible, I have decided to ask my volunteers to be back-ups for my actors, so that if an actor is absent on an important date, the back-up can fill in. If I don't get enough of my volunteers to accept filler roles, I will turn back to the rest of the student body at our school to see if anyone might be willing to take them on. I will make sure that I have someone take attendance and such on big days for practicing so that I know specifically who is present and who is not when there is a lot of work to be done; a back-up will take the place of someone who isn't able to make it there. It is important that I have my fillers present and watching as many rehearsals as they possibly can so that they know exactly what they should be able to do if they have to take an actor's place during a rehearsal or the actual event.

We may not be prepared in time for the performance:

     To make sure that our team does not have to face this problem, I will make sure that everyone is being productive during the little time we have at rehearsals. I will see to it that the actors are practicing their parts at home and with each other when we meet so that they will be ready on time for the performance as well as supervising the volunteers to make sure that they are either discussing what they can bring in or do at home and school that will carry on with background preparations. I will make sure to take any suggestions for things that the team could do to make everything easier from all of my group members and other peers that may be interested in helping me. Mr. Hoehne will be a great help to me and a big asset to our group because not only can he help with the ordinary things that need to be attended to, but he can watch over the others and offer advice along with me, creating an atmosphere of there being twice the work to get done with less goofing off. My Leadership helpers are also going to be nice to have around since they can fill in for my supervising post if I am busy or I want to help with another part of the preparation. It is mandatory that I keep reminding my project members about the important dates where certain preparations need to be completed, and that I keep a schedule for the team so that we all know just how much progress we are making.

Students may want to eat their lunches during rehearsals:

     My team members and I have come to find that we are not allowed to bring food into the gym, which is our venue for meetings, and since we get together during lunch, my helpers may get hungry and want to eat. To avoid any disputes or let my teammates go through the day hungry, the most practical solution to this problem is that I dedicate at least five minutes of our rehearsals to eating outside the gym door as a group so that we don't have to spend time finding one another when we are ready to start. If there is a big problem with one or two people about needing more time, I will try to negotiate, and if that fails, I will need to let them go since it means they are not dedicated enough to the project. If multiple people have a problem, I will head out to find a new place to meet in which we could go about our business while eating lunch (I personally think that it is better to not eat during meetings because we would get less done, though).

Helper for Aidan (Blog #3)

     For Aidan's project, I haven't really been asked to do much else than what I was doing before since he wants to make sure I have more than enough time to do my own play project. I am still listing ideas for what can be added to the manual and telling him about new ones I have whenever I get a chance to discuss them with him. We have been talking more about what he can do for my play since the original plan was to align both of our projects in order to have the sound system ready on the day of my play performance (or a few days prior if possible). I have volunteered many times to come in the gym to help him with the actual physical part of repairing the system, but he keeps telling me that part of the project is done with and I only need to worry about rounding up suggestions for the sound system guide and manual.

     On the other hand, he has volunteered to come in during my play rehearsals so that all of his helpers (along with me) can experiment with the sound system when my actors are practicing so that we are all used to how everything will work by the time January 13 (or my play's performance date) comes around. It is really helpful to both of us for me to be helping Aidan and him to be assisting me because our projects relate to each other pretty closely; it saves me time from having to arrange the sound system times, and it gives him an additional helper to write his manual.