CAS for the month of November

November was a full month of school and therefore provided a lot of time for CAS. My main goals for this month were too help train the girls football team along-with a few classmates and Mr.Shipley (their football coach). Mr.Shipley asked some of us to come to football training and help the girls with some fitness and skill tips and tricks.Also we were part of the event crew and we had to organize the whole tournament which included the social and the awards ceremony alongwith help with the different football matches.
As for community service all of our plans to raise money for the cleft pallet organization failed due to many reasons.
Football training:

In November our participation in training the girls team was more organized and efficient since we had spent the last week of October getting to know the team and finding out about their knowledge of football . At first we were made to show them some football skills and tricks which could help them during the game and we helped them build individual skill and ball control. Next we moved on to working on teamwork which comprised of everyone in the team putting in an effort and helping each other improve. We stressed on communication with teammates and practiced different game situations. After a few practices me and my companions were not of much use anymore since the team had already learnt all we could teach them about the afore mentioned parts of the game. At some points we just stood and watched them do exactly what we hoped for and pointed out any mistakes we would see. The experience of training and coaching a team taught me a lot of new things and helped me achieve 6 out of 8 of the critical learning outcomes which were : "Increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth", "Undertaken new challenges"(coaching for the first time) ,"Planned and initiated activities"(training sessions and routines) , "Worked collaboratively with others"(worked with a team and as a part of the team) , "Shown perseverance and commitment in their activities"(went for every practice even when it was not imperative for me to attend) , and "Develop new skills"(Teaching skills)



Community Service:
Throughout the months of October and November the cleft palette fundraising organisation would meet each Thursday after school for one hour to try and decide and make arrangements for our fundraising party to be held in November. But for some reason even after careful planning and organization at the last minute the venue had to be changed due to miscommunication and in all the confusion caused,the party had to be cancelled. The date for the party had to be reset but the mock exams of the 12th graders were very close and therefore our group leaders were busy with that therefore the party was postponed.


Other activities : Saturday afternoon community football continued and i tried attending every session in order to develop my football skills even further and learn new techniques.Shown perseverance and commitment in my activities.

CAS for the month of October

The  month of october was not as 'CAS filled' as September but that is mainly because the second half of the month was the october break which meant no school. Before school closed for the October break we had a UN day which was a completely new experience for me. Also I experienced being in the shoes of a referee for the first time as i was asked to referee a football game between two middle school teams.After the holidays there was only week of October left in which Mr. Shipley asked me and a few classmates to help him coach the girls team.


UN Day:

UN day is a day of unique celebrations at OSC where all students show their patriotism and love for their country by dressing up in their native clothes and learning new things about other cultures from different students. On this day i dressed up in a typical Indian "Kurta Pyjama" which is the casual wear of every Indian man. There was a feast prepared for all the students in our canteen where parents of students represented their respective country's and brought specific food items native to their homelands. This was an amazing experience as i found so many new kinds of food i had never even seen before and found out the roots of some of the foods that i loved so much!. But before all the eating began we were assembled according to our countries and made to march into the school auditorium. It was here that i really the true diversity in our school. There were students from every country i could think of! After the march and the gathering in the auditorium we were sent off to indulge ourselves into food from 'around the world'. All in all it was a very cultural and creative day.

Refereeing a football match :
On one early Saturday morning i woke up and got ready for a a football match but for the first time without feeling nervous about the outcome of the match because for the first time in my life i was going to referee a match! i was pretty excited as i felt all powerful and thought i would have total control of the match. I wanted to try to be a referee ever since i started playing football but i never expected it to be as hard as it was. This experience was an 'eye opener' for me as for the first time i knew what it felt like to be supportin no side and being completely neutral. It was hard because i was not used to blowing the whistle everytime the ball went out of play and many times i forgot to do so as i was so caught up in the game. I did not make too many mistakes though since i know a lot about football because i have been watching football since the last 5 years. But all in all it was a good experience and it helped me achieve some of the learning outcomes of the CAS programme like Increased my awareness of my own strengths and areas for growth,developed new skills and Considered the ethical implications of my actions.


Coaching the girls football team:
In the last week of October Mr.Shipley asked me and a few of my friends who have some experience in football, to help him coach and train the girls SAISA football team. We basically had to teach the girls what we had learnt over the years like fitness tips and ball skills. There were only two or three practices in october since the season had just recently begun.The first practice we went to was a shock to all of us. We thought we would be teaching girls who had already had some experience playing football competitively but the truth was that hardly anyone on the team had played any football at all! we took on this challenge but with half hearts as we thought our team had no chance of winning. But after the first 3 practices there was already a visible improvement in the team's form and the individual skills of different players. This was another new experience for me as i had never coached anyone before i had always received coaching but this new experience taught me a lot of valuable things about keeping team morale high and being a fair coach.

CAS for the month of September

The month of September was a very hectic month and it was filled with different kinds of activities for all the students to take part in. The after-school activities had begun and the community service meetings every Thursday after school were now a common feature, The sports gala and the “hope for kids” charity concert versus cancer and the founders day assembly also took place this month. Even though I am new too this school I thought it would be a good idea to take part in everything as it would help me develop some skills,help a cause and get to know the other students better. Turns out I was right! This is a quick report on the different activities :

After-school activities :  This semester I have chosen football also knows as soccer as my after-school activity. I have been attending judiciously and am proud to say I have not missed a single session. On one afternoon the weather conditions were horrible so the activity was cancelled but still some of us who were more determined to play football roughed it out in the rain and played a usual game as if everything was perfect. This activity has helped me develop my football skills and  has earned me a place in the soccer team , atleast for now.

Our first football match : We played a football match against a team called “ The Colombo Lions” who were about on average ten years older than us and used to practice every week. We were getting beaten badly in the beginning but then we pulled it together in the second half and put up a comeback. We learnt a lot from this experience about ball control and team play. We hope to play this team and other teams in such practice matches before we go for SAISA as it will really help our teamwork.

Community Service : For this semester I have chosen the cleft palette organization which raises money for operations for children who suffer from this disease. All members of this organization meet every Thursday after school to discuss methods by which we could raise money for these children. We have set and estimate of earning 300,000 rupees through donations and holding events for our cause. Though we still don’t have any concrete plans on how to earn this money I am sure we will think of something that will work.

The Sports Gala: the sports gala was an action packed day with activities ranging from football to swimming. I chose to take part in all non-swimming activities and try and earn some points for my house the blue house . I took part in football, volleyball , kickball and basketball. We did not perform outstandingly well in these activities though in the end through our whole house’s joint effort we were able to lift the sports cup for this year!! BLUE HOUSE CONQUERED ALL!

Charity concert :  This concert was organized by one of our schools own community service organizations called “hope for kids” and it went off very well. The tickets were sold out which made us happy but also nervous because now we knew we had to perform in front of a massive audience. Me and a group of other boys and girls got together and choreographed and performed an Indian bollywood dance as our contribution to the concert. Our performance was greatly appreciated and it can be seen on this link  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_ZN61c4W-o. We were extremely satisfied with ourselves for our performance and being able to contribute something to the concert for this cause.

Founder’s Day Assembly : For the founder’s day assembly our group of dancers that performed for the charity concert was once again called upon to perform our dance as the finale for the assembly. We were honored by this offer and readily accepted and performed our dance once again in front of the entire school. This time too the performance went off without a hitch once again and left the crowd pleased. 

8 Critical Learning Outcomes

There is a list of outcomes created by the IB which we are meant to achieve through CAS. These are for our own personal reflection to see if we are doing what the IB requires of through CAS. As a result of our CAS experiences we should have completed and fulfilled the following criteria by the time we graduate so as to ensure a total experience of the aims of CAS:

• 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 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 service, 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 relationships 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. 
• Develop 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.

Goals For 2010-2011

The Creativity, Action and Service programme at the overseas school of colombo is an essential part of the IB diploma which teaches students about our community inside and outside of school and how to work effectively in each community.The CAS programme also helps in developing skills,facing challeneges,making the student aware of the community outside of school who need help which the students can provide.It plays a big role in making the student an all-round achiever.To achieve these objectives of CAS i have prepared a list of goals for me to achieve this year in order to expand my horizons outside of the classroom, which are :

1)Undertake new Activities:
All the three components of CAS make us undertake new challenges and activites on almost a daily basis.The school offers so many facilities for me to try new things i thought i would never do.I plan on trying activites like Boxing which i have never thought of doing before.In the IB orientation camp we were made to climb giant ladders and absail down a 100 foot tower and also rock climb, of which i have never done any before and have never thought of doing either cause of my great fear of heights.Even though doing all these things did not help me get rid of my fear it definitely helped me in controlling my fear of heights and get through these tasks.I look forward to the rest of the year and undertaking new activities each semester.

2)Helping the community:
An integral part of CAS is for us to learn to help our community and provide our service wherever it is needed.Every week we meet after school once in support of various foundations for which we have to raise funds in order to help them.Even though its a short meet , it feels good to be giving back to the society from which we continuosly take.CAS is going to help us learn about the country we are studying and living in which is Sri Lanka.Community Service is a great way for students to help those less fortunate than themselves and try and make a difference in their lives.I have already joint the Cleft palette organisation and i look forward to joining other groups in the other semesters.

3)Learn to work co-operatively with others
CAS helps us come together in groups or teams and partake in activities which may be creativity, action or service related.It helps us build the spirit of teamwork and co-operation.I plan on joining the football team at osc and gain the trust and support of my team-mates.Also our afterschool community service group makes us work together to help a certain cause supported by all in that group.We need to work as a team in order to organize events to raise funds for our organizations.I hope these teach me to work as a team player.

4)Help the SAISA football team to a good position in this years tournament:
As i am new to the school i hope to make an impact in the football team and help the team to a better position than last year in the saisa tournament.i hope to influence the game of the team so that there is more teamwork leading to better performance.

5)Learn to be Creative
I am not really a creative person by nature and have not been very involved in artistic activites in the past.Though i have done plays and dramas in my old school i havent taken the arts as a subject at osc and im counting on CAS to give me the exposure to artistic activities to help me learn to be creative.i do play the guitar so i hope to form a band once i am more settled in school so i hope that is an artistic outlet for me.

6)Enjoy 11th Grade
11th grade is our last school year which has a little less pressure and a little more freedom.I know once i am in the 12th grade i wont have much times to enjoy some of the hobbies and activities i like to take part in now.therefore i plan to enjoy this year to the fullest so that im able to concentrate on studying next year.

Those are my plans for now but i'm sure in another month there will be more or maybe less.Only time will tell...