ITP #1, 17th October 2019

On ITP, I am able to learn more skills in playing my chosen instrument, the bass. I am currently taking a break from learning how to play walking bass lines, and I have been practicing on how to improve my mechanical playing as I think that is what I should be focusing on.

I think that ITP requires a lot of commitment as the course suggests with a lot of consistent practice in order to keep up with the learning progress. This has been proven to be a challenge on many occasions as it requires me to balance out both my IB work and ITP practice. It is also a constant challenge as I need to keep trying new pieces and techniques which I still don’t feel comfortable at, which can prove to be a problem at times as it can be very frustrating, but by keeping at it, the payoff is immensely satisfying.

Volleyball Preseason #1, May 28th 2019

I have currently recognized that I am lacking in a lot of skills in volleyball, as I am far more experienced in receiving then on other aspects such as serving or spiking. Because of this, I have decided to commit to those aspects fully throughout the preseason. In the case which I don’t reach the amount of skill which I hope to have, then I think it would be best for me to play the role of libero as it is a role in which I can utilize my strengths the best.

I believe I have been focusing the most on LO 2 as I have been constantly been taking on new challenges in order to improve myself for the next season, and although the timing is quite hard because of how everything in grade 11, by keeping committed over the whole preseason has given me the opportunity to improve and polish my own skills.

Floorball #1, May 28th 2019

Having done other sports, I am currently not uncomfortable with learning a new sport, but on the other hand, because it is a brand new sport, it can be at times hard to play well to the point where I can fully enjoy the game. Because floorball is held on Friday after school, it is hard to keep going as it requires a lot of commitment, as although it is a short session, there are times which I would prefer to do something else regardless.

At the same time, it has been a challenge as learning how to play a new sport can be hard, especially when playing with groups of people on different levels. It also approaches LO4 as the commitment was really hard, being the season before the end of the year and also being on Friday.

Tabitha GC #5, 12th May 2019

Currently, what we are doing in the Tabitha GC, is trying to learn more about the purpose of the GC and the values which it holds. It has been hard to learn about all of Tabitha, so our GC decided to separate into groups, and parts of the group all have a different area to research on. This shows LO4 commitment, which has been displayed over the year because although we were not able to go to Cambodia as we wanted to, we are still willing to learn more about the issue and find about what Tabitha is doing to help those in need. On the next week, we will hopefully learn all about the different areas researched by different teams of the GC on a presentation, which will be held on one of our meetings which we have on every Tuesday on lunch. I will be presenting the cotton industry and how it has helped women in Cambodia work at home, being able to take care of their children but also be able to work and earn some money which they need.

Special Olympics Badminton #5, 12th May 2019

As I have had some time to reflect more about the sessions I have been having in the Special Olympics badminton service, I have learned that this service in particular, really tests out LO4, which is commitment. This is because not only are there a few clashes with other event performances which may occur on the same day. It is really hard to commit to this service because of the timing of the sessions. As I have previously mentioned, I really do think that this service tackles a lot towards the commitment needed in order to be successful. There is a lot I have learned as I spend more time in this service; the first being I have learned how to manage my time on Thursdays quite well. Although at first, it doesn’t seem to make much of a difference to be organized one day of the week, but by being able to stay organized on Thursdays, I have been able to be much more progressive on Thursday, using the times from 3:10 to 4:30 to study and do whatever is due on Friday, and use the rest of the time(4:30 to 7:30) to practice playing music. I think that if I weren’t as committed to this service, I don’t think I would be able to achieve this as I would likely spend a lot of time going home, then possibly arriving late because of the distance between my house and school.

Special Olympics Badminton #1, 6th September 2018

Today I just finished my first session with the Special Olympics, this was a very useful session as although we didn’t play badminton with the people with disabilities, we did investigate what they do and what we can offer in order to help out the athletes. First of all, we had a lot more understanding of how to act towards them and smaller things in order to help create a bond faster such as their interests and what they like to do. We had a brainstorm with the structure of CAS and what part of CAS we are going to do when doing the special Olympics badminton.

My own personal goals are to get better at badminton and to improve my bonds with the special people. I also want to become more aware and raise awareness in some way, however, my goals still have some risks, this includes having to go out of my comfort zone and try to talk to these special people which I don’t know too well. I think that this CAS has a high need for a lot of commitment as the time of the CAS is at 7 to 9 at night on Thursday, although the time is hard to manage I think that it is still worth doing because it is such a great experience.

The learning outcomes this activity focuses on is was mostly LO 1, LO 4, LO 5 and LO 6. This activity has helped me have better awareness because it has helped me learn more about them and learn more about how I should learn in order to know more about the people that have different abilities. I had also learned that I need to learn more about how to interact with the people that have specialized abilities, as it is hard to know what to say and what not to say. The Special Olympics Badminton had also challenged my commitment because the time which the activity is held is at a late time and the way which I stay motivated in order to keep going is by using my time which I have before the CAS to study and do everything I need to do so by the time I go home I can go rest. In this session of Special Olympics Badminton, all the students had collaborated together and tried to get to learn more about each other, one activity that we had done is that we brainstormed ideas with each other as a group of our own skills and what activities we can do with the sports players, initially it was hard to do because we didn’t feel very comfortable on sharing our own skills and we didn’t really know about each other either. We had overcome our difficulties with each other by doing some icebreakers activities with each other. Finally, this activity has a relationship with the global issues, this is because by playing and learning how to play badminton with these athletes shows equality to those who have special abilities and need some support in order to be able to play, and now that I have learned much more about the athletes I learned more about how they deserve the same or even more amount of care and support to play the sports that they would like.