Art Project Update 4

For the past few weeks, we’ve been focusing on the following tasks, which are our goals.

• Tidy up where all the color pencils, erasers, scissors and other commonly used tools are kept
• File papers, colored papers, paper-boards and card-boards in the correct place
• Categorize the brushes according to the different sizes, separate the usable brushes and unusable brushes
• Sharpen pencils and sort each pencil according to the type, darkness, and size.
• Organize grade 12′s Art Room.

Although we work on all the above goals every week, the 4 goals have been pretty much achieved and we basically spend about 5-10 minutes to re-organize if they’re in a mess, every week. Now our focus has shifted to tidying up grade 12’s art room.

Since the current grade 12s have finished their IB, we’re in a position to tidy up the room. Although their pieces have been taken away, there are tools, materials, paint brushes and other things lying everywhere in the room, so we need to put them back to where they belong. For the rest of this year, we’ll be focusing on tidying up this room.

This week we’ve mainly organized the place where all the pain brushes and paints are kept. Many of the pain brushes were not in a state to be able to reuse them, so sadly we had to throw them away. However, we put the usable ones (if cleaned) in turpentine so that they can be reused again. In the next few weeks, we’ll continue to do this, so that all the brushes are kept in good conditions.

Picture of myself organizing the paints.

After organizing 🙂

After organizing 2

 By now, all our members have learned that continuous dedications and efforts are required to really keep the art room organized and tidy, so that students can work in a good environment, where they don’t have to look everywhere to find tools and they can find it in a matter of seconds! And in order to achieve this, which is one of our main goals, we’re really showing good commitment and perseverance. Our attendance has been excellent and apart from times when some people were unable to attend due to football tournament etc, everybody has been attending every week, and there is predominantly clear effort and commitment we show towards this service project.  As a leader, it is very delighting to see that each of one us is collaborating with each other to work on tasks which we planned together. As there’s only a few weeks left until the end of the school, we hope to show a continuous commitment and engage in solving problems in the community scale.

Art Project Update 3

There had been a change in the Art Project members and Savinda and Vidura were moved to SOS Village. From now on, our members will be:

Philipp

Sascha

Mo

Myself

Organizing the tools room has been completed. We gave quite an effort to clean and organize the room from the very beginning. Now that one of the goals, “organize the room where most of the tools are kept. Label the boxes and sort the tools in each box so that tools are not in any random boxes, and students can easily access the tools”, is finished, we’re focusing on other goals. During the past few weeks, we’ve been focusing on working towards achieving these following goals:

• Tidy up where all the color pencils, erasers, scissors and other commonly used tools are kept
• File papers, colored papers, paper-boards and card-boards in the correct place
• Categorize the brushes according to the different sizes, separate the usable brushes and unusable brushes
• Sharpen pencils and sort each pencil according to the type, darkness, and size.

 In order to achieve these goals, we need to show continuous effort, as after a few weeks, they’ll end up in a mess again. In order to avoid these issues, we’re posting notices on the wall etc, asking to return things back to where they came from. So far, this has shown some effect and students seem to be putting things back to where they came from, especially the brushes.

Another thing we’ll s

tart doing next time is to start organizing the grade 12’s Art Room. As their exams have ended, now we’re in a position to clean and tidy up the room. There are many tools and other things all over the place, so we’ll be working towards sorting out these tools and tidying up the room.

In terms of our achievements of the goals, I believe that we’re going a good job and is helping the students and Ms. Barnett. This is never ending job as there’s always something to tidy up, organize etc and I’m not sure how much we can do, but we’ll do our best and work towards making a better environment for the students and the teachers.

Art Project has set of goals but because other issues come regularly, such as organizing the papers, paint inks and so on, I strongly feel that planning is very important. Before starting our work, we ask Ms. Barnett if there is any specific things that she wants us to do, and if not, we plan ourselves what we’ll try to accomplish for the day. As this project is pretty much organized by us, planning and initiating is very important and so far, I believe that everybody is contributing well and working collaboratively with each other. Although we don’t clearly see an end in this project, we’re showing a great commitment and perseverance. Everybody has been attending every week and this will enable us to work on other things which are not part of the goals, but something which will help the students and the teachers. We’re often confronted with new tasks, however we’re undertaking the challenge well and the more we face these challenges, the more I feel that we’re solving the issues within the community scale. The amount of workload there is in this project shows that this project should be an ongoing project, and although it is a small project and not very well known in the school, I believe that our contribution is making a difference within the school and helping the community.

There are about 6 more weeks left until the end of this school and we hope that we can accomplish all our goals and in addition do extra work to challenge ourselves and show that this project is really worthwhile for the art students and the teachers.

After sorting out the paint brushes...

Sorting out the paint brushes...

Art Project Update 2

This week, because some people were absent and some weren’t able to come, it was just Savinda, Philipp and myself. Since there were only three people, all of us were involved in organizing and cleaning the room where all the tools are kept. We made a good progress todayand I’m hoping that in another 2 weeks time, we can finish organizing this room.

Today, we achieved one of the goals of this project, which is:

• Organize the room where most of the tools are kept. Label the boxes and sort the tools in each box, so that tools are not in any random boxes, and students can easily access the tools.

After being the leader of not only the Art Project but also badminton team training and after school badminton activity, I feel that my strength is that I know what needs to be done and also to instruct people what to do, what needs to be done, etc. Although this is a new community service project, not only myself but everybody is confronting the new challenges well by working collaboratively with each other. Although many people say that this community service is easy and there’s not much job to do, I certainly don’t agree with them. In fact, the amount of things that need to be done in the art room to achieve our main goal of this project is tremendous and I believe that everything we do require quite an effort as well as commitment and perseverance, and what our service is certainly helping Ms. Barnett as well as the students.

One things that I probably should do is to plan what to do for each week before hand, so that we’re not only doing one thing but we’re doing many things simultaneously. This is one of my areas for growth in order to achieve many goals as well as for the art students to notice the difference and the contribution this project is giving to their environment.

When organizing the materials, tools and so on, we often discuss the ethical implications of our action on the negative side. For example, if we place the tools somewhere completely different, the students who’s been using it may not be able to find it, thus creating problems for them. However, to make sure this is prevented, whenever we organize the materials and tools, we’re labelling each box and writing what is in it, so that students don’t have to look all over the place.

So far, I believe that Art Project is doing a great job and by continuing to strive to achieve our goals, it will make everything easier for Ms. Barnett and the students.

Organizing...

Labeled boxes

Art Project Update 1

This week, we split the members into 2 groups: 1 group that will organize the room where most of the tools are kept, and another group that will organize the rack where the paints are kept, and also categorize the brushes according to the different sizes. I was in charge of organizing the paints and the brushes.

At the end of the day, Vidura and I finished organizing the rack and categorizing the brushes and sorting them out nicely. Savinda and Philipp who were in charge of organizing the tools etc had finished sorting out the pencils that were all mixed up, according to the sizes, darkness etc, and labeled each box so that students know which box contains which color, darkness and so on.

Today we achieved 3 of the goals of this project, which are

• Categorize the brushes according to the different sizes, separate the usable brushes and unusable brushes.
• Organize the place where the paints are kept. Categorize the paints which are new and used. Replace the paints when the tube is empty.
• Organize the room where most of the tools are kept. Label the boxes and sort the tools in each box, so that tools are not in any random boxes, and students can easily access the tools.

However, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done in the room where most of the tools are kept. I’m hoping that we’ll be able to finish organizing this room by about middle of March.

I will discuss about whether I’m achieving the 8 criteria or not, once every month.

Paint brushes after organizing (we organized according to the sizes, etc)

The rack where the paints and other materials are kept (picture taken after organizing the rack)

Goals for the Art Project

As Art Project has started as an official community and service project at OSC, I’d like to make some goals for this project.

First of all, the most important goals that I’d like to achieve are the 8 criteria;

• Increase the awareness of one’s own strengths and areas for growth
• Undertake new challenges
• Plan and initiate activities
• Work collaboratively with others
• Show perseverance and commitment in the activities
• Engage with the issue of global importance
• Consider the ethical implication of the actions
• Develop new skills

Secondly, the goals that I aim to achieve are the things that we want to do in this project (listed in the CAS Proposal), which are;

File papers, colored papers, paper-boards and card-boards in the correct place.

Organize the room where most of the tools are kept. Label the boxes and sort the tools in each box, so that tools are not in any random boxes, and students can easily access the tools.

Categorize the brushes according to the different sizes, separate the usable brushes and unusable brushes.

Sharpen pencils and sort each pencil according to the type, darkness, and size.

Organize the place where the paints are kept. Categorize the paints which are new and used. Replace the paints when the tube is empty.

Organize grade 12′s Art Room.

Use the database (created by a student last year) to make a record of the number of pencils, paints, colors and other specific materials and tools.

Tidy up where all the color pencils, erasers, scissors and other commonly used tools are kept.

I hope that this list will expand as we find more areas that needs improvements.

And last but not least, achieve the purpose of this project, which is to organize and clean the art room and make it a better environment for the students.

Art Project, the First Week!

Today, the Art Project started as a new official community service project at OSC. The full members of this project are;

•  Sascha
• Philipp
• Savinda
• Vidura
• Mo (vice leader)
• Myself (leader)

Today we started organizing the room where most of the tools are kept. This is one of the major goals and this is the area where Ms. Barnett really wanted our help, so we decided to work on it (however, Mo and Sascha were working on creating the posters which will be posted for the CAS meeting with the parents on Tuesday next week). At first, we sorted the paints according to the different sizes, colors, the use etc and put them in different boxes and labeled them. After that, we took all the boxes that had pencils and sorted them according to the color and the darkness (6B, 4B, 2B etc), and labeled each box.

Today these were the only things we could do and I think that we’ll need to spend another month or so, organizing this room because as far as I can tell, tools are all over the place and it will take sometime to finish organizing this room. However, since we have 6 people, I’m thinking of assigning 3 people to organize this room each week, then the rest can do something else.

Picture of myself sorting out the paints.

An Update on Art Room Community Service 4

Last week, I wrote the Student CAS Proposal Form to make this an official Community Service Project at OSC. The following is what I’ve written for the proposal:

“We are planning to create a Community Service Activity as OSC that is aimed to organize and clean the art room and make it a better environment for the students. In organizing the materials in good condition, we are indirectly saving our community money that, instead of purchasing new art equipments, could be used for improving other areas of school.

The things we are planning to do in improving the art room and making it better environment for the students are;

• File papers, colored papers, paper-boards and card-boards in the correct place.
• Organize the room where most of the tools are kept. Label the boxes and sort the tools in each box, so that tools are not in any random boxes, and students can easily access the tools.
• Categorize the brushes according to the different sizes, separate the usable brushes and unusable brushes.
• Sharpen pencils and sort each pencil according to the type, darkness, and size.
• Organize the place where the paints are kept. Categorize the paints which are new and used. Replace the paints when the tube is empty.
• Organize grade 12′s Art Room.
• Use the database (created by a student last year) to make a record of the number of pencils, paints, colors and other specific materials and tools.
• Tidy up where all the color pencils, erasers, scissors and other commonly used tools are kept.

Through this community service project, we hope to achieve some of the 8 criteria, which are the objectives of CAS. As for everybody who will be involved in this activity, this will be something new and everybody will undertake new challenge. To confront this challenge, everybody will need to work collaboratively with others, and show perseverance and commitment in this activity. Through this activity, we hope that this will contribute to better environment in the art room and the students involved are also able to develop new skills, such as working in a systematic manner accomplish tasks in the most efficient way. This engages with some issues of community money being wasted. As I’ve mentioned earlier, we believe that this project will indirectly save our community money, which could be used for something else. As for Mo and myself, we will need to plan and initiate this activity so that there’s no confusion as to what the tasks are and end up wasting time.

The art teacher, Ms. Jane Barnett, has agreed to be the supervisor of this Community Service and we’re hoping to have this every Thursday afterschool from 2:40 p.m to 3:30 p.m. We are looking for about 8 students from grades 10 through 12.

In order to keep the record of this progress, every week, I will give a brief summary of what we did each week and the progress with some pictures. These updates will be available at https://ttamura12.wordpress.com/.”

I gave this to Mr. Lockwood and he said that with this proposal, this activity will be an official one (but after discussing with Ms. Shameela).

In the next semester, I’ll talk to Mr. Lockwood and find out if this Community Service Project has been approved as an official activity.

An Update on Art Room Community Service 3

This week, Mo and I went to the art room to ask Ms. Barnett things we can improve. Below is a list of the things we said could be improved:

• File papers, colored papers, paper-boards and card-boards in the correct place.
• Organize the room where most of the tools are kept. Label the boxes and sort the tools in each box, so that tools are not in any random boxes, and students can easily access the tools.
• Categorize the brushes according to the different sizes, separate the usable brushes and unusable brushes.
• Sharpen pencils and sort each pencil according to the type, darkness, and size.
• Organize the place where the paints are kept. Categorize the paints which are new and used. Replace the paints when the tube is empty.
• Organize grade 12’s Art Room.
• Use the database (created by a student last year) to make a record of the number of pencils, paints, colors and other specific materials and tools.
• Tidy up where all the color pencils, erasers, scissors and other commonly used tools are kept.

We agreed that we will have this Community Service (if it becomes official) on Thursday after school, from 2:40 p.m to 3:30 p.m. We will be looking for about 8 students from grade 10 to grade 12.

I then went to talk to the CAS coordinator, Mr. Lockwood, to let him know what we have so far, and I’ve got a Student CAS Proposal Form. Now what I need to do is fill this proposal form, write about the aim, etc and submit to Mr. Lockwood. I will do this over the weekend and show it to him next week. I will post another update on this after I get a feedback from Mr. Lockwood next week.

An Update on Art Room Community Service 2

This Thursday Mo and I went up to the Art Room to ask Ms. Barnett whether she’d like to have a Community Service Project that can make the Art Room more organized and be a better environment. The answer was…YES! She’s been having hard time finding the tools, as students don’t return them back to where they came from, etc and basically stressed that it could really help her if there was a such Community Service Project.

Because she had to leave for SAISA Art, we’ll visit again next week to write down the things that we can do to improve the Art Room. At the same time, we’ll ask the CAS coordinator and discuss if this could be an official Community Service Activity from the second semester.

An Update on Art Room Community Service

As I’d stated as one of my goals for this semester, I’m planning to create a Community Service Activity, that is aimed to organize the art room and make it a better environment for students. Since there is about a month left till the end of the semester, I’m now going to start planning this so that this can be an official Community Service Activity for the second semester.

First of all, I’ve asked Mo to be the vice leader and since she’s willing to be, the vice leader is now chosen! The next step is to go to the Art Room, talk to Ms. Barnett and make a list of things that need to be done and improved in the Art Room, so that students can draw, paint, etc in a better environment. I’m planning to do this next week sometime during lunch or after school. I will post another update once this task has been completed.

The official name for this Community Service Activity will be decided later on.