Goals+and+Planning

I made a scatter chart, something I learnt in IT, of my Personal Project. You will find it attached. It is a raw, rough, basic idea of how I am going to go about doing the project.

I also started writing my Phase 1. It has the following questions which I have to answer. - A clearly written goal. -Why have you chosen the topic you have chosen? -A justification of your focus area of interaction -A detailed plan of how you are going to achieve your goal. I have to work a little bit more on the last two questions, but I am almost done. Below is what I currently have.


 * Phase I **
 * __A clearly written goal:__**

I want to compose a song or two, record them and sell them to raise money for an NGO called operation smile.
 * __Why?__**

My school sent me and a few of my friends for a conference conducted by the people who work for an organization called operation smile, and NGO, which facilitates surgeries for people with cleft lips and palates. They also do surgeries for people with unwanted scars, marks or growths. It was a teambuilding workshop and was tons of fun. We also learnt a lot about the organization; how they started, who started it, why they focus on operating cleft lips and palates.

Why do they focus on people with cleft lips and palates?

Society

In remote villages, people are extremely superstitious, and many believe that people or children with cleft lips or cleft palates are a scar to society. They are abandoned, disowned by their own families sometimes and are teased and made fun of by the rest of society. This makes them introverts, lessens their self-confidence and esteem and affects them psychologically.

Nutrition

Children with cleft palates are most of the times malnourished, because the food which enters their mouth goes up the hole of their palate and comes out of their noses.

Poverty

Many of the people with cleft lips or palates live in villages, and are poor and hence can’t afford a good doctor to help them. And many of them don’t know what it is, and how people are affected by it. Many for them just blame the mother of the child or person, when cleft lips and palates are not caused by genes.

For this conference we were divided into groups and each group had a leader.

The best part of the conference, and the part which got me thinking and the part because of which I was moved are the stories. Our group leaders told us stories about different people who came to operation smile for help, some of whom were treated, others who were not so lucky. The story which touched me the most was about a South American who had a growth on one side of his head, so heavy that his head would constantly be tilted. He approached operation smile for help but was turned down three times. This was because the organization has priorities; first comes babies with cleft lips and palates, then children, then adults and then people or children with scars marks or growths. The fourth time he went there, he was the last one to be accepted. But next in line, which is after him, was a little girl with burns all over her body. That man, even after being turned down three times before, gave his place to that little girl. He later was treated and now lives happily, but a sacrifice like that is not something which all of us would be ready to give. After all this, I had in mind that I had to do something to help this organization. If not volunteer, help in some way or the other. When we were told about Personal projects and were told to think about topics, just one thing came to my mind- Operation smile. After a lot of thought and consultation from friends, family and teachers, I came to the conclusion that I will compose a song, raise funds by selling the song and donate the funds to operation smile. I chose to compose a song because I love music, and composing a song is something I would love to do anytime, for a long time without getting bored.


 * __A justification for your focus area of interaction:__**

Through my personal project, I want to help Operation smile, because this organization completely depends on donations and funds for its functioning. My goal closely relates to the AOI Community and Service, because evidently I am doing something for the community, by helping operation smile. It also relates to human ingenuity, because I am composing an original song, but since am doing it to raise funds community and service is the focus area of interaction…

1) Work on the songs Here, I research, survey, interview and find out all I can about how to compose a song. I note down all my research in my process journal, and simultaneously start writing a song. In the process, I know that I may not stick to one song, because I will always think of something better. So, two or three of all the songs that I think I will use, will make it into my CD.
 * __A detailed plan on how you are going to achieve your goal:__**

Once I have started writing, I will practice singing, and improving my voice quality, since I have to record my work and may also have to perform. I will use books, internet, and other resources for this. I will record again and again just for practice and then record it for the final time. I will also (Just to add material to my CD) sing a few Disney songs, for which I need practice too. Since I was introduced earlier to professional music software called Garage Band, I won’t be playing the instruments, so, after or before recording I will add beats, a bass and a synth. Since I am also going to China for ISCE (International Students Cultural exchange), and coincidentally since there is going to be an auction there- proceeds of which will go to operation smile, I will record my first song and sell it in that auction (around 50 CD’s), as a start to see how well it sells. That will give me an idea of whether I have to compose a new song or stick to the one I sell. After selling them in China, whether or not, my song sold well, I will start composing a new one as I need more than one song on my CD. Once that is over, I will start another, and so on and try to compose as many good ones as I can by mid-September. Then, I will record the ones I think are the best. Here is where the composition and recording ends. 2) Promote them

Here, I will **//try//** to speak to a famous person (just for examples sake Shah Rukh Khan) and get him/her to support me in my movement by either donating or helping me spread awareness. I will actually start by putting my ‘album’ on websites like Facebook and YouTube and tell friends about it and tell the friends I tell to tell their friends. I will after some time, see how many views it gets and on that basis, estimate the amount of CD’s that will sell. Since my song is based on Romance, the target audience is teenagers, and young people.

My internet just started working. So I will be updating my wiki only now.

I read my Phase 1 again, and made some changes. It looks like this now:


 * Phase I **
 * __A clearly written goal:__**

I will arrange a fundraising drive for Operation smile, in which I compose a song, make CD’s, sell them and have a concert in which I sing that song for which I sell tickets all to raise funds.
 * __Why?__**

My school sent me and a few of my friends for a conference conducted by the people who work for an organization called operation smile, and NGO, which facilitates surgeries for people with cleft lips and palates. They also do surgeries for people with unwanted scars, marks or growths. It was a teambuilding workshop and was tons of fun. We also learnt a lot about the organization; how they started, who started it, why they focus on operating cleft lips and palates.

Why do they focus on people with cleft lips and palates?

Society

In remote villages, people are extremely superstitious, and many believe that people or children with cleft lips or cleft palates are a scar to society. They are abandoned, disowned by their own families sometimes and are teased and made fun of by the rest of society. This makes them introverts, lessens their self-confidence and esteem and affects them psychologically.

Nutrition

Children with cleft palates are most of the times malnourished, because the food which enters their mouth goes up the hole of their palate and comes out of their noses.

Poverty

Many of the people with cleft lips or palates live in villages, and are poor and hence can’t afford a good doctor to help them. And many of them don’t know what it is, and how people are affected by it. Many for them just blame the mother of the child or person, when cleft lips and palates are not caused by genes.

For this conference we were divided into groups and each group had a leader.

The best part of the conference, and the part which got me thinking and the part because of which I was moved are the stories. Our group leaders told us stories about different people who came to operation smile for help, some of whom were treated, others who were not so lucky. The story which touched me the most was about a South American who had a growth on one side of his head, so heavy that his head would constantly be tilted. He approached operation smile for help but was turned down three times. This was because the organization has priorities; first comes babies with cleft lips and palates, then children, then adults and then people or children with scars marks or growths. The fourth time he went there, he was the last one to be accepted. But next in line, which is after him, was a little girl with burns all over her body. That man, even after being turned down three times before, gave his place to that little girl. He later was treated and now lives happily, but a sacrifice like that is not something which all of us would be ready to give. After all this, I had in mind that I had to do something to help this organization. If not volunteer, help in some way or the other.

When we had to think about what we had to do, just one thing came to my mind- Operation smile. After a lot of thought and consultation from friends, family and teachers, I came to the conclusion that I will compose a song, raise funds by selling the song and donate the funds to operation smile. I will also have a concert, the tickets of which will be sold to raise funds. I chose to compose a song because I love music, and composing a song is something I would love to do anytime, for a long time without getting bored. There are four main areas of interaction in IB. They are:
 * __A justification for your focus area of interaction:__**
 * __Human Ingenuity:__**
 * __Health and Social Education:__**
 * __Community and Service:__**
 * __Environments:__**

Through my personal project, I want to help Operation smile, because this organization completely depends on donations and funds for its functioning. My goal closely relates to the AOI Community and Service, because evidently I am doing something for the community, by helping operation smile. The ‘Community and Service’ area of interaction says… And hence it’s justified that my AOI is C and S.

1) Work on the songs Here, I research, survey, interview and find out all I can about how to compose a song. I note down all my research in my process journal, and simultaneously start writing a song. In the process, I know that I may not stick to one song, because I will always think of something better. So, two or three of all the songs that I think I will use, will make it into my CD.
 * __A detailed plan on how you are going to achieve your goal:__**

Once I have started writing, I will practice singing, and improving my voice quality, since I have to record my work and may also have to perform. I will use books, internet, and other resources for this. I will record again and again just for practice and then record it for the final time. I will also (Just to add material to my CD) sing a few Disney songs, for which I need practice too. Since I was introduced earlier to professional music software called Garage Band, I won’t be playing the instruments, so, after or before recording I will add beats, a bass and a synth. Since I am also going to China for ISCE (International Students Cultural exchange), and coincidentally since there is going to be an auction there- proceeds of which will go to operation smile, I will record my first song and sell it in that auction (around 50 CD’s), as a start to see how well it sells. That will give me an idea of whether I have to compose a new song or stick to the one I sell. After selling them in China, whether or not, my song sold well, I will start composing a new one as I need more than one song on my CD. Once that is over, I will start another, and so on and try to compose as many good ones as I can by mid-September. Then, I will record the ones I think are the best. If I cannot compose more than one, I make a one song CD. Here is where the composition and recording ends. 2) Promote them

Here, I will **//try//** to speak to a famous person (just for examples sake Shah Rukh Khan) and get him/her to support me in my movement by either donating or helping me spread awareness. I will actually start by putting my ‘album’ on websites like Facebook and YouTube and tell friends about it and tell the friends I tell to tell their friends. I will after some time, see how many views it gets and on that basis, estimate the amount of CD’s that will sell. Since my song is based on Romance, the target audience is teenagers, and young people. I will also divide my target group into three other groups. A- People I know very well, and who are sure to buy my CD (close friends, relatives), B- Friends of friends, acquaintances, who need some persuasion to buy my CD, and C- who I don’t know at all, and need a good reason to buy my CD. I have also decided that I will have a concert, in school or elsewhere, where I will sing my song, and a couple of other songs, and where other people can perform as well, (Kind of like a talent show/ Music concert), where the ‘famous person’ will be invited and the tickets of which will bring funds for Op smile. 3) Sell them: I would have finished promoting my song by now and I will start selling them. The target groups come in here. I will target at group A first- since the most CD’s will be bought by them. Then I will move on to B and then finally C. The following table is what my ‘target plan’ looks like.

Family
 * Groups || A || B || C ||
 * People to target || Friends

Teachers || Friends of friends

Distant relatives

Acquaintances Neighbors || Random unknown people ||
 * Approximate number of people in the group || 80 || 35 || 17 ||
 * Amount targeted || 21000 rupees || 10000 rupees || 5000 rupees ||

- The sum of the amounts targeted is 36000 rupees, which sponsors three smiles. But I will also funds from the concert that I perform in. So assuming that I get sponsor another smile through the concert, I will be sponsoring 4 smiles, which according to me, is not that bad.

- Whoever buys my CD, will get a receipt and I will have their phone numbers and e-mail id’s. As soon as I donate the money, I will request Op smile to send me something like a bill, in which the donated amount is written. This then will be sent to all my customers, with a thank you note. There are possibilities that I don’t finish selling my CD’s by March (when my presentation is due), but that won’t be a problem.