project timeline *=A quote from my Applied Learning Project journal I wrote throughout the year reflecting on my progress
June -I decided I wanted to create a U.S History Hall of Fame using the members from Mr. Deasy and Mr.Hocking's project. -Mr.Deasy agreed to be my mentor. September -I created my project goals (featured on the project goals page). -I measured the wall and figured out the proper proportions (picture #2) and created a basic sketch (picture #3) of how I wanted the Hall of Fame to look (not including the frames or stars because I lightly draw and erase them for planning) -I met with Mr.Connolly (picture #1) for the first time to get his permission to create the Hall of Fame in the school. "Luckily in the meeting it wasn’t hard to convince him that I had an interesting idea that he liked, however he was not short of concerns" *(Journal #1).He approved my painting of the American Flag mural, but was unsure about allowing my hanging of the frames. He told me to not worry about the money for the frames just yet as money might come up in the future and to pick out frames. October -I had a lot of talks with Mr.Deasy about how to handle not getting all the permissions I needed right away. "I was unsure about how I could stress my need for answers without sounding rude"*(Journal #2). -I met with Mr.Connolly and got permission to hang the picture frames, but was just reminded of his concerns(Who would pay for supplies? Who will keep adding to the Hall of Fame in the future? What if the paint fades in future years?). He was most concerned with what Buildings and Grounds would think and if they would be willing to help me hang the frames. -I met with Mrs.Shea from the Art Department and she said she would happily donate all the art supplies I would need November -I picked out the frames I wanted to use and showed them to Mr.Connolly -Mr.Connolly told me there was definitely no money in his budget that he could give, but maybe the History Department could donate money. December -I met with Mr.Hocking and he told me that unfortunately the History Department did not have money in their budget to donate to my project. -I picked out cheaper frames from The Christmas Tree Shop knowing I would be fundraising all the money. -I planned that I would ask the History teachers for donations. -Mr.Connolly suddenly told me one day that he spoke to Buildings and Grounds about my project and they disapproved, not wanting any more murals in the school. -Buildings and Grounds decided to let my mural be the last mural in the school as they understood that I had already worked so hard to plan my project. -I had my first meeting with Buildings and Grounds and they agreed they would hang the frames for me and provide all the tools necessary. January -Right before I was about to begin fundraising Mr.Hocking, the head of the History Department, said the History Department could now donate the money I was going to need. -I picked the final frame I wanted to use and Mr.Hocking ordered it. -I washed the wall and sketched the outline and the outline of the union (the blue rectangular part that holds the stars) February -I sketched all the stripes for the flag. March -I tried different ways to trace the stars, but eventually settled on creating a stencil a tracing each one individually. "I drew a graph onto the union which helped me figure out exactly where the stars would go. That was surprising easy and I was able to do that in 2 days. However, the next step was to create a star stencil. I had no idea how hard it would be to do this"*(Journal #3) -I sketched all the stars and the title at the top April -I put up painter's tape on the wall outlining the red stripes to paint the red stripes -I painted the red stripes with acrylic paint -I bought flat house paint at Home Depot to even out the color -I got permission to come into the school over April Vacation to have more time to paint -I finished painting the entire American Flag including the title May -I wrote the summaries for each Hall of Fame member describing how they contributed positively to U.S History -I chose a photo for each member -I placed the documents with the descriptions in frames -Buildings and Grounds hung the picture frames on the wall for me -The project was finally completed! |
|