CAS Project: Kiss the Rain (refined)

As I mentioned before, I will try to learn a new piece call "Kiss the Rain" by a korean composer. I decided to play 2 hours per weekend as a way to show my commitment to the subject which meets one of the CAS outcomes.
 The due date will be Monday the 1st of April ( not a joke! ) if the conditions allow, I would like to play this in music room to a group of my classmates and Mr Gray (of course others don't matter as long he is there) :D
 The reason I am doing this project is to challenge myself (CAS outcome). I used to play piano when I was 6 and played till 11. After that my family moved to a new place but didn't take the old piano. They didn't bother to replace it so I did't have the opportunity to played it back then. Last year my mom got me an electric piano and now I will try to prove that I can still play piano at an adequate level.
 This project is designed to improve my current weaknesses such as lack of organisation and commitment.Through this project I will improve on my piano skills and learn a new piece which is awesome because the this is a good practice for my memory and my fingers. Overall, able to play a piece is easily measurable by others and I would know the best if I learn it or not.

What? I can do that with my left hand!

Here is another post of my ambidextrous training, or just writing with my left hand. This time I still had some difficulties writing out the letters but it was much easier then last time.
The reason I am writing this sentence is due to the fact that this sentence contains every letter in the alphabet( I probable mentioned it before, I don't remember :P)
Next time I will try to write a paragraph of text. In addition this time my left hand wasn't so tense which allowed me to write a little bit faster, it's better than last time :)

Basketball 2nd session

This session was a real breakthrough for me. Many people came this week so we made into 3 roughly even teams, however I felt that our team was the underdog. 

 Maybe is just my pessimism although our team had a really good player from our year and his close shots are insanely accurate and of course we had Mr Hubber, who is just good all around.

 In the beginning we lost some games due to lack of coordination and simple tactics which were weak in front of other teams defence. As time went by, we started to gain some power and started to pass and shot as much as possible and this worked out pretty good.

 From the half way of this session, I felt that we cannot lose anymore so from then I pulled out some good shots from accurate passes from my teammates. This is how good collaboration fits in a basketball game. Unfortunately, no one was available to take the videos (not enough to be exact) so next week I will try to take some footage.

In conclusion, I felt a big improvement in my shooting skills and variety of shooting styles that I can perform. I still have some minor issues with my positions and movements but compare to how I was in the beginning of the school year, I became more willing to collaborate and better awareness of weaknesses in opposite teams defence.

Next goal: At least one point per game ( games are till 3 so 30% :D )    

Basketball club 2013

Creativity + Action

In this session more people came than last time which made it possible to play full court games. We have divided into two teams pretty evenly which produced some good games.

I have maintained some of the new learn skills from last year such as better court movement and position.

However, I still lack in stamina and not always aware where I could position myself in order to receive the ball.

Overall, we played one big game with subs and this was a challenge for my stamina. I felt that my team work is getting better and I hope I will keep it up.

The creativity part would be the video montage that I have created from this basketball session and here it is:

Hope you like it :)

CAS Projects!!!!

Projects are a good way to achieve CAS outcomes such as organisation and collaboration. So here are projects I am involved in:

"Kiss the Rain"

This is a beautiful piano piece that I always wanted to learn how to play and now it's a good time to start.

I think it will take  me around 1 and half to two months to learn the piece so by the start of the summer term this should be finished.

I will practise as much as I can every week but my regime is 2 hours per weekend.

Sports Day

My classmates and I have decided to plan summer sports day for our school. Sports day always was a tradition of our school. I have been in everyone of them since year 7 and as year 12 we should continue this good tradition.

We have decided on sport events, number of house and who is in which house.

A lot of organisation will go in to this project and I am ready to take this challenge.

Our next target is to produce a better concise plan for the sports day and discuss on possible issues and solutions to them.

CAS Plan v2.0 (Service Part)

There were some struggles on this part of CAS since we didn't know how many opportunities we had in front of us, or just that we couldn't see them as opportunities. After a long brain storm or thought shower (if you're epileptic)
here is my service part of CAS.

Service

Teaching a language(s)

• I am sort of multilingual which gives me a good opportunity to teach any second language speakers when they are struggling with the language.
• I know Russian, English and Chinese though not in perfecting but at least I can read books and newspapers and have a conversation with first language speaker.
• I will do this as much as possible, at least 3~4 lessons per month since find a student is a really hard task but if I find a good one who is passionate in the language I am teaching this activity can become more stable.

Recycling

• I recently decided I should start recycling since it is a good activity for CAS and it helps to create a better future or should I say cleaner and more environmentally friendly.
• I found a local Greenpeace station where I could bring the recycled products and I hope I could do at least once a month since I need to store a reasonable amount before going there.
• This meets final CAS outcomes which my other activities don't cover, also to mention that this will make be more responsible about my surrounding which is a great quality to have for an IB student or just anyone.

Projects~~~

• Projects such as the International Day in my school is a good platform to do CAS related activity and also covers all three areas of CAS.
• In projects students collaborate and organise together and is part of team work. One's commitment and others' help can create fantastic events or things that you have thought that you would achieve it.This is way projects are awesome.
• I planning to do make or participate in 3 to 4 projects this year as a start and hope this number can grow in future.

CAS Plan v 2.0 (Action Part)

Action!

Basketball

• I have always loved to play basketball and now I have chance to play it every week, isn't that wonderful? Since basketball became my passion I would like to continue following it. Anyway playing basketball is so much fun.Collaboration, team work, new skills and commitment, is there anything better CAS then this? (I bet you can come up with a better one but I will go with this one :P )
• I have already join the after-school basketball club in my school and I attend regularly (On Wednesdays)
• My goal is to improve my basketball skills and become an strong amateur player.

Physical challenges 

• Those challenges are set up by us- students to prove that we are the best.However, not many people participate in those challenges but this doesn't stop me from doing them. I already have some personal best and I will try my hardest to beat those in future.
• Some challenges require more that one person which give an opportunity for collaboration and team work maybe even some organisation.
• This is a challenge and I accept it! 

CAS Plan v 2.0 (Creativity Part)

After a whole term in the IB course I had the chance to experiment with the CAS activities so here is my refined CAS plan with more or less detailed explanations

Creativity

Origami

• I have already done some origami in past 4 months and I feel that this is a good activity for CAS because it gives opportunities for learning a new skill and maybe teaching it to others. Doing it on regular basis can shows my commitment in CAS and to this activity.
• I decided to do one new (if possible) origami every week, probably done on weekends at home. If possible I want to make them with my classmates at school which can link to the service part of CAS (teaching) or maybe they know some cool origami which I could learn from them.
• My goal here is to have at least have 10+ origami up my sleeves at any give time. 

Piano Sessions

• In the past I have some experience on playing piano and I think now is a good opportunity for me to continue this activity because practicing piano required massive patient which is a good way to show my determination and commitment to the subject. 
• I will try to play at least 3 times per week, alternate according to amount of work on that day.
• My goal is to at least learn 1 piece per season, this will be challenging.

Ambidextrous Training

• Last month I came up with this activity because I read on news that people who use their left hand frequently have a faster reaction and better imagination which is lacking in nowadays. This activity is something that I have never done before so it will be a challenge for me which is a reason why CAS exist.
• I will do this on daily basis since it normally will only take me 5~10 minutes. I will record my progress weekly since writing same thing everyday will be kind of boring ;)
• My goal on this challenge is to be able to write with my left at an adequate level, in case I somehow injure my right hand.

to be continued...