Participating in this project was a lot of fun. I decided to take part in this project because it emphasized the beauty and existence of clouds. Clouds are a part of our daily life and we never take a second to look at them and appreciate them. Another reason as to why i decided to take part in this project is because i use those stairs and they were always kind of dull and ugly. The project has made those stairs usable and more attractive to students. I loved working on the project and would like to take part on future projects if possible. Furthermore as selfish as it may sound i felt that i was leaving my mark in the college and that is pretty cool =). Thank you very much for letting me take part on this project.
Activity #6: Reflection paper Now that this project was successfully developed, I would like to recall all the process and activities involved in this long journey. This was one of the most interactive and educational process I have developed so far in my college years. The project of the stairwell was introduced by the professor Jose Donis in a class two months ago. That moment, he introduces a litter bit the whole process that we would be developing with the recognized artist Michelle Weinberg. He told us that we would pain one of the stairs of the Miami Dade College in Hialeah, that we would be interacting with the artist Michelle Weinberg, and that she would come to the school days later. At that moment I thought that this would be just a boring and tedious work of just painting the stairwell. However, things become interesting when he had to talk about the meaning of sustainability. After I was assigned this first activity, I asked to myself, what was the relation between explaining the meaning of sustainability with painting the stair. After looking and analyzing the connotation of sustainability I started becoming interested for the project. I found out that sustainable development is a pattern of resource use that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but in the indefinite future. Understanding the meaning was the best way for me to address the importance of the stairwell project. The use of the word sustainable in this project gave us an overview of the intention behind it, and the benefits that it will bring not only to the students who attend college on a daily basis, but also to the environment of the school. In this point we also discuss the importance of taking the stairwell instead of the elevator not only for our health, but also for the environment itself. Days later Michelle Weinberg came to our class, where she introduced herself and showed us the kind of painting she likes to perform. After introducing herself, she told us to paint clouds in order to see which one of them she could put on the walls. This was the first interaction between her and us. After doing this activity, we were assigned activity number two and three. In activity two we had to take some pictures of cloud and sent them to Michelle Weinberg in order to give her some inspiration for the project. This activity was very funny since I was combining a project with one of my hobbies, which is to take pictures. During this activity I used to bring my camera with me to every place I went, so every time I saw an amazing cloud on the sky I would take a picture of it and sent it to Michelle, hoping that she would put that cloud on one of the walls of the stairwell. However, what to put in those clouds? We all used to think. Therefore, professor Donis gave us activity number three. Activity number three consisted in thinking and analyzing what the clouds should say. This activity made me think for a while until I figured out that my clouds should portray positive messages to the students. It should contained messages that really impacted and motivated them to take the stair instead of the elevator. The clouds should enclosed either phrases which resembled the importance of taking the stairwell as a way to exercise or phrases connected one another that would make students to get involved in the reading pattern and motivate them to reach the top floor. After mentioning what the clouds should say, I gave some examples of phrases created by famous writers and others composed by me. For instance, ones created by famous writers were "Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing." "You can if you think you can." And others created by me were “fight against obesity”. “You can do it, don’t be late for your class using the elevator”. After all of these activities we were conscious of the importance of the stairwell project, so we were ready to start with the physical part, painting! For this reason, it was assigned activity number four, which was to sign for community hours that we would be developing while painting the stair. I was ready to start! I signed and download the form in order to have everything ready to start painting. I was anxious to see how the stair would look like.
Finally the last of what I call analytical questions about this project, what did make Hialeah unsustainable? How the project of the stairwell would make the Hialeah Miami Dade College more sustainable? These two questions composed activity number five. I would say that this was an unexpected, but well developed activity. This was not a difficult one. I just needed to sit in the computer and started thinking about what made Hialeah unsustainable. Above all the aspects that made Hialeah unsustainable, I referred to two. The main aspect was the lack of interaction between people. Second, lack of paints that could capture students’ attention, or reframes that could make them think or analyze. After mentioning these two unsustainable aspects in Hialeah, I wrote from my point of view, the importance of this project in the process of making Miami Dade College of Hialeah more sustainable. I said that this project was one of the best ways to start changing the unsustainable aspects of this community. At this moment, I recall one of the proverbs learned in my psychology class which said that everything in life begins with a single step. I referred to the importance of the project by saying that painting the stairwell with clouds and impacting phrases could motivate students to take the stairwell, and therefore, do some cardiovascular exercises. Also, this project could help with the interpersonal skills. Finally, once this project would impact student in a way that would make them use the stairs, they would find the need to speak to the person next to them. The last activity was to paint the stairwell. This activity was very well organized by the professor Donis. He was always present to make sure that we wouldn’t need anything. He gave us pizza, soda and water. This was the activity, where we were in interaction with the artist Michelle Weinberg who taught us how and what to paint in the walls. The combination of Donis and Michelle made me feel really good during the process of painting. Besides the paint process we used to dialogue during the lunch time which made amine the relationship between students, artist and professor. To conclude, after the stairwell was completely painted, we take some pictures and posted on the web page of this project. I don’t have word to say how good this project made me fell. It was a long but amazing project that we developed. I think that we, the students of the humanity class of the professor Donis, would be recognized as the one who painted this stairwell, and the one who learned and understand the importance behind this project. In addition I would like to recognize the labor of the artist Michelle Weinberg not only as an artist, but also as a human being. She gave us comfort and threaded all of us with kindness and patient. She never got upset when we spilled some paint in a floor. When this happened, she only used to say in a low and benevolence voice, “be careful guys”. She didn’t get mad for anything. Finally professor Donis, I thank him for the delicious pizza and cold sodas. He was always making sure that everything ran fine. He used to walk up and down the stair asking if we needed anything. For all of this aspect, I feel confident to say that we developed a well conform team of professor, artists, and students. We all were amazing during the professor! Congratulations to everybody!!!!!!!!
The Stairwell project was a fun experience for me and now that it’s been finished I get to reap the rewards. Before the project I hardly used those stairs; only on days in which the line for the elevator was way too big. On my two semesters of attending Miami Dade College I only used those stairs about 3 times maximum. Now I use those stairs on a daily basis mainly due to its new look. The stairs are now attractive and actually pleasant to use. I’ve also noticed that students use the stairs a lot more now; which is after all one of the goals we wanted to accomplish aside from making the stairs look nicer. Healthier lifestyle is promoted with the use of these stairs.
Instead of waiting several minutes so that the elevator line clears students and teachers alike now have the option to go up the stairs. It was understandable and only natural to avoid those stairs before the walls were made pleasing to the eye. Prior to the project those stairs were dull and quite honestly very creepy; somewhat like the stairs you see in horror movies with pipes sticking out of them and the usual spider web on the corners. Now it’s lovely and so pleasing that it feels relaxing, inspiring and pleasing and I have noticed a few students actually taking their time admiring the clouds and the words in them. I am so glad I took part in this project because now I can say that I have left my mark in the college which is a pretty cool thing to say and to know. Taking part in this project also helped me raise my self esteem even further because I saw myself as not only leaving something behind but also as encouraging others to adopt a healthier lifestyle and paying more attention to the little things in life like clouds!
Overall it was a fun and very enjoyable experience for me and I hope that in future projects alike I am considered as a volunteer. On a final note I would like to say Thank you for the pizza professor Donis and thank you for the help Michelle.
The stairwell project was one of the most important projects I have been a part of. I felt so proud of myself by helping the community. I believe this project will have an incredible effect on anyone who witnesses it. Michelle is a very talented, she is very dedicated to her job. Her attitude during this project definitely rubbed off on me. Even though I painted alone, since none of my classmates were there I learned and appreciated what was being done more alone than I would have accompanied. When I see this project I see it as a perfect image. I do not take notice of any imperfection that there might be. I value it greatly because it is something that I worked on. When I look at the clouds and the saying I see the hard work that was put into it by all our students. I also think of the future and how much this mural can affect someone. It will change the mood of people who have had a bad day and inspire those who are in a good mood to keep on striving for excellence. It will also change the aspect of students who will feel refreshed to learn more and act upon their feelings. This mural makes me proud and happy. It brings out a new light in my heart to keep on going. It makes me want to reach for the skies, and it assures me that I can. I truly hope that more projects such as these can be done all over schools. The reward of a great effort such as this is greater than the cost it is t make it. This is the first step into our green-friendly school and environment. Taking part of such a project demonstrates that you can truly make a difference even by doing something that may seem insignificant in the long run the little things are the ones that truly matter.
Participating in this project was a lot of fun. I decided to take part in this project because it emphasized the beauty and existence of clouds. Clouds are a part of our daily life and we never take a second to look at them and appreciate them. Another reason as to why i decided to take part in this project is because i use those stairs and they were always kind of dull and ugly. The project has made those stairs usable and more attractive to students. I loved working on the project and would like to take part on future projects if possible. Furthermore as selfish as it may sound i felt that i was leaving my mark in the college and that is pretty cool =). Thank you very much for letting me take part on this project.
ReplyDeleteActivity #6: Reflection paper
ReplyDeleteNow that this project was successfully developed, I would like to recall all the process and activities involved in this long journey. This was one of the most interactive and educational process I have developed so far in my college years. The project of the stairwell was introduced by the professor Jose Donis in a class two months ago. That moment, he introduces a litter bit the whole process that we would be developing with the recognized artist Michelle Weinberg. He told us that we would pain one of the stairs of the Miami Dade College in Hialeah, that we would be interacting with the artist Michelle Weinberg, and that she would come to the school days later. At that moment I thought that this would be just a boring and tedious work of just painting the stairwell.
However, things become interesting when he had to talk about the meaning of sustainability. After I was assigned this first activity, I asked to myself, what was the relation between explaining the meaning of sustainability with painting the stair. After looking and analyzing the connotation of sustainability I started becoming interested for the project. I found out that sustainable development is a pattern of resource use that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but in the indefinite future. Understanding the meaning was the best way for me to address the importance of the stairwell project. The use of the word sustainable in this project gave us an overview of the intention behind it, and the benefits that it will bring not only to the students who attend college on a daily basis, but also to the environment of the school. In this point we also discuss the importance of taking the stairwell instead of the elevator not only for our health, but also for the environment itself.
Days later Michelle Weinberg came to our class, where she introduced herself and showed us the kind of painting she likes to perform. After introducing herself, she told us to paint clouds in order to see which one of them she could put on the walls. This was the first interaction between her and us.
After doing this activity, we were assigned activity number two and three. In activity two we had to take some pictures of cloud and sent them to Michelle Weinberg in order to give her some inspiration for the project. This activity was very funny since I was combining a project with one of my hobbies, which is to take pictures. During this activity I used to bring my camera with me to every place I went, so every time I saw an amazing cloud on the sky I would take a picture of it and sent it to Michelle, hoping that she would put that cloud on one of the walls of the stairwell. However, what to put in those clouds? We all used to think. Therefore, professor Donis gave us activity number three. Activity number three consisted in thinking and analyzing what the clouds should say. This activity made me think for a while until I figured out that my clouds should portray positive messages to the students. It should contained messages that really impacted and motivated them to take the stair instead of the elevator. The clouds should enclosed either phrases which resembled the importance of taking the stairwell as a way to exercise or phrases connected one another that would make students to get involved in the reading pattern and motivate them to reach the top floor. After mentioning what the clouds should say, I gave some examples of phrases created by famous writers and others composed by me. For instance, ones created by famous writers were "Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing." "You can if you think you can." And others created by me were “fight against obesity”. “You can do it, don’t be late for your class using the elevator”.
After all of these activities we were conscious of the importance of the stairwell project, so we were ready to start with the physical part, painting! For this reason, it was assigned activity number four, which was to sign for community hours that we would be developing while painting the stair. I was ready to start! I signed and download the form in order to have everything ready to start painting. I was anxious to see how the stair would look like.
Finally the last of what I call analytical questions about this project, what did make Hialeah unsustainable? How the project of the stairwell would make the Hialeah Miami Dade College more sustainable? These two questions composed activity number five. I would say that this was an unexpected, but well developed activity. This was not a difficult one. I just needed to sit in the computer and started thinking about what made Hialeah unsustainable. Above all the aspects that made Hialeah unsustainable, I referred to two. The main aspect was the lack of interaction between people. Second, lack of paints that could capture students’ attention, or reframes that could make them think or analyze. After mentioning these two unsustainable aspects in Hialeah, I wrote from my point of view, the importance of this project in the process of making Miami Dade College of Hialeah more sustainable. I said that this project was one of the best ways to start changing the unsustainable aspects of this community. At this moment, I recall one of the proverbs learned in my psychology class which said that everything in life begins with a single step. I referred to the importance of the project by saying that painting the stairwell with clouds and impacting phrases could motivate students to take the stairwell, and therefore, do some cardiovascular exercises. Also, this project could help with the interpersonal skills. Finally, once this project would impact student in a way that would make them use the stairs, they would find the need to speak to the person next to them.
The last activity was to paint the stairwell. This activity was very well organized by the professor Donis. He was always present to make sure that we wouldn’t need anything. He gave us pizza, soda and water. This was the activity, where we were in interaction with the artist Michelle Weinberg who taught us how and what to paint in the walls. The combination of Donis and Michelle made me feel really good during the process of painting. Besides the paint process we used to dialogue during the lunch time which made amine the relationship between students, artist and professor.
To conclude, after the stairwell was completely painted, we take some pictures and posted on the web page of this project. I don’t have word to say how good this project made me fell. It was a long but amazing project that we developed. I think that we, the students of the humanity class of the professor Donis, would be recognized as the one who painted this stairwell, and the one who learned and understand the importance behind this project. In addition I would like to recognize the labor of the artist Michelle Weinberg not only as an artist, but also as a human being. She gave us comfort and threaded all of us with kindness and patient. She never got upset when we spilled some paint in a floor. When this happened, she only used to say in a low and benevolence voice, “be careful guys”. She didn’t get mad for anything. Finally professor Donis, I thank him for the delicious pizza and cold sodas. He was always making sure that everything ran fine. He used to walk up and down the stair asking if we needed anything. For all of this aspect, I feel confident to say that we developed a well conform team of professor, artists, and students. We all were amazing during the professor! Congratulations to everybody!!!!!!!!
The Stairwell project was a fun experience for me and now that it’s been finished I get to reap the rewards. Before the project I hardly used those stairs; only on days in which the line for the elevator was way too big. On my two semesters of attending Miami Dade College I only used those stairs about 3 times maximum. Now I use those stairs on a daily basis mainly due to its new look. The stairs are now attractive and actually pleasant to use. I’ve also noticed that students use the stairs a lot more now; which is after all one of the goals we wanted to accomplish aside from making the stairs look nicer. Healthier lifestyle is promoted with the use of these stairs.
ReplyDeleteInstead of waiting several minutes so that the elevator line clears students and teachers alike now have the option to go up the stairs. It was understandable and only natural to avoid those stairs before the walls were made pleasing to the eye. Prior to the project those stairs were dull and quite honestly very creepy; somewhat like the stairs you see in horror movies with pipes sticking out of them and the usual spider web on the corners. Now it’s lovely and so pleasing that it feels relaxing, inspiring and pleasing and I have noticed a few students actually taking their time admiring the clouds and the words in them. I am so glad I took part in this project because now I can say that I have left my mark in the college which is a pretty cool thing to say and to know. Taking part in this project also helped me raise my self esteem even further because I saw myself as not only leaving something behind but also as encouraging others to adopt a healthier lifestyle and paying more attention to the little things in life like clouds!
Overall it was a fun and very enjoyable experience for me and I hope that in future projects alike I am considered as a volunteer. On a final note I would like to say Thank you for the pizza professor Donis and thank you for the help Michelle.
The stairwell project was one of the most important projects I have been a part of. I felt so proud of myself by helping the community. I believe this project will have an incredible effect on anyone who witnesses it. Michelle is a very talented, she is very dedicated to her job. Her attitude during this project definitely rubbed off on me. Even though I painted alone, since none of my classmates were there I learned and appreciated what was being done more alone than I would have accompanied.
ReplyDeleteWhen I see this project I see it as a perfect image. I do not take notice of any imperfection that there might be. I value it greatly because it is something that I worked on. When I look at the clouds and the saying I see the hard work that was put into it by all our students. I also think of the future and how much this mural can affect someone. It will change the mood of people who have had a bad day and inspire those who are in a good mood to keep on striving for excellence. It will also change the aspect of students who will feel refreshed to learn more and act upon their feelings.
This mural makes me proud and happy. It brings out a new light in my heart to keep on going. It makes me want to reach for the skies, and it assures me that I can. I truly hope that more projects such as these can be done all over schools. The reward of a great effort such as this is greater than the cost it is t make it. This is the first step into our green-friendly school and environment. Taking part of such a project demonstrates that you can truly make a difference even by doing something that may seem insignificant in the long run the little things are the ones that truly matter.