New Things for Creativity

After the eventfull Week Without Walls i had recieved a
brand new quitar. I plan on find either a program or
person to help me further advance my skill of using a
guitar... which really means I need someone to teach
me the absolute basics of guitar use. Hopefully my guitar
will not start collecting dust like my golf clubs.

Week Without Walls

On the 24th to 28th our grade set out on our WWW (Week
Without Walls) trip. What we intend to do on this trip is to
work on one of two schools (the grade was divided into two
groups each with a respective school) by repainting the
school, as well as outdoor equipment and while also
keeping the kids entertained for the first hour we are at the
school each day as well as to put on a concert on our
second day of work upon completion.The purpose of our
trip was not only to help repaint and give supplies to the
schools we worked on but also to develop
ourselves whether it be by...

1) Taking up a leadership role (this can be seen because
I had taken up a co-op leadership role to produce a skit
to play during the concert)

2) Working corroboratively with others (during the first
and second day of painting, I worked rather well with
others to complete this task)

3) Learning new skills (nothing during the actual school
work can really be considered a new skill)

4) Engage with issues of global importance (this was
achieved by our work on the school because the school
was set up as a source of education for childern after the
2004 tsunami)

5) Consider the ethical implications of our actions (by
giving these childern a clean environment to learn during
very crucial years of eductaion)

6) Undertake new challenges (repainting the school was a
skill which I had already obtained over previous years but
this year we had achieved alot more in a shorter amount
of time)

D.A.W.G. Sterilization & Vaccination Day

We held the actual sterilization event on Friday the 27 of November from 8am till 2pm. We were given 3 different times from which we could choose, either from 8-10, 10-12, or 12-2, I had chosen to be there from 10-12. The overall event went very well as we had received a large turn out of people with cats or dogs and by the end of the event we had vaccinated and/or sterilized a total of 62 cats and dogs. The only sad side of this is that this is the end of the activity for this year so i will need to search for something else.

What I plan to do over the next two years.

Service

I have signed up to participate in the after school elective know as D.A.W.G which stands for Dog Awareness Welfare Group and their aim is to collect funds for a sterilization and vaccination for dogs and cats in Sri Lanka (the Colombo and Battamarula area). To achieve this goal they plan on running a food drive to gather needed supplies such as dog food, medicines, soaps, ect... and to hold a movie night to also raise money, the homeroom which brings in the most during the food drive wins free tickets to the movie night.

Action

I have plan on doing quite a few things for Action. I plan on going to the gym with my parents at least 2-3 times a week because there is a gym in the building I live in, I plan to go scuba diving every once in a while because since I have already received my certification last year during the winter holiday, the problem with scuba diving is that first of all it is rather time consuming because it takes a few hours to finish and also it is rather expensive. One thing that I plan on doing is to try and find an archery or shooting range in or around Colombo because i fell that it would be quite enjoyable to do every or every other weekend. And the last thing that i have planned on doing is going golfing every once in a while because both me and my dad have golf clubs and enjoy golfing every once in a while.

Creativity

For the beginning part of this year I cannot really think of any creative thing that I could do except to help with the set design and perhaps the lighting for the secondary play production later this year, but if I do happen to find something that I take an interest into I will definitely do it.

The Beginning of the IB diploma course and C.A.S.

We have entered into a new school year at OSC and have been introduced to what the course requires from us. What the IB requires every student to do is to participate in it C.A.S. program. What C.A.S. stands for is Creativity, Action, and Service. By the end of the two year IB diploma course each student must participate in each one of these categories. The IB also hopes that by the end of the diploma program that every student achieves it's 8 Critical Learning Outcomes.

Learning outcomes are differentiated from assessment objective because they are not rated on a scale. The completion decision for the school in relation to each student is, simply, “have these outcomes been achieved?” As a result of their CAS experience as a whole, including their reflections, there should be evidence that students have:

· Increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth

They are able to see themselves as individuals with various skills and abilities, some more developed than others, and understand that they can make choices about how they wish to move forward.

· Undertaken new challenges

A new challenge may be an unfamiliar activity, or an extension to an existing one.

· Planned and initiated activities

Planning and initiation will often be in collaboration with others. It can be shown in activities that are part of larger projects, for example, ongoing school activities in the local community, as well as in small student-led activities.

· Worked collaboratively with others

Collaboration can be shown in many different activities, such as team sports, playing music in a band, or helping in a kindergarten. At least one project involving collaboration and the integration of at least two of creativity, action and services, is required.

· Shown perseverance and commitment in their activities

At a minimum, this implies attending regularly and accepting a share of the responsibility for dealing with problems that arise in the course of activities.

· Engaged with issues of global importance

Students may be involved in international projects but there are many global issues that can be acted upon locally or nationally (for example, environmental concerns, caring for the elderly).

· Considered the ethical implications of their actions

Ethical decisions arise in almost any CAS activity (for example, on the sports field, in musical composition, in relationship with others involved in service activities). Evidence of thinking about ethical issues can be shown in various ways, including journal entries and conversations with CAS advisers.

· Developed new skills

As with new challenges, new skills may be shown in activities that the student has not previously undertaken, or in increased expertise in an established area.

All eight outcomes must be present for a student to complete the CAS requirement. Some may be demonstrated many times, in a variety of activities, but completion requires only that there is some evidence for every outcome.

This focus on learning outcomes emphasizes that it is the quality of a CAS activity (its contribution to the student’s development) that is of most importance. The guideline for the minimum amount of CAS activity is approximately the equivalent of half a day per school week (three to four hours per week), or approximately 150 hours in total, with a reasonable balance between creativity, action and service.

Community and Service at OSC

Over the course of this year we have been given the option of participating in different CAS projects. Some examples of these projects are DAWG, a project designed to lead a sterilization campaign for street dogs and cats, Recycling, a project designed to deal with recycling at OSC and to raise awareness on why we should recycle, and also Eco Plus, this CAS happens on Wednesday and the purpose of it is to think about other ways that this school could be more environmentally friendly. For this year I have been participating in both Eco Plus on Wednesday and Recycling on Thursday.

I have been taking part of Eco Plus since the beginning of the school year and from what we have done I can safely say that we have accomplished the projects goal on brainstorming what can be done to make this school community more Eco friendly.