Summary of Project and Impact

As mentioned earlier, the foundation of this project is self-discovery and expression. I

believe this project is needed not only within my school and/or district but around all schools is

because it teaches students different and unique mediums of how people personify themselves.

By being exposed to this content, students can firstly begin to develop their own identity. This

can have multiple benefits as students can grow to become more accepting of themselves and

confident in their endeavors. I truly believe that a change in mindset can change everything. By

having students develop a positive mindset towards themselves, I think it will lead them towards

success and happiness.

The second main benefit of this topic is understanding. This project is meant to showcase

how different we all are as people and how beautiful that is. That there is no perfect mold or

model to follow. By having students explore and ultimately share their own form of expression

in front of peers and others, this project allows students to gain new perspectives from their

classmates and understand where they come from and who they are. This project is not meant to

judge each other. It is meant to appreciate and accept diversity, which I believe having this skill

is valuable far out of the classroom. Students can take what they learn from this project and

infuse their creativity and differences proudly in the community. As a school that strives for

both creative and academic pursuits, I also see this project strengthening the mission statement

and theme of ASA.

Overall, students will be investigating different forms of expression, such as poetry, short

stories, short films, and photography. Through these activities, students will gain insight on

various art forms and ultimately discover which form of expression best fits with them as a tool

for expressing themselves.

Student Impact

Directly, this project will impact roughly 95 students, as the Arizona Department of

Education reports. However, I could see this project reaching not only beyond the twelfth-grade

classroom, but to other schools and ultimately the entire community in the next couple of years.

I think students will be the most impacted with this project as it strongly centers around them.

As I briefly mentioned earlier, I think this project will positively affect learning. My project

allows students to explore themselves and their peers. I believe by students getting to better

know themselves and others, it will create a more welcoming, personal, and positive classroom

and school environment. Many of the activities in this project also revolve around collaboration

and teamwork. By building this positive environment, students will not only be more

comfortable and confident in their own worth and skill, but they will also be more motivated and

willing to engage in future activities.

Teacher Impact

As the teacher of this project, I see myself gaining extremely valuable insight about my

students with this project. By allowing students to explore, as the teacher I can gain a better

understanding of my students’ interests and their personality. This knowledge can help me in the

long run as I can develop my future lessons around students’ interests. Likewise, this project

will make me reevaluate my role as a teacher. This project does not rely on traditional

lecture-like videos and really stresses the learning on the students themselves. In this project, I

will be acting more as a facilitator and I could see myself revising lesson plans to follow more in

this format. I think this format is effective because of how involved the students are in the

learning process. I like how it increases their engagement and makes them more invested in the

content. In the future, I might add more problem-based projects, maybe some more centered
around a book or novel. I think it would be very fascinating to see what students could come up

with in terms of a project based on maybe a theme or conflict in the book. Furthermore, I think it

will boost student engagement.

Community Impact

The first group of community I could see impacted from this project is the school. I

would like to expand this project to reach out beyond my classroom and I think a great place to

start would be ASA itself. As a creative, art-based school, I could see clubs or even assemblies

revolving around the basis of this project. I also think it would be very interesting if it was

possible to invite various local artists into the classroom, for example writers, film makers,

photographers, etc. to gain their perspective on their creations as well as stir creativity in the

students. Since ASA is the only school in its district, I think this project could benefit other

schools as well, possibly ones that do not have as much of an arts focus. I think including

different schools from multiple districts will only enhance the meaning of the project and maybe

allow other schools to see the benefit in including more art-based instruction in their classrooms.

Finally, I believe this project can reach the outside community. Even though students at ASA

volunteer at local theatres for performance, I think it would be amazing if students could share

their own work. Maybe ASA can host a special night that allows anyone to come and view what

students have created. Or maybe students can build a gallery-walk of sorts that provide those

outside of the school to have access to their creations. Overall, I hope by students sharing their

own expression in the community, it will only inspire more to discover themselves and

confidently display that in society.