Semester 2 - Goals

CAS Goals for the second semester

The senior year has entered its last phase and I have just completed my IB trial exams. After this short 'break', now I plan to continue my involvement in the IB DP CAS programme. Thus, before jumping into the CAS schedule, here I will develop my goals for the semester. My goals for the second semester will be modified from the goals I set in the first semester as I have identified specific areas of improvement from my experiences and report card feedback.

Guitar (Creativity): 

I have not been able to practice guitar during the past three weeks due to academic engagements. I feel that I have successfully learnt and understood the basics of guitar. Now, I will continue improving my guitar skills using primary resources such as my teacher, brother or friends who are experienced and fluent guitarists, and secondary resources such as the Internet.

My goals for guitar this semester are:

• Attend classes regularly and punctually.
• Practice properly and participate actively in class.
• Play guitar for at least 2 hours every week with minimum 30 minutes duration practice sessions. (Independent of class time)
• Learn and video at least 1 song every month.
• Be creative with my learning, i.e. attempt to vary the types of songs I learn and practice different techniques. 
• Recording and reflecting on my experiences regularly on my CAS blog.

Recycling (Creativity and Service): 

While me and Jenn will continue as co-leaders under the supervision of Mr. Ian Lockwood, this semester the OSC Recycling and Sustainability service group will welcome many new members. As the service group will be starting afresh, it will be important to build a team spirit and establish good communication in order to accomplish our service goals. These goals in general include continuing the recycling material collection within the school campus in an efficient manner, increase the environmental sustainability of our school community by recycling used (and non-reusable) paper, cardboard, plastic and some metals, and finally, help develop a responsible and caring attitude towards use of resources within the school community by setting up trays for reusable paper in all rooms and thoroughly filtering recycling materials obtained for reusable items.

My goals for recycling this semester are:

• As a leader, it will be most important for me to lead all my team members by setting up an example.
• I will improve my communication skills
• I will improve my team leading skills by planning tasks in collaboration with my co-leader Jenn and supervisor Mr. Lockwood.
• Participate enthusiastically, commitedely and actively.
• Successfully transfer the co-leader positions to two team members in order to complete my and the service group's transition from the IB CAS programme.
• Regularly reflect about my experiences on my CAS blog.
  

 Badminton (Action):

I will continue to take part in Badminton sessions at the D.S. Senanayake twice every weekend. This activity has enabled me to improve my stamina and challenge my body physically. These sessions are good for physical fitness and also for mental relaxation. Thus, its aptly said that "a healthy mind resides in a healthy body". In addition, these sessions will enable me to improve my badminton skills and become a better player and sportsperson. The timings for these badminton sessions will be:

• Saturday - 7 am to 8 am
• Sunday - 7 am to 9 am

My goals for Badminton this semester are:

• Be punctual and attend sessions regularly.
• Spend some time doing warm-up exercises and jogging.
• Take minimum breaks.
• Participate enthusiastically, commitedely and actively.
• Regularly reflect about my experiences on my CAS blog.

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While working towards achieving these goals, I will keep in mind all 8 critical learning outcomes in the OSC CAS handbook. These learning outcomes are:

• Increasing awareness of my own strengths and areas of growth
• Undertaking new challenges
• Planning and initiating activities
• Working collaboratively with others
• Showing perseverance and commitment in my activities
• Engaging with issues of global importance
• Considering the ethical implications of my actions
• Developing new skills

These aspects will always be incorporated in my actions and in my reflections and therefore, I will do my best to ensure I take great learning experiences and skills from the last semester of my school life.

Semester 1 - Reflection

It was the first day of school today. This week is officially the last week of Semester 1 and thus, I will now reflect upon my experiences in my CAS activities during the past 4-5 months. I have been able to adhere to my personal CAS goals and participate in all my planned CAS activities in a successful manner. I have also regularly maintained my reflection blog and thus, succeeded in becoming a reflective IB student.

I have worked hard in the Creativity aspect of the CAS programme this semester. I had my last guitar class for this semester this Saturday. Now, I have completed basics, and learnt and understood many beginner guitar skills. Thus, I have completed the basics of guitar and am moving towards the moderate level. I have been able to tackle this challenge successfully. I adhered to my CAS goals and have been successful in achieving my goals. It has been an exciting semester for me and I really enjoyed developing new guitar skills. On the other hand, I took on the role as a leader in the OSC Recycling and Sustainability group and have learnt and identified a lot of new skills from my experiences in this short times. Meetings with the co-leader Jenn and activity supervisor Mr. Lockwood taught me the importance of planning, communicating and collaborating with students in the team during activities taught me about responsibility, leadership and setting an example as a leader, while many other events made me realize the importance of teamwork, the global importance and meaning of a small scale activity such as this in the real 'big' world, and the ethical implications of actions towards creating a more environmentally sustainable environment in OSC to the school community and to the host country. The teachings from this activity helped me to engage in both the Creativity and Service aspects of the CAS programme. I will continue to take part in the recycling group as a perseverant and commited leader next semester in order to develop new skills, continue to learn and improve from reflecting upon my own strengths and areas of growth, and to gain such special and one-of-a-kind experiences.

My Action activities this semester, both Badminton as well as Swimming, have been successful. I have been able to develop new skills, work collaboratively with others, and achieve my goals of improving my physical stamina and becoming a more tactical badminton player while enjoying the sport. I also recognized that while my badminton skills had developed and increased, my personal areas of growth that I will continue to target next semester are stamina, strength, agility and game tactics.

I will to continue to engage in all the aspects of the CAS programme in the next semester as well. I will cherish the experiences from the first semester. Now, I am looking forward to a CAS filled last semester of my school life starting next week.