Project Title: StoryTime Amongst Generations

Essential Question(s):

How can what older generations connected to the LREI community have experienced help younger generations navigate such trying times full of teen angst and the process of moving up in the world?

Statement of Purpose

The sole purpose of my project is to find out what we can learn from older generations within our LREI community.

Overview: Describe your topic and project to the committee.

I would like to read a few biographies of people written when they were older and watch documentaries about people’s lives as well. I think those will be good ways of seeing how to approach learning about someone’s life growing upright as they reflect.  Someone who has a reputation as a person who ‘lived’ and someone who is less known for their adventurousness but who is down to earth or who is fascinating to talk to. I believe everyone has something to give, whether that’s advice, their talents, or their love, and I think that interviewing people’s grandparents will help me see a whole new side of the world.

How will you measure your success?

The end product will be a collection of all of the work I have produced including notes, an entry for every article I read, masterclass I take, video/documentary I watch, biographies I read, interviews I conduct, and so on. I will write an end reflection connecting all of the interviews together through common themes and key notes of guidance given to younger generations by those who were interviewed.

Resource List

I will be reading Hodges’ 1983 biography of Alan Turning, The Enigma. I will, if time permits, also read Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston. Both of these biographies have much prestige around them and will be a good guide to how I format the ways in which I collect everyones’ stories. I will also watch Boys State, Amy [about Amy Winehouse], I Am Not Your Negro, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, Honeyland, and a few others that are recommended to me or I research about as I go along.

I will talk to Susan Now [photography instructor], Shola Lynch [filmmaker], (possibly) Trevor Forrest [cinematographer],  John Gerzema [American Columnist and Author], and Mary Gerzema [SVP Digital Marketing and Media & Consumer Insights].

Daily Plan & Schedule

I will conduct interviews starting the week of April 12th (the earliest being the end of the week of April 5th). I am planning on accumulating at least 30 interviews which should leave me interviewing around one person per day with a week to do initial research, days in between interviews to watch and take notes on documentaries as well as upload, post, and write reflections after each interview. The last week of the 3rd Trimester will be spent organizing everything and finishing up reflections. This includes writing my final reflection in which the themes found within all of the conducted interviews will be analyzed. I will meet with Sola Lynch once (around week two or three if possible). I still have to gather people to interview so I will play it by ear to see what I can accomplish in a day. A lot of my day will be made up of writing emails, corresponding with each interviewee, collecting more people to interview (if needed, but especially in weeks one and two), researching, and writing reflections.

Monday:

• Cohort meeting
•  Interview(s)
  • Write reflection after and type up notes
• If I have time:
  • Read biography + take notes/watch documentary + take notes
    • Log what I read/watched with notes on blog
  • Watch a masterclass + take notes and start (possibly finish) assignments attached
    • Log notes and the work I completed for the assignment given

Tuesday:

• Meet with Susan Now
•  Interview(s)
  • Write reflection after and type up notes
• If I have time:
  • Read biography + take notes/watch documentary + take notes
    • Log what I read/watched with notes on blog
  • Watch a masterclass + take notes and start (possibly finish) assignments attached
    • Log notes and the work I completed for the assignment given

Wednesday:

• Read biography + take notes/watch documentary + take notes
  • Log what I read/watched with notes on blog
•  Interview(s)
  • Write reflection after and type up notes
• If I have time:
  • Watch a masterclass + take notes and start (possibly finish) assignments attached
    • Log notes and the work I completed for the assignment given
  • And/Or watch youtube videos / read articles about how to interview people and read / watch interviews in general
    • Log video/article and notes

Thursday:

• Cohort meeting
•  Interview(s)
  • Write reflection after and type up notes
• If I have time:
  • Read biography + take notes/watch documentary + take notes
    • Log what I read/watched with notes on blog
  • Watch a masterclass + take notes and start (possibly finish) assignments attached
    • Log notes and the work I completed for the assignment given

Friday:

• Read biography + take notes/watch documentary + take notes
  • Log what I read/watched with notes on blog
•  Interview(s)
  • Write reflection after and type up notes
• If I have time:
  • Watch a masterclass + take notes and start (possibly finish) assignments attached
    • Log notes and the work I completed for the assignment given
  • And/Or watch youtube videos / read articles about how to interview people and read / watch interviews in general
    • Log video/article and notes

 

Documentation Plan

I will create a blog in which I post recorded interview sessions as well as a written reflection and or any notes I take during the interview that I found particularly important so as to start forming ways to categorize each interview. Eg: types of stories they tell. Kind of similar to sorting movies or books by genre but for interviews. This will also be so I can find major themes to talk about and reflect upon in my final reflection after I finish my blog and all of my interviews. I will log everything I learn about from articles, videos, and masterclasses as well as the work I do for each masterclass assignment.

Backup Plan

If I don’t get enough interviews I will ask for family friends, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. of the senior class to be interviewed, possibly comparing older generations’ answers to younger ones. I might also ask the 11th grade to interview their grandparents. If I can’t meet with Shola Lynch, I will simply take more masterclasses and complete more assignments attached to each video. I will continue taking master classes and finishing the provided assignments as well as research and log how to interview people and shape their stories.

The Project Contract