The 7 CAS Learning Outcomes

The 7 learning outcomes

1-Identify their own strengths​ ​and develop areas for growth​. Students are able to see themselves as individuals with various abilities and skills, of which some are more developed than others.
● aware of your own strengths and areas of challenges
● open to improvement and growth opportunities
● able to propose activities according to your own interests and strengths
● willing to participate in different activities
● able to undertake a thoughtful self-evaluation
● able to see yourself as an individual with various abilities and skills, some more developed than others

2- Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process​. A new challenge may be an unfamiliar experience or an extension of an existing one. The newly acquired or developed skills may be shown through experiences that the student has not previously undertaken or through increased expertise in an established area.
● participate in an experience that demands an appropriate personal challenge; with new or familiar experiences
● be willing to become involved in unfamiliar environments and situations
● acquire new skills and abilities
● increase your expertise in an established area
● show newly acquired or developed skills or increased expertise in an established area

3-Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience​. Students can articulate the stages from conceiving an idea to executing a plan for a CAS experience or series of CAS experiences. This may be accomplished in collaboration with other participants. Students may show their knowledge and awareness by building on a previous experience, or by launching a new idea or process.
● articulate the CAS stages including investigation, preparation, action, reaction (ongoing) and demonstration, moving from conceiving an idea to carrying out a plan for a CAS experience or series of CAS experiences
● demonstrate knowledge and awareness by building on a previous CAS experience
● show initiative by launching a new idea or process
● suggest creative ideas, proposals or solutions
● integrate reflective thoughts in planning or taking initiative
● be aware of your roles and responsibilities when designing an individual or collective CAS experience
● show responsible attitude to CAS project planning
● be able to develop a coherent action plan taking into account the aim or purpose, activities and resources

4-Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences. Students can articulate the stages from conceiving an idea to executing a plan for a CAS experience or series of CAS experiences​. This may be accomplished in collaboration with other participants. Students may show their knowledge and awareness by building on a previous experience, or by launching a new idea or process.
● demonstrate regular involvement and active engagement with your CAS experiences and CAS project
● be able to foresee potential challenges to the initial plan and consider valid alternatives and contingencies
● demonstrate adaptability to uncertainties and changes
● be involved in long-term CAS experiences and a CAS project.

5-Demonstrate the skills and recognise the benefits of working collaboratively​. Students are able to identify, demonstrate and critically discuss the benefits and challenges of collaboration gained through CAS experiences.
● share your skills and knowledge
● listen respectfully to proposals from your peers
● be willing to take on different roles within your team
● show respect for different points of view and ideas
● make valuable contributions within your team
● be responsible for participating in the group
● readily help others in your team
● be able to identify, demonstrate and discuss critically the benefits and challenges of collaboration gained through CAS experiences.

6-Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance​. Students are able to identify and demonstrate their understanding of global issues, make responsible decisions, and take appropriate action in response to the issue either locally, nationally or internationally.
● recognize the global implications of local issues
● be able to identify global issues in the local or national community
● show awareness of the issues of global importance and take concrete and appropriate actions in response to them either locally, nationally or internationally
● get involved in a CAS project addressing global issues in a local, national or international context
● develop awareness and responsibility towards a shared humanity.

7-Recognise and consider the ethics implications of choices and​ ​actions​. Students show awareness of the consequences of choices and actions in planning and carrying out CAS experiences.
● recognise ethical issues
● take into account the cultural context when making a plan or ethical decision
● identify what you need to know in order to make an ethical decision
● articulate ethical principles and approaches to the ethical decisions you may have to make
● show accountability for your choices and actions
● be aware of the consequences of the choices and actions regarding yourself, others involved and the community
● integrate the process of reaction when facing an ethical decision
● show awareness of the potential and varied consequences of choices and actions in planning and carrying out CAS experiences.

Frantic Assembly Theatre Workshop

In Theatre today we explored different physical theatre techniques used by the Frantic Assembly theatre company. We used the two videos linked at the bottom to guide our class and followed the teachings. Some of the techniques we learned were Hymn’s hands (placing our and each other’s hands on each other’s bodies), round-by-through (stepping around a person, standing next to them, or going through a body part e.g. under their arm), and chair duets (sitting next to each other and having three moves each to place our hands somewhere or do an action).

We then played around with pace, ‘weight’, and eye contact. My main takeaways was how using these three elements created a storyline and created meaning that could be interpreted by an audience. This is quite different from our normal devising method of creating movements to express a particular meaning. Instead, this method works to create the movements beforehand and creating a storyline based off those movements. This means that the performers are exploring different interpretations and are not tied to a particular intention. I think that this is a very interesting and useful method that I look forward to exploring more during devising pieces.

Maths and Me

Reflecting on IGCSE Maths and looking ahead to Grade 11 HL Maths.

In IGCSE, I completed the Additional Mathematics course as well as the Extended Maths course. I think that my grades for these exams represented my knowledge and application skills well.

Normally, I associate maths with two main feelings which are satisfaction, when l complete a difficult question or finally understand a topic, and frustration when I have been struggling to understand how a method works or other concepts. However, I feel that when I am frustrated, I am able to pause for a little while and come back with determination to look at the difficulty with a new perspective.

I am currently starting IB HL Maths. Although I am inevitably apprehensive about this course due to opinions that I have heard that it is very difficult, I am also excited to learn new topics and see how I can expand my mathematics knowledge.

Generally, I prefer it when someone explains concepts to me; however, I also need to be able to work out solutions by myself sometimes so that I can fully understand the topic. In the past, I have found that when I am stuck on a question, it is good for me to restart that question using a different method. If I am stuck on a topic, going through the textbook usually helps me.

I think that my biggest strength in maths is my persistence as if I don’t understand something, I will find ways to help myself. In Grade 11, I am working towards developing more self-discipline as I do not always do maths consistently. However, I have set aside time each week to dedicate to doing maths so that I can practice to become better and improve my self-discipline.

Summer Internship 2018

From July 16th to August 3rd, I did an internship at a company called Red Shoe Communications. They specialised in training senior executives in communications skills ranging from how to answer media interview questions to presenting to a boss or customer. My main supervisor for most of my internship was Kathy O’Brien (kathyo@redshoe.com.sg). Although my internship was only three weeks, it was a great learning experience and I completed many tasks that helped both the company and my own personal growth.

My goals were to gain insight into work life, how skills learnt in school can be applied, and develop skills that I can use in the future. I think that most of the tasks that I was given matched these goals. I made sure to think about what I would gain from each task while I was doing it.

Quite a few of the projects I had were research tasks on individual clients, their companies, and major events in Singapore so that the trainers would have a summary of the information they needed. For individual clients, I familiarised myself with LinkedIn in order to gain useful information for Red Shoe. This research also enabled me to learn about how LinkedIn works as well as read samples of profile and job descriptions; I have been able to apply this knowledge to my own LinkedIn page as a result.

While researching companies, I compiled information from many different sources including the company’s own website as well as articles on recent company news. This allowed me to explore different types of companies and learn more about how each business and action affects others. I also researched major events such as the SingHealth cyber attack, the new PropellAsia proptech accelerator program and Broadcom’s decision to buy CA Technologies to find general information as well as opinions on these events. Through this research, I learned more about the events, broadening my knowledge on recent news. Additionally, I gained an understanding of opposing perspectives and how individuals and companies respond to these events. Overall, this research enabled me to learn more about companies as well as apply my research skills from school to see how they can be used in work life.

During my internship, I was able to attend one of Red Shoe’s workshops to make sure it ran smoothly. Therefore, I was able to take on the responsibility of making sure the workshop was a straightforward and trouble-free experience for the clients. However, I was also able to listen and learn some of the presentation and elevator pitch skills that were being taught which I will be able to put into practice in the future. Attending this workshop also enabled me to see the type of work that Red Shoe does and what training sessions look like.

One of my last few projects at Red Shoe was to create visually appealing social media content for a company event in collaboration wth Children of Peace International, an NGO that helps underprivileged children in Vietnam. My task was to think of media content and design posts. This allowed me to practice design skills. I had another similar project to this where my task was to find quotes that represented the company well and create content that they could post on LinkedIn using these quotes as well as photos I found online.

I also helped with various administrative tasks around the office during my internship, some examples being revising the agenda during a team meeting, organising Red Shoe’s library, updating their catalogue, packing for training workshops, filing workshop materials and feedback forms, and updating equipment such as iPads and powerpoint slide decks. These tasks all helped me gain insight into the operations of a company.

In addition, I have developed a deeper understanding of work ethics such as punctuality, and professionalism, as well as learnt the boundaries at which certain behaviours are acceptable for all levels within an organisation – including executives. I learned about the aforementioned boundaries more from discussions with family members about the ethics of some of my colleagues.

Overall, I think that my internship was a large learning experience and I have developed many of my skills that I will be able to use in the future as well as see how some of the work that we do in school can be applied to work life.

Tabitha GC Meeting 10/10/17 Self-Reflection

This week in Tabitha, I took on a leadership role of sorts where I contributed greatly to the discussion and made sure to organise the ideas from the group onto the minutes document. I brought my creativity to the meeting as I helped brainstorm ideas for improvements that we could make to the Tabitha gift certificates and the upcoming Holiday Fair. I was also innovative and took initiative by finding the reflections from last year’s Holiday Fair and explaining the things that we needed to work on this year. In this way, I used my previous experience to lead a discussion about planning for the event. Additionally, I took charge of recording the discussion digitally on the minutes document, showing my leadership and organisational skills. This helped the group as I was able to consolidate feasible ideas and note down everything so that we would be able to come back to it in order to refresh our memories instead of having to spend more time remembering our discussion and generating ideas again. Furthermore, I wrote a brief agenda for the next meeting so that we will have focus and know what needs to be done; therefore, we will be more efficient.

Overall, this week in Tabitha I was able to show my commitment and positive contribution to the Global Concern by taking on a leadership role in the meeting and using previous experience to look for areas that we can improve as a service group in general as well as during the upcoming Holiday Fair.

Drama Devised Coursework Performance Reflection

Successes:

  • We developed our raw, basic ideas into a stronger performance that was more complex
  • Sophisticated performance style
  • We didn’t settle until we reached a satisfactory outcome
  • We continued refining our performance until we were happy with it
  • There was little conflict between group members when incorporating ideas
  • We were able to base our performance on a stimulus and storyline (Inside Out)
  • We were able to develop our performance based on the feedback we received
  • We collaborated well
  • We gave constructive feedback within the group
  • We encouraged other members in the group
  • Personally, I feel that I contributed greatly to the refining of our ideas as I continued to think about how we could improve our performance and storyline.

Challenges:

  • We weren’t confident enough in our idea, didn’t believe in ourselves and our performance
  • We refined a bit too much sometimes because we kept stopping run-throughs to change parts of the performance
  • It took us quite a long time to come up with a storyline that we were satisfied with
  • We focused too much on the storyline and forget to focus on the important criteria about character development

Playing Netball: Grade 9

I’ve been playing netball since I was in Grade 4, which already shows that I am committed and passionate about netball.

Grade 9

In Grade 9, I joined pre-season netball and then the U19 A team. This helped me improve my fitness, netball skills and game play. Playing in the team was a great experience as I got to compete with players who were older and better than me, which helped me improve as not only a player but a person as well. I also played with new people that I hadn’t know before, and developed new friendships throughout the season. Teamwork and communication is a large part of netball as it is a team sport; playing helps me improve these skills not only for sports but in academics and projects where these skills can be applied.

I also represented UWC East in the SEANet games held annually at Tanglin Trust School. This means that I had to adapt to a new team and play against schools from foreign countries that produced new challenges and strengths. Due to the perseverance of myself and my team, we managed to win a silver medal despite having only one substitute throughout the weekend tournament for approximately ten games.

In addition, in Grade 9, I was in the ANZA Netball club, which is a leisure group to improve netball skills lasting for an entire year. My attendance showed my commitment to netball, and my passion for this sport.

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