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.

Helper for Hiren (Blog #3)

     Hiren's poster project has been very efficient and simple for me because I have been helping him in ways that don't require too much of my time. He has finished his individual experimental posters and started to hang them up around the school, having previously asked his helpers to critique them and give him some feedback. Now that he has moved on a bit with his project, he has told me that I would be helping a lot by just sending him ideas about what his next couple posters should be based off of through e-mail or verbally. I have started to formulate basic concepts future posters can revolve around that would be both inspiring and not too time-consuming all at once. Some of them are things such as dream and promise because he hasn't really created any posters about these yet; since I find these subjects very exciting and fundamental for success, I have started to rummage around my old books and the Internet for quotes and pictures that would express the ideas even better on paper.

     Hiren has told me that once I have a pretty good idea of inspiring concepts and glittering additions that could go with them, I should record them and make sure he knows exactly what idea I am working on and when. He wants me to finish up giving him ideas sometime before or during Christmas Break because he wants to work on a team poster (where all of his group members would create something to add to the piece) either during the break individually, or during class when we come back from break as a group. Hiren is not yet sure about what this team poster will be about, so he will consider the ideas and concepts sent in by all of his helpers to decide on that, and we are supposed to help him decide when the best time to do it would be when he asks us to.