CAS
CAS Reflection (Project Week) – LO6 & LO7
My project week group consisted of my friends, majority of which are from the boarding house. Initially, we wanted to do an “activity” based project week, with the first choice being Scuba diving in Bali, but after researching the location and the costs we found it to be unviable. However, during our research we came across a “service” option (called “Biosphere Foundation”) located at a national park (Bali Barat National park) in Bali, where we could learn about the ecology whilst also helping environmental sustainability efforts, I saw this as a beneficial option for both the community and us, and thus proposed we should make this our new first choice. Although all of us, understandably, found “activity” based project weeks much more enjoyable, we decided to change our first choice to the aforementioned service as we realised that project week should not be a “vacation”, but rather a great opportunity for us to contribute to a global issue and gain useful skills (LO7 and LO6).
CAS Reflection (Project Week) – LO3
Having decided our project location and host, we began planning all aspects of the trip. We worked in pairs, where each group had a particular role to ensure efficiency and avoid double bookings and miscommunication. I had responsibilities of communicating with related parties, such as Biosphere Foundation, and helping arranging transportation, through this experience I not only realized the importance of organization and defined roles in planning process, but also the benefits of collaboration (LO3).
However, despite our efforts, unfortunately due to COVID-19 our trip had to be cancelled. This came as a disappoint to us as we had spent a considerable amount of time preparing for the trip, and the fact that is it is suppose to be one of the key moments of our grade 11 experience, made it particularly hard. Though my group and I still benefitted from the experience as we were able to utilized these skills which we gained during the process, to plan trips to our home countries after graduation (as we are all boarder).
Cas Reflection (Creativity)
The decision that our group collectively made was quite a success, there were a few problems regarding the kit but all were solved without much issue, the final ‘Sumo Robots’ which we produced were properly functioning and allowed us to ‘battle’ against one another; we were able to continue the project and achieve the goals of the activity, albeit with less of a challenge. Though I was not able to learn as much as I hoped due to the change of plans, through this activity I was able to gain some basic knowledge about coding and robotics, this caused me to gain further interest in these field. In the future, I hope to participate in more activities which can give me opportunities to learn more coding.
CAS Reflection (Activity) – LO5 & LO2
In karate, I recently passed the examination and have been promoted to the next rank, though I still believe that I have much to learn why. Prior to taking the examination, I was very busy preoccupied with a plethora of tests and assignments deadlines, in addition to the official SAT test, and thus it was very difficult for me to find time to practice for the examination. In order to solve this problem due to the lack of time, I decided to train with other people who are also taking the examination (LO5) in order to accelerate my learning and reduce the length that I needed to practice. By having someone to practice with, I could train more effectively in a more time-efficient manner. Through these few weeks, I also started mentoring some of the younger students (LO2), teaching and helping them improve on their skills and training, thus challenging my communication skills and allowing me to develop my leadership qualities.
CAS Reflection (Art) – LO1 & LO4
Recently, I have started to become much busier due to multiple assignments, tests, and other deadlines, as a result, sometimes I could not find time to practice Saxophone outside of my ITP sessions. In the past, I use to practice saxophone from Monday to Wednesday, after study time (7 – 8:30 as I am a boarder) until 9pm; however, due to the increasing workload, I have recently found myself either being negligent, or working past 8:30, causing me to have insufficient time to practice (music department closes at 9pm). In order to solve this problem, I have changed my schedule and begun practicing during the weekends, and in the case which I do not/forgot to practice, I would listen to the song recordings whilst practicing fingering and rhythm (LO4). This has allowed me to continue to practice and improve my skill without being disrupted by my academic deadlines. The tone of my notes have improved significantly since the beginning of my ITP, however, as I began playing proper songs, I realised that I struggle to grasp the rhythm of new songs. This is an area which I am hoping to improve on in the future (LO1).
CAS Reflection (Service) – LO2 & LO5
In Zero-West, my application for a leadership as the secretary was accepted, however, I will only be able to assume this role after the end of season 2. This will a great challenge, but it will also be a great learning opportunity for me to develop my social and public speaking skills (LO2). I also faced this challenge due to my responsibility as a senior member, I was tasked with helping the new members of the service learn about the service itself, our local partner, and helping them develop skills which they will need to know in the future (LO5). Currently, we have not participated in any major events as both the Pasir Ris fair and Family Festival are later in the academic year, however, we have contributed to school events such as the Blue Dragon event and the grade 10 enterprise event, that of which I participated in. During the enterprise event, we experience a few problems which we then addressed in a reflective session afterwards.
Cas Reflection (Creativity) – LO3 & LO4
In ‘Sumo Robotics’, as a whole group, our progress has been rather shaky, despite having veteran coders in our circle in addition to the collaborative efforts of all the members, we have come across many problems that have hindered our activity, ranging from hardware faults in components to software issues in the code. Due to the reoccurring problem, most of us had lost the motivation to stay on task during the activity sessions. However, we did not want to quit the activity due to our personal interest, thus some of us came together and collectively brainstormed projects/new methods (LO3) of which we could use to substitute our current project whilst keeping the main goal in mind, suggesting ideas and building upon other peoples proposals. We settled upon restarting the project, however, this time we will use manufactured ‘Sumo Robotics’ kits in order to avoid the main hardware issues. We had initially lost hope in the project as no one was able to produce a working product, but we continued the activity (LO4), even though we found it very difficult to make the original product, we wanted to preserve the original idea so we all gathered to discuss how we could retain this while still keeping it as a challenge. Hopefully we are able to continue this club without the plague of issues which we experienced previously.
CAS Reflection (Activity) – LO1
For my activity, I have selected Karate as I have already done it for the past 2 years, I enjoy karate as some of my friends are also members, in addition to the fact that It is good for my physical wellbeing. My experience in karate so far has not been very eventful due to the repetitive nature; however, I have realised one of my key weaknesses: flexibility, because karate is a martial art, flexibility is directly tied to the one’s performance, due to the fact I do not often train outside of the activity, and was inactive over the summer break, my flexibility is currently subpar and hindering my progress (LO1). I believe if I improve my flexibility via. stretching I will be able to perform much better, I hope to continue my commitment and develop my skill throughout the activity.
CAS Refection (Art) – LO2
I have also started learning Saxophone through music ITP this season, after a 3-year hiatus, I decided to relearn and continue to develop this skill (LO2) out of self-interest and the fact that I have been given an opportunity to do so. Because my expertise in this area has degraded quite a large degree due to the period of inactivity, and in addition to the fact that my ITP sessions are only 30 minutes long, my first few sessions of ITP were quite slow and in a way monotonous. Thus in order to accelerate my learning and make the most of my opportunity, I am consistently practicing the instrument outside of ITP classes to improve my skill. Although I do not particularly enjoy watching/participating in musical performances, I am quite fond of instruments; having also learnt piano and drums in the past. Therefore I am very enthusiastic regarding this activity and am eager to see how far I will be able to progress.
