EE final reflection

Upon completion of my Extended Essay, I have explored an important part of history and created personal arguments. I felt it was important to look at the actions and implications of the leaders of powerful nations, and how even from hundreds of miles away they could have a detrimental effect on a war. Furthermore, it was interesting to explore the different text types as they provided factual evidence towards my arguments. Being a student of history it is important to explore the context of great wars such as the Battle of Stalingrad.

word count: 92

Soundbeam final reflection

Soundbeam was a project that had a lot of personal meaning. I had worked alongside them for the first time 4 years ago and continued to provide assistance to their cause till my senior year. Therefore, I feel the way I ended the final season of service alongside them was satisfying. We had been working towards a conference where peacehaven were eligible for an international award. We created a choreography using the equipment provided by peacehaven to make a video for this conference, testing the elderly’s motor skills and keeping them sharp. Therefore, it was a good goal to work towards in successfully completing this video.

The end result was we helped Peacehaven win this award. The event helped bring together the provider of our service equipment, peacehaven and the school in an inclusive manner where we all had something to work towards and achieve while doing so to our own personal strengths. It was the best way to finish off a year of work alongside them.

Astronomy Club initial reflection

High School Astronomy Club is one of many different creative activities that are offered at UWCSEA. However, the reason I had chosen this was due to my ever increasing interest in Physics which is a subject I take at the Higher Level in the IB course, and with advancements in space being numerous and regular it is definitely an important and curious section of the science. Furthermore, I had never joined a club or a group which focuses on an aspect of education in a student led manner, with supervision. For me, this was a new experience I wanted to take on, while also being interested in it through my physics teacher, who is also the supervisor for this club.

 

After spending season 3 at the club, I have expanded my knowledge on astronomy and physics in a manner which is fun and interactive. In a collaborative effort with my fellow club members and supervisor we attempted to make a plastic rocket which we would launch on the field. Even though we did not successfully have take off, everyone put in work and it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

EE interim conversation 2

After having the entire summer to work on writing and completing the first draft of my EE, I received feedback on my first draft from my supervisor in a meeting with him. It was quite informative and useful as after having an entire summer to work by myself on the essay and having numerous good ideas but being unsure of how to string them together he provided a good insight on the progress my essay had made so far and could provide a new perspective or path I could undertake.

In a holistic approach he pointed out what had been good in my essay so far and what were the weak links and how I could further improve it. It was a very helpful conversation as now I can direct my editing towards the right and necessary direction. Furthermore, I checked the essay with the the EE guideline and criteria to see where I stand in his eyes, someone with experience of analysing these types of essays. It also helped me provide a better understanding of what I was doing good and what I had fallen short of and needed to provide more. Therefore, in conclusion this was overall a healthy conversation which helped further narrow my focus for my extended essay as I near the end of perfecting the draft.

End of the year Math Reflection

In my opinion, if I could re-do the academic year of Grade 11, I would take a more controlled and even approach. I would try to spread my work out more evenly. Do more practice throughout the year, to hone my skills, instead of working before tests and quizzes. Practice past papers in timed conditions as it really helps hone the necessary skills for the actual exam. I think the most important thing I have learnt is perseverance and asking for help. When it comes to HL Math, unlike any other Math course we have done before, there will come a time when you will struggle to grasp a concept. To move past this positively, it is necessary to either practice or learn the skill or ask for help, whether that be to your peers or your teacher. I think it is easy to recognise you’ve done well on a test or a quiz when you have a level grade, and good marks throughout all sections of the paper as that shows a good understanding of all topics coming on the assessment. I think the most challenging aspect was juggling 2 math classes therefore 2 math concepts at the same time all year around. This is because, both of the concepts are polar and it is difficult to be learning 2 different things at the same time.

Kahaani final reflection

After completing Kahaani I began looking back upon the challenges I faced and how overall it was a great learning experience. Kahaani in general was a difficult experience due to the time we had and the fact I only knew 3 people in our dance. Getting to know all the new people from different grades, and getting to know our dance leaders from Grade 9 took time, therefore was a hurdle we had to collaborate and get over. This is because to have a functional dance, we need to have a group which works well together. Therefore, we had to collaborate well together to pull it off. Reaching the final few weeks our dance was not at the point I expected it to be, and I began to get worried about whether we would be able to pull it off successfully.

However, upon reaching the final stage, I realised we did. We had all put our individual work in and learnt the dance, which I felt was crucial to this as we had to overcome the period in between where we were struggling to string the different steps together, and the only way to do this was with practice. Furthermore, on the day of Kahaani, the actual performance itself, I picked up an injury to my ankle. I twisted my ankle and was not able to dance to my best ability, however I persevered through, as pulling out as a dancer last minute in a group dance would affect not only me, but jeopardise my entire group.