(C&S) Halloween Party

BEFORE THE ACTIVITY:
The PTO organizes a Halloween party at the school every year which this time, takes place on October 26^th, 2014. As 11^th graders, my class is in charge of organizing the haunted house and helping the PTO with decoration, games, parking logistics, setting out tables and after the party, tidying up. In order to do this, we will have to collaborate as a class at put in extra hours at school in order to prepare for the event.
I haven't started this activity yet but I am very excited to do so because I have never done something like this that affects so many other people. With this activity, I would like to learn to work professionally in a group to provide a service to the PTO and also any guests that are at the Halloween party to make it the best possible experience for everyone. I would also like to use this experience as a way to improve my team-work skills because I feel that I usually like to work on my own. I will accomplish this because the group I am working is a big one (the whole class and the PTO). I would also like to use it as a way to enhance my creative and imaginative side of me with the haunted house and ideas for games, by making children and parents experience these activities in the intended way (feel scared but also have it be fun). A way I will know whether or not I have achieved my goals is with the reactions of the people I am serving. Also, what I take away from the experience will be a reflection of what I put into it.

1. Increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth.  I have never been put into a situation like this so I will learn how I will react to certain situations (under pressure, stress, at the time where I need to put ideas into action…)

2. Undertaken new challenges It will be a challenge for me to work with such a large group of people because the more the people, yes, there are more ideas, but there are also more disagreements and as a group, we will have to overcome these. It will also be a challenge to stay calm in hectic situations.

3. Planned and initiated activities Even though we are under the guidance of the PTO of the school, the whole creation of the haunted house (decorations, story, costumes…) is up to us. We will have to plan an effective way of carrying out these activities, and then carry them out. To do this, each person will be assigned a role in the activity.

4. Worked collaboratively with others The group is a fairly large one (the whole class, so about 20 people) and it is our hand to be efficient. The project is a very large one and in order to do everything that has to be done, we must collaborate.

5. Shown perseverance and commitment in their activities Hours outside of school will have to be put in and in order for it to be a complete project, commitment is needed.

6. Considered the ethical implications of their actions We are dealing with little children in the haunted house, so we have to be aware that they feel things differently that we do so we will have to be considerate, gentle and avoid making them too scared because this, even though it might not seem too much for us, makes them suffer.

7. Developed new skills I will develop creative skills such as artistic (decorations), acting (getting into the character of the role I’m playing) and also public relation and communicative skills (dealing with the group, the parents and children (“our customers”) and the PTO.

DURING THE ACTIVITY:
STEP 1: Deciding theme (October  3rd, 10th and 17th, 2014)
We have been using our homeroom periods to organize the halloween party because it is the only time that we are all together. I was actually quite impressed with how we've been able to coordinate ourselves. We had one person go up to the whiteboard and write down ideas we had for the party. We have decided to do something original this year, ad we will all dressup according to the theme we agreed on which is that we are patients at a psichyatric hospital. One problem we have had is that we planned on using the physics lab as a hospital room where the patients sleep (because the high tables there resemble hospital beds more closely than you'd think) but we were not allowed to use it. The solution we have up with was joining three desks and putting white paper over them and the hallway will be the actual hospital room. I am excited to see how the final production turns out and my job now will be to think more about how to set up a storyline for the haunted house.
STEP 2: Buying costumes (October 18th, 2014)
Today I went to a big shopping center with two classmates to buy the costumes for everyone. It was very stressfull because we had one idea, and there wasn't always exactly what we wanted. The idea was to make everyone wear white pajamas for it to look like a mental hospital but at the same time, we had to make sure that we respected the budjet (about 10 euros each). We had the idea to go to "Primark" to buy the costumes because we can find very good prices there, but we had trouble finding exactly ehat we wanted. We ended up going to almost every clothing store in the mall comparing options and prices and imagining ways to design the costumes in a creative and original way. We ended up settling for large white shirts and red pijama pants from primark. We will now have to design them and really make them look like they are not what they really are and give them more of a sinister look  for Halloween. We also had to deal with a lot of people from class sending messages about what they wanted to do, and there was a lot of disagreement. We decided that that was not the moment to argue so we urged everyone to work together and that we would talk about it ifter we had bought the costumes. This has taught me that no matter how much you plan, there are always problems and issues to overcome.
STEP 3: Preparation at school (October 24th and 25th, 2014)

Outline I created to organize the haunted house

On the 24th, a friday, I worked on preparing the storyline for the haunted house and working out the logistics of it as in where everyone should be at different moments in the haunted house since I have been given that job. My dream is to become a film director and I see organizing this haunted house, even though it is not a movie, as a great opportunity to create something from my imagination and work with others to make it into real life. Scary movies, like this haunted house, are made to create a frightening effect on the audience and I will try to do the same with the haunted house. I have taken the theme that we agreed on (an abandoned pshychiatric centre) and created four stages that the audience will go through and I have given them titles: the little girl scene, the hospital, the bathroom crime scene and the finale. Also, to have a better organized procedure, I wrote up a diagram with everyone's role, their costumes and their props. I actually had a lot more fun that I thought I would doing this because I was able to let my ideas flow in a creative way that I find I am not always able to do with the academic part of school. However, I anticipate a problem and that is that, since there are quite a lot of people participating in the haunted house, it will be hard to cooperate effectively for the outcome to be professional-looking.

Ivan and Cesar decorating the school with balloons

Today, saturday the 25th, I spent three hours at school and it was a lot of work. We were helping the PTO with setting up tables, decorating the school and organizing games. We also cut up the white T-shirts we bought on the 18th, continued bleaching the pants and decorated the haunted house. I think that it went well in general and I found myself taking into consideration things that I hadn't before such as the kids' (those who go through the haunted house) safety. In the end, we decided to use both bathrooms to make the path longer. I am very satisfyied with how the bathrooms and costumes look, but I think the hallway could be elaborated on more, which we will try to do tomorrow. I am also a bit nervous of the actual acting in the haunted house because we didn't have time to practice. Organizing so many people was also a challenge but by the end, it was nice to spend time with classmates outside of the classroom. It was also a great opportunity to learn about how the PTO operates.

With Miguel and Elena working on our costumes.

STEP 4: Halloween Party (October 26th, 2014)
Today it was the Halloween party, and it was fun but VERY tiring. First, we were helping the PTO out with preparing for the party (moving tables, getting the food ready, helping them get whatever they needed...) Then, the party started and since my job was to be in the haunted house, that's where I was the rest of the day, playing different roles/charatcers and also being at the entrance. Then, we helped the PTO tidy everything up and it had to be done very well because there was school today. My favorite part of the day was probably the acting part in the haunted house because I was able to escape myself and take on  the personality of a character I had to contruct with what I had (makeup, costume, lighting, setting...) I experienced what I felt in Step 3 which was a story left to be put in practice, and I was finally able to do this. Something I did not like however, was dealing with difficult children and parents at times but I have learned to keep my calm, because I knew that this would be better for all of us.

AFTER THE ACTIVITY: