I feel very honoured to join the Grade 11 Student Voice. The reason that I said so is that even though I joined the school in Grade 8, I have only participated in limited leadership and planning roles for bigger events in the school, such as the Middle School Asian Arts Festival. This is the second time that I have joined a group whose decision will impact a large group of people in my school- the entire grade 11.
I took this opportunity quite seriously, as I got to represent the interest of my mentor group, so I don’t only speak for myself, but for the others as well. The group was very supportive, as everyone listened to each other’s opinions and selected the best one. The leading teachers also did not position themselves above us but rather offered sincere opinions for our proposals. Everyone did their part and participated in devising plans, such as the g12 prank, mock exam schedules and etc. After this experience, I became more aware that there are constantly other people that are working for you and tries to make the school a better place for you. I learnt to be grateful and more thankful towards these people and started to complain less. More importantly, I am a part of these wonderful people. I want to continue to use my power to make the lives of the people around me a better one!
Here is a picture of our planning document.
Yesterday was my last session for the service. Looking back, I feel that this service has become an essential part of my grade 11 experience. I have learnt how to interact with many different types of people, rediscover the happiness when we play games from my childhood together, and most importantly, get joy from the smiles on their faces. I have also brought in different materials for activities such stamps and colourful paper to provide our clients with different options. As the year progresses, the individual clients have also grown more familiar to us. Thus we have also developed our session plans based on their needs and preferences. The dancing activity is a real success as it engages our clients better than usual. The more I get to know the clients, the more I appreciated their friendliness and innocence. However, we should also treat them with respect as they are also individuals with dignity, just like us. Throughout this activity, I have developed respect, session planning skills and also communication. These are important skills that I could utilise in my daily lives. I am really glad that I took up this service and I will miss my clients greatly.
After half term, I am getting more comfortable with our clients at the service, and starting to know more of their personalities and their preferences. I used to always limit myself to the drawing activity because it is not really active, however this term I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and engaged myself with different clients that I didn’t dare to approach before. I started playing ball games and lego with them, and from my teacher supervisor I learnt that there are certain ways that you can communicate with them in order to make your communication more effective, such as: when they do not want to share their toys with the others, tell them “you need to share”, and most of the times they will understand and do so.
This service has become an enriching experience for me and as well as for the clients. I hope that I would push myself more and really get to know them for the rest of the term. This also strongly connects to the Learning Outcome 2 as I am able to undertake challenges and develop new skills in the process.
After half term, I have gained a much more thorough understanding of my job and is more able to facilitate the communication between the three parties involved in this GC.
We have been through our major event of the year, which is the Chinese New Year GC event. It was a test of the effectiveness of our leadership team, and after the events, we also reflected on the activities conducted and the merchandise sold at the event, to improve the event for next year. We have also encountered minor problems regarding finance. The service department thought that we were selling Starbucks vouchers, which is unethical and directly making the profit although it is for an NGO. It is proven to be a misunderstanding between the two as we used the Starbucks vouchers as prices for a chopstick marble game for the participants. However, I and the co-chair solved this problem in collaboration with the service department, and they also have given us advise on how we could improve our presentation of the GC goals at events.
I think my CAS experience links to the Learning Outcome 4, as I am able to show perseverance and commitment this CAS activity, and also LO7 because we are also considering the actions of our choices and actions on both sides while helping the others. It also links to LO2 because I am able to develop better communications skills in the process.
Here is an example of our meeting notes:
I have completed several smaller paintings since the last reflection, and my teacher suggested that we can move onto bigger scaled paintings as this will challenge my composition skills and it will also allow me to demonstrate the details in the painting.
In this painting, I plan to use mixed media, such as pencil, acrylic and oil painting. I have just planned out my composition and laid out my entire canvas. The canvas will approximately be 1.2 meters.
This experience links to LO3, 4 as I am initiating a new CAS experience while extending it from the older ones that I have done before, and it also links to LO2 because I am challenging my self by moving on to produce art pieces on a bigger canvas.
This term I have continued to join the circuit training for Healthy Girls For Life, and it has proven to be a valuable experience for me. During this semester, we have explored other types of exercises such as Yoga, HIIT, weights, etc. A combination like this gives me more self-esteem, as I can undertake new challenges and work through them with the help of my supervisor during this activity. These different activities require different techniques, for example for yoga one needs to be stretchy, and for HIIT is a very intensive training that exercises the major muscles. I think a combination of things is beneficial regarding being more active at the end of a Monday, and shaking off the sleepiness of the weekends. Now I feel like I am more stretchy, and developed a bit more of stamina.
Healthy Girls for life links to Learning Outcome 2 as I have undertaken new challenges and have demonstrated that I have developed new skills in the process. Overall I feel like this is a beneficial activity that I will definitely signup in the future again if I have time to do so.
I have passed my grading successfully for yellow belt in December and is working towards yellow black/ green. However, when one reaches yellow belt, karate becomes very technique based and one really needs to practise and learn the techniques precisely if one wants to achieve a good grade. In the next grading on April 29th, I would have to remember all the katas and leg katas since white, orange and blue-black, whilst also remembering how to do the new katas- eg. yantsu, perfectly. From yellow belt on, the techniques are increasingly harder. I have decided to dedicate my every Wednesday after school to this activity.
I personally need to practise more, and also be more resilience when I am in combat and doing practices. my goal is not to feel tired even after the warmups in order to increase my stamina.
This links to Learning Outcome 1 and 2, as I am able to reflect upon my personal strengths and weaknesses in regards to the activity, and strive to be better at it. I hope the next time I do a reflection on karate I will already be green belt.
Link to Yantsu:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYFP3vZK_jc
On Lian He Zao Bao during grading:
It has been nearly two service seasons since I have started Chinese chat, and I felt that I have developed my communications skills by a vast amount compared to the start of the seasons. I and my mentee have developed a trusting relationship with the service sessions. After I am more used to these digital learning platforms, I made the tuition more fun and interesting, and I would use treats to encourage him to work harder. However, I also recognised that it is very important that he is motivated to achieve a better grade too. So this time, I aim to work together with his Chinese teacher and ask her regularly on what she thinks he could improve on.
This relates to Learning Outcome 2 because I have undertaken challenges in the area where I have no experience in, and I greatly developed my communication skills too. I also set new goals for further personal growth, so it also relates to Learning Outcome 1.
An example of our SWOT analysis
I previously did sketching for about 3 years before moving on to oil painting, and it is quite hard for me to move on to something that requires different skills than what I used to do. For oil painting, one needs to focus on the difference between the contrast between the shades, and at the same time getting the right tone of the color. However, sometimes even if one only uses the color that one sees, the work will not have any highlights so I need to use my imagination to balance out the work. This links to the Learning Outcome 2 as I am undertaking new challenges and developing new skills in the process. I have also experimented with different techniques, such as filling in the lighter parts first against a darker background color. Doing this is to challenge myself so that I will have more options to make art in the future. The challenge is that I need to switch my mindset and techniques from using pencils to using paint brushes, which is quite different. Sometimes it is really frustrating as the lesson lasts for 2 hours, and it requires self-awareness to stay concentrated for the lesson. However, I think I have developed a lot of skills since the start because I can see improvements from my previous paintings. What I would like to do next is to consolidate my skills and my longterm goal is to create a work that’s not still life.
The only impossible journey is the one you never begin