Wrapping up CAS - Final reflection

Creativity

I decided to undertake a new challenge this year by starting a completely different activity: nail art. It has certainly helped me to develop new skills in terms of mastering paintbrush strokes on small areas and perfecting nail polish application techniques. It also gave me the opportunity to develop new skillswhen I designed my own spa in terms of drawing and editing my own logo and coming up with a structureof the building that would be most attractive to clients. I was able to engage with issues of global importance in my debate (refer http://malindies.blogspot.com/2011/02/nail-art-course-i-think-im-being.html) when I addressed how the daily use of chemicals can seriously harm users if not handled responsibly.

Action

In the badminton after school activity, I was able to develop new skills with the aid of the coach, Mr. Nimal. I personally felt that I have gained a better understanding of how to move around court in the quickest way thanks to improved footwork. At the same time I was able to increase my awareness of areas of growth because I realized that I need to improve on my backhand because it does not seem to come naturally during matches.

Service (and creativity)

Since I was a leader in the ‘Hope for Kids’ Cancer Hospital service project that organized a major concert this year, I had plenty of opportunities to plan and initiate activities. These include the voice workshop, the tech run and the rehearsal. They also allowed me to work collaboratively with others who not only included the people in the project but the performers as well. At times in was simply too much work but I stayed committed and persevered with our plans until we got everything, from the sound to the posters to the program, sorted out. There were times when we had to consider the ethical implications of our actions because we could not visit the hospital at all during the period. I felt rather guilty for putting the kids second but we had to consider the long term benefits we can make possible with our funds. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay on to see this happen because I had to pass on leadership to the younger members.

Making progress in badminton!

Our coach, Mr. de Silva, took me under his wing when he noticed that my footwork was not as quick as it needed to me. We did a range of very tiring drills where he showed me how to step towards the net in the most efficient way, left and right. He then started shooting shuttlecocks near both corners near the net alternatively at first and then randomly which kept me on my toes.

In the next lesson, he did the same thing but going away from the net to the further corners. After I had gotten used to the new steps, he combined all four of them and had me running back and forth on the court. It was absolutely exhausting but I felt like I was getting somewhere. I also learnt that, since I’m left-handed, my left foot should always follow my left arm, especially when hitting the shuttlecock. This is especially useful when playing away from the net and allowed me to use my weight as well as arm strength.

My primary objective is to focus on my backhand because I had noticed that I kept missing a lot of easy near shots as I was not fast enough. I’ll also have to continue the drills with Mr. de Silva when I start again next semester to keep my footwork and stamina level in check.

Day 1 Badminton

After a year’s break, I was eager to start playing badminton again after school. I was first introduced to the sport six years ago and I continued playing for five years but took a year’s break. In the first session we were introduced to the two captains who made us do a few warm up drills and stretches before commencing the matches. I had to have my grip corrected while I was playing by a captain so I felt that I was already taking some steps towards improvement on my first day! Since I didn’t want to participate in any competitions, just learn the sport, I played a few casual matches with another girl as well as a doubles match with the boys. Now I need to make sure I clarify all the rules of the game because it became obvious that I had forgotten some of them!

Goals for this year..!

Creativity

Nail art course: I thought it'd be really interesting to try something completely new so I spontaneously signed up for a course in nail art. Let's see how it goes!

Action

Badminton: I have played badminton for five years in my previous school but did not continue it here last year because I chose the Yearbook elective. Now I signed up for badminton every Monday after school and am looking forward to playing again :)

Service and Creativity

Leader of the 'Hope for Kids' Cancer Hospital service group: We have our concert coming up and a lot of organising to do. We have a lot more members this year so it'll be more challenging as a leader to ensure everyone does their fair part of the work. After the concert, we'll also need to confirm what we're going to use the money for. We're hoping to visit the playroom once every Thursday after school to meet the kids although I doubt we'll have the time until after the concert.. Fingers crossed!

Summing up Grade 11

Now that it's time to start a new year, here's how I think I managed to achieve the Critical Learning Outcomes in Grade 11:

Creativity

My perseverance and commitment to playing the piano has allowed me to reach my goal of passing Grade 6 with merit which was more than what I hoped for. I gained an increased awareness of my ability to play under pressure although I still need to work on my sight reading which is an area for growth.

Performing in the dance the Sri Lankans organized for UN day, has increased my awareness of my ability to dance and allowed me to work collaboratively with others to put it all together. Despite letdowns and flaws, our commitment and perseverance resulted in a very successful performance that the audience thoroughly enjoyed!

Joining the Yearbook elective this year was a new challenge which helped me develop my photoshop skills as I have never used them seriously before. I had to work collaboratively with others, listening to and supplying criticism and working on the same page together with another member.

Action

Climbing to the top of Sigiriya has increased my awareness of my level of stamina and was able to reach the top without feeling to queasy about the height, unlike most other climbers! It also developed my understanding of my country’s history which I did not know in great detail before.

Starting to swim again enabled me to work on my areas for growth which included corrective my freestyle and backstrokes and working on my butterfly stroke which was a new skill that I developed.

Service

Tutoring a younger students mathematics for the first semester has made me more aware of my ability to teach comprehensively even though it is something I do informally on almost a daily basis with my younger brother and fellow students.

Becoming a member of ‘Hope for Kids’ Cancer Service Group allowed me to get engaged with an issue of global importance which made me more aware of the suffering that goes on in the world. Often we had to consider the ethical implications of our actions when it came to fundraising. For example, our principal had to remind us that it is morally wrong to have a bake sale for raise funds when there are so many malnourished children elsewhere.

Creativity and Service

I received my first taste of leadership during out Week Without Walls trip to Hambantota when I was made a sub-leader to be in charge of games due to my ability to converse in Sinhalese with the school children. I had to plan and initiate games that the children would enjoy and understand, for they would not be familiar with what we are used to, which required a lot of collaborative work. A part of this involved narrating a mute play performed by the rest of the group in front of the children and their parents which was a new challenge for me as I was not completely confident in my fluency of Sinhalese nor was I comfortable speaking in front of an audience though the experience did allow me to develop these skills.

I was given the opportunity to become a leader of the ‘Hope for Kids’ Cancer Hospital Service group at school. Having never been a leader for an extended period of time before, this was a completely new challenge for me which allowed me to exercise my leadership and organizing capabilities to the fullest extent. A major project that ‘Hope for Kids’ worked on was the fundraising concert which we initiated as a group. It required an immense amount of planning and creative thinking to reach to where it stands now at the beginning of Grade 12. It gave me an increased awareness of my ability to work collaboratively with fellow group members and others who were also involved such as the auditorium manager, security guards, school secretaries, sponsors and of course the performers. This experience has undoubtedly aided me to develop my communication and interactive skills although they are still areas for growth that I hope to work on next year. This project also let me raise awareness of childhood cancer to the Colombo community which is definitely an issue of global importance.

Learning..making mistakes..starting all over..

I first starting learning to swim when I was 10 and I’ve continued to practice for 3 years after my first lesson. By then I was convinced that I knew the strokes so I focused mainly on speed and improving my time. I joined the squad practices in my previous school for one year but I wasn’t satisfied with my progress since I couldn’t see a significant change in my time.
This January I joined a swimming class at the Otter’s Club and to my surprise, the coach there noticed that my strokes are wrong! I've spent so much time tying to swim faster that I've not been doing my strokes properly. No wonder I haven't imporved much! I'm planning on going to this class every Friday evening and my primary objective is to make sure I've perfected my strokes before I get too concerned about my timing. I've 'relearnt' freestyle, breastroke and backstroke in the past 2 months so I'm now focussing on my butterfly stroke which I find absolutely exhausting! :)

Conquering Sigiriya!!

I have been attending international schools in Sri Lanka for nearly eight years of my school life which resulted in me not being exposed to as much of my country’s remarkable history as I would have liked. This Christmas holiday, I challenged myself to climb to the highest point of the rock Sigiriya, a world heritage site atop which the palace of Sri Lanka’s ancient kings once stood. I once attempted it a couple of years ago but couldn’t brace myself to make it to the very top so I had to settle with going up two-thirds of the way.

What made the experience all the more memorable was that it wasn’t merely just physical exertion: it was an exposure to the ancient history of Sri Lanka that remains in the ruins of the majestic palace and its gardens. What amazed me was the complexity of the architecture that was used over 1500 years ago when it was first built to serve as a fortress for King Kashyapa. Two moats surrounded the perimeter of the site although only the inner one was still filled with water. I had to pass the boulder, water and terrace gardens to get to one of the entrances to the rock (there were three: the Lion entrance, the Snake entrance, the Elephant entrance). What I found fascinating was that there were rocks that were naturally shaped like a snake and an elephant that graced their respective entrances!

And then the climb began! Surprisingly I managed to spring up the steps without much difficulty (it was nowhere near as hard as I remembered!) and the view was magnificent with the forest spread out as far as I could see with a Buddha monument rising above the canopy. On the way up, I was able to admire the mirror wall, on which some ancient writing could still be seen, and the marble staircases that are said to be visible at night as they shine in the moonlight. The most nerve-wracking part of the climb was trying to make my way up the rickety spiral staircase to get to the famed frescoes, or at least what remains of them.

When I reached the lion’s paw terrace, which was where I stopped on my first climb, I was more than willing to take the final and most difficult steps to the top. Although the sight of the sheer drop straight underneath was enough to make most of the other visitors rather uneasy, I managed to make it with no panic attacks! All that remains of the palace are simply two bricks…everything else has eroded away. I somehow anticipated something much more spectacular but I wasn’t disappointed because I made it! The climb down went quite smoothly so I was back on the ground in no time, exhausted but a lot more aware of how proud I should be of Sri Lanka’s history.