Semester Reflection

The end of the first semester marks the end of the second semester of the IBDP program for the class of 2014.  As always there are areas I have improved on and areas that I need to continue improving on. For my study habits I start working on an assignment the day that it is assigned so I can manage my time properly but tend to not ask a lot of questions in class and this is something I could improve on. Instead of asking questions in class I could make an appointment with a teacher to meet after class. For my collaboration skills I work fairly well with my peers as I am I a good listener and I do the tasks assigned accordingly however My communication skills vary. My communication in writing is very strong but during oral presentation I tend to stutter a lot because I don’t like speaking out loud so I could practice doing oral presentation in front of someone I trust before the actual presentation. Also in TOK it is required to participate in discussions and I almost never actually do. So for the next year one of my goals include saying at least one thing in every TOK class. My oral communication skills are something that I need to address. In subjects like history I have to be very objective in my thinking because of the topics dealt with this subject tends to get biased opinions. And the Community and service project I take part in, RCCI (rehabilitation center of the communication impaired) made me become more aware of people who don’t have the same opportunities as us.  As for my grades, I think that I can rise up my grades in all of my subjects because I know that I have the skills to do that. For my goals for the next semester I would I like to raise my grades by one level and also address all the areas I could improve on.

Set Design

     Gingerbread house for the play "Hansel and Gretel" primary school play

n the first session we had to plan the the set. Each of us got to design the "Candy house" of the story Hansel and Gretel. We only have 7 weeks left for the production so we are on a tight shedule especially since we are only going to be meeting Tuesdays after school and commitment to the activity is really important.  Also this is a new challenge for me because I had no prior knowledge that this industry requires to work on tight shedules but planning around and managing my time is one of my strengthens.

Last session I learned to quicly apply papier machier and I will have to continue to apply this new skill throughout. Concerning the set itself I considered the ethical implications of this process. Every year there is going to be a new play and every year new supplies are bought for this particular play.I'm going to ask the supervisor to keep the set pieces of this play for next year so we can re use the set and make necessary changes.

Visit to the RCCI Center

The Thrusday before Ms Nyriz( Service supervisor) and I planned the trip to go to the RCCI center in the following Thursday.We managed to get most of the people in the service signed on to the trip and we left the school campus for the center on time. We reached the service center in about 15 minuites and I'm sure it was an eye opener for some of the new students in this service group. They could finally see the  global importance of this service group because the center it self is not something one would expect from a center to help the children with disabilities. The center is small to say the least but I was pleased to see some new play groudn equipments in the main ground. It indicated progress. Just like how we did in school we took a group of children and played with them. Some played ball, some helped them around the play equipment and others danced with the children. Overall it was a good trip and it ended with a good note. Next session we are going to be bringing the children in to the school on Thursday morning to watch the Primary school play. This would be different experience for the children.

Sneha Infant Home Visit

The Dare2Dream group visited the Sneha Infant Home to interact with the orphans living in the house. These children are children who had been abandoned by their parents so this in itself is an issue of global importance. We brought in toys and bubble blowers for the kids to play with along with a canvas where the kids to place their hand prints in and write down their dream or what they want to be when they grow up. Overall it was touching experience and what saddened me was they were so excited to see us and have someone to play with but it didn't last. This was a new challenge as I was not particularly good at interacting with younger children as I can't stand my infant cousins when I babysit them and I had even told the leader of this group that. In the end I decided to give it a go and it turned out that these children were very well behaved, patient and obedient. This was a surprise because normally one would think that children who were abandoned would have a negative view of the world but these children were so eager to try out new things and play with us and made me like interacting with children a little more from this experience.

Interacting with the Children from the Sneha Infant Home. Photo credits- Harshini.J.Karunaratne

Harshini.J.Karunaratne 

For more information-  http://dare2dreamsl.org/

RCCI new semester

Last week we kicked off RCCI with a good start. Everyone who had signed up for RCCI came on time and it went pretty smoothly for the first day of RCCI. I learned that being leader involved a lot of work. I have more commitments to this service group than I did before. For example I had to plan and meet with the PE department to make sure that we have all the equipment for Thursdays.  Undertaken new challenges - Being the leader of this service group is most deffenitly a new challenge for me, Because I have to make sure that the gym is booked for every thursday, Find out if the RCCI kids are coming every thursday by calling the center on Tuesdays. That in it self is quite a challenge because I don't speak Sinhala but I learned the two basic sentences to ask whether they will be here or not. I also had to book the art room for next week's session. I wanted the next session to take place in the art room because it would be a nice change from the every week gym sessions.  Shown perseverance and commitment - I started RCCI in 9th grade so this is my fourth year in RCCI, Now that I've been appointed leader of this service group I need to show even more commitment by coming up with new ways to help these kids. I've already thought of some things we could do for their center itself. Such as raising money and buying new play equipment for their playground as it's been five years since they've bought a play equipment. The least we could do is paint and revenue their play area as this is an area they venture in regularly everyday.  Engaged with issues of global importance One of the best things about being in RCCI is knowing that I'm giving back to community and it's one that's looked over a lot. OSC was the first school that accepted the kids because all the other schools were afraid on how to interact with these children with disabilities. Developed new skills, taking over the leadership role in itself is a new skill. It's a good experience for me because I found that I quite enjoy being able to make negotiations and decisions with the supervisors. 

Archery

I have started Arhery again after two months of no practice. In the beginning of the year I had trouble forming the appropriate shooting techniques but now my coach had told me that my technique has improved but I strain my muscles way too quickly making me stop the training halfway because my arm and back muscles let out. I need to train my back muscles so that it can sustain the strain of the string and I did to tone my arm muscles so that I can hold onto the bow for a long period of time. Undertaken new challenge- I do regular cardio everyday but now that I know that in order to shoot better for a long period of time I need to streanthen the core of my back muscles and arm muscles in order to get the full benefit of this sport.Shown perseverance and commitment - I've been doing Archery and going for regular practices for an year now and I'm not planning to stop after I've graduated because I've grown in to this sport and I want to horn my skills even more in the future. Developed new skill- When I first started archery I could only shoot from 10 metres but now that I can shoot a target and group the arrows at one point fairly accuratley I've been asked to shoot from 30 metres because that's one of the rules in archery competition. If I'm able to do just as well from 30m as I did from 10m I could possibly join a national competition.

Set Design

For this semester I decided to take up set design. This year we are going to be making the set for the Hansel and Gretel play of the primary production. I thoroughly enjoyed the first session because it combined all the aspect I wish to do in in the future. The backstage theatre world is where I feel most at home at and making the set for a play is a good step for me. This activity requires to work collaboratively with others to ensure the success of the final product. From this activity I learned that there is more to a theatre production than just acting and the people that are behind the scenes does just as much work as the ones in full swing. So I am glad that I took up this activity. This will be a good experience for me.

In the first session we had to plan the the set. Each of us got to design the "Candy house" of the story Hansel and Gretel. We only have 7 weeks left for the production so we are on a tight shedule especially since we are only going to be meeting Tuesdays after school and commitment to the activity is really important.  Also this is a new challenge for me because I had no prior knowledge that this industry requires to work on tight shedules but planning around and managing my time is one of my strengthens.

Last session I learned to quicly apply papier machier and I will have to continue to apply this new skill throughout. Concerning the set itself I considered the ethical implications of this process. Every year there is going to be a new play and every year new supplies are bought for this particular play.I'm going to ask the supervisor to keep the set pieces of this play for next year so we can re use the set and make necessary changes.

CAS goals for Grade 12

This last year flew by and now it's time to start a new and set new goals for this last year IB.

Creativity 

- I'm going to try out to become the leader of the after school activity cross stitch and embroidery. The reason why I chose this CAS in the first place is because I love to sew and learning these basic stitches helps a lot when I'm making complicated dresses and costumes. I want to try out to become the leader because I want to explore a new position that I've never been in before and this will help me again experience especially since it's more than likely that I'm going to be in this industry in the future. 

- I will also help out and get involve more in the Dare to Dream project. Last year I designed a banner for the group and this year I plan to do posters because this as close to the real career as I can get right now and it will be great experience for me to be in that position that requires me to keep up with deadlines and specifications. 

Actions

- This year I plan to try out for SAISA Basketball, do do that I will need to improve on my fitness, In order to do that I will go running for 30 mins, five times a week to elevate my endurance and my stamina as basketball will require that. 

- Basketball isn't till October, till then I will continue Archery as this shows perseverance. However because I'm continuing archery I will also need to do yoga to improve my posture as the archery poses can hurt it. 

Service

- As I might become the leader of RCCi sercive project as I've been in this project for four years I am going to try my best to plan more trips to the RCCI center to visit the kids more frequently. I will also try to incorporate more activities other than playing in the gym when the children visit.But this may be challenging because they need their fitness but I've noticed that some children don't run as much and just sit down bored.  So I'll try to provide more activities for them too. 

- Get more involved with the dare to dream project by going to all of the meetings and going to all the project venues. 

Reflection

      This past semester have flown by and from these past four months I can honestly say that I have learned alot and grew alot. First of all in RCCI RCCI is a sevice project I have been in scine ninth grade and I can say from where I have started to where I am now I have changed a lot. In ninght grade all I did was just go to the service do what had needed to do and go back home but this time the service demanded more from me because I am the second oldest student there next to the service leader and the current service leader was preparing me this past four months to be the next service leader. So from that experience I have been exposed to leadership and I can say that I have gotten some leadership qualities like keeping the group in place when they wander off task. Also I am personally close to some of the children that come to play here.

     First of all in RCCI RCCI is a sevice project I have been in scine ninth grade and I can say from where I have started to where I am now I have changed a lot. In ninght grade all I did was just go to the service do what had needed to do and go back home but this time the service demanded more from me because I am the second oldest student there next to the service leader and the current service leader was preparing me this past four months to be the next service leader. So from that experience I have been exposed to leadership and I can say that I have gotten some leadership qualities like keeping the group in place when they wander off task. Also I am personally close to some of the children that come to play here.

     Knitting. I joined the Knitting service group in this last quater because beleive it or not I love sewing and I desgin costumes for my younger cousins in my spare time as a hobby and since this quarter have been so busy I have barely enough time to commit to my hobby so instead I joined the "sewing and embroidery" after school activity in order to continue my hobby

  Archery I am very commited to this sport as I am determined to continue this in the future. It requires a lot of patience ( which I lacked in the begining because I am very immpatient by nature) Also it reqires precision and a good eye to aim and these skills aren't only useful in archery as it could be applied at any given circumstance. Increased their awareness

   My time in RCCI have really opened up my mind to what these kids and their parents are going through. It made me greatful for what I have and it made me think of how many people would actually accept these kids to our society. I have learned that the RCCI school had asked alot of schools to help them out atleast once a week but they all turned them downe because they were afraid of how these kids would act. Our school was the only one that took the risk to help these children and it made me really proud. 

    Undertaken new challenges When the RCCI CAS leader was away because she had examination so I had to take over for the time being and I really learned on what it took to be a leader of a programme. 

   Planned and initiated activities Before April break on the same week the CAS leader was away I had to make the arrangements to buy gifts for the children and make sure everyone knew what they were bringing for the end of year party ( eg;- food, drinks,music...etc) I had to manage my time wisley in order to make sure these things will go smoothly. 

   Worked collaboratively with others Also in RCCI-- I had to work with a lot of people . The more I work with a lot of people the more I am comfortable with working with more people. Shown perseverance and commitment in their activities I have been in this CAS group since 9th grade and since then I've gone to every single CAS meeting and since I've started the sewing group I have been going to that too and the same goes for my commitment in archery.  Engaged with issues of global importance RCCI- These are children in need and as I said before not many people wanted to help them because they were afraid and I'm glad to be part of this small percentage who is actualyl doing something to help these children and my time here have made me want to research more about the children with dis-abilities and whethere there are any ways or on going research to help them.. or cure them.  Considered the ethical implications of their actions Archery- As much as I love it as a sport I am well aware of the implications. It is a dangerous sport. For example when I'm shooting I have to make sure there isn't anyone infront of me even if they are a meter away. the same goes for wandering animals like cats or dogs. I don't want to accidently hurt or kill anything. Also my coach had told me to introduce archery to maldives and I had to say no to that because it will go horribly wrong there. Already the country is in political turmoil and people are carrying knives and cutters to inflict damage or kill innocenve. Just imagine what would happen if archery were to be introduced?  Developed new skills - My growing leadership qualities.

Dare to Dream

Dare to Dream" is all about dreaming big, and turning the seemingly impossible into reality. . It's a group started by Harshini Karunaratne and I am a volunteer for the group. I was assighed to design the cover photo of the group's facebook page. Im an aspiring illustrator and this was my first official assignment. I was challenged with finishing this according to the clients specification and I had to manage my time as well as they wanted it finished by the end of the week.

Service Leader

I have been in the RCCI( Rehablitation Center For The Communication Impaired) service group for two and a half years now and I can say that I have learned alot. I'm going to be honest. When I first joined the group as a 9th grade student back in 2011, I was pretty nervouse, because I had never interacted with these children with dis-abilities before. I kept wondering how I would communicate with them and how I will interact with them in the end I managed to pull through. I knew some of the basic Sinhala words ( Language spoken in Sri Lanka ) and there were two children who could speak english but on the days these two children did not come to the weekly play sessions in our school I had to communicate to the children with my basic Sinhala skills and body language. In grade 9 I was just a new comer to the service group, In grade 10 I got used to interacting with these children, Right now in grade 11 I'm the treasurer of the service group and next year I am anticipating on taking over the leadership of the whole service group. Last session instead of playing in the gym we decided to test out the artistic side of the kids as creativity of the mind is just as important as getting physical. Here are some of the impressive paintings they have done.

Anuradhapura art trip

DAY 1 we left colombo train station early in the morning at about 5:50am and we arrived in Anuradhapura a historical region in Sri lanka at about 10 am. That was a 5 hour long train ride which is an less that a bus trip to Anuradhapura. Even though the train ride wa bumpy and uncomfortable I would not have gone ona train in Srilanka otherwise. Our day began with a trip to a mueseum.. that did not go well because they would not let us in so instead we went to visit the temple called IssuruMulaniya. There I took pictures around the temple and out of the temple area and managed to produce pretty decent pictures in which i would have to edit once I get home. While at the temple I also sketched a picture of the front part of the temple itself. Today I produced some photographs and 2 sketches. my goal for this trip is to create 10 piecec of work. 4 photographs, 4 sketches, 1 painting,1 soft pastel. so tommorow I will try to sketch two more sketches so I would have completed my sketch goal and I will also take more pictures so by the end of the trip I will choose the four best onces. The reason I want to finish of the sketches is because I want to work on a painting the following day. This trip was all I expected- Sketching/photography and creating artwork. DAY 2 Today we went to a stone bridge at first there I took more photographs and experimented with different compositions and angles. Then we went to the Lova sabhawa temple area and we got a demonstration on how to use acrylic paint/charcoal. I tooka seat by a tree and then I started to sketch out a tree infront of me with my charcoal and then later i started to paint. Ifound it really reaxing and soothing to the mind. as for my artwork itself I could have done thin strokes as the grass. ocerall I still think my skills with acrylics could be improved but even so I found that I quite liked painting scenary. I find it easier to sketch the final piece out before painting the whole scenary I guess I could try paining a scene as a whole next time I try to paint a scenary. DAY 3 Today we went to mihintale which is a sacred and historical area of Anuradhapura. It took us about 30 minuits to get there. The first locaion we went to was really scenic and it was really inspirational. I think it provided more inspiration than all the other locations because it had a more variety of things to draw. It was not just trees, this location had a lake,mountain and different view points and angles to sketch from. I found that working outside was really peaceful but at the sametime it was frsutrating because the lighting kept changing and it was hard to pinpoint what tone/shade I should use in that particular area. After eating lunch we went to the main Mihintale area. One thing I learned from this trip was that that was the place where Buddism was first introduces to Srilanka and that was pretty interesting because I li

- Sketching at the temple ruins ke to know more and more about my host county and their culture. DAY 4 TOday we took 2 hours to reach the plce that has the largest Budda statue in Srilanka, like the previous days we sketched. I got to experiment with soft pastel and I quite liked how my finished piece turned out. Working in a quiet area like a temple was really soothing because everything was silent and everyone was working quietly. Once positie thing about this trip was that it was a trip dedicated to art. I think that I have developed my art skills to an extent because normally I would not have gotton out with a sketchbook and start sketching any onject infront of me but I think that this experience has actually helped me grow as an artist. This concludes my week without walls.

- Painting inside the temple grounds

Practicing for Archery Competition

My Archery coach has informed me that there is going to be a competition coming up really soon. The distance to shoot in the competition is 30ft and I can already accuratley shoot the arrow froma good 20ft. Starting from next week I am going to start practice shooting from 30ft. This shows perseverence because I am really commited to this sport and I intend to take it very seriously. What I need to work on is consistency. I always manage to hit the target but i need to focus on hitting the all the arrows at the same spot this shows my awareness of my streanths and areas of improvement and this will also help me develop a new skillI . Another aspect i need to improve is to strenthen my arm muscles by doing a few arm excesises everyday because Archery involves streanth. I have Archery only on Saturdays but I decided to practice by setting up m archery eqipment in my aunt's field and practice there every Monday,Tuesday and Friday as those are the only days of the week where I have even a little amount of time to spare for Archery alone because on the rest of the days I have to study, practice violin,go running and of course have some social time and alone time to myself.

WWW Anuradhapura Trip

For WWW ( week without walls) our group is going to Anuradhapura. The G10/11 trip to Anuradhapura will focus on exploring the local area and the many sites within the area. We are going to use this as an inspiration for the production of visual art. We would have the opportunity to develop our visual art skills through drawing, painting and photography and personal exploration. The goal of this trip is for me to respond to the experience of being in this major cultural, artistic and historical area of Srilanka through the creation of a series of artworks. We are going to be in Anuradhapura itself most of the time while we take a day trip to Mihintale which is a sacred area. An exhibition of the work done during the trip will be up for presentation after the trip. Since this trip focuses more on the creaticity aspect my goal for this trip is to:- - Have 10 finished pieces by the end of the week - 4 Photographs - 1 soft pastel painting - 4 sketches - 1 painting I want to improve my visual art skills, This will be useful for both my IB visual art HL course and for my future as well because I'm quite certain that it will have something to do with art. Being in a historical and yet artistic place I will develop my observation skills as I am not just going there for sight seeing. I need to produce artwork from these observations. I will also gain more knowledge about the history of Anuradhapura and know more about my host nation.

SAISA girls football

SAISA stands for South Asian Inter-Schools Association (SAISA). WHich is sports conference us GECKO ( name of our sports team) attend every year. This semester I am doing SAISA girls udner 19 football. I love the sport and I am hoping to get in to the team this year. Even if I don't get in this year at least I'll be getting some fitness by going for all the practices as I said in one of my goals I need to keep my fitness and stamina up in order for me to be healthy and avoid heart disese/diabetes which is common in both sides of my family. I also increased my awareness of my own steanghth and areas of improvement . I need to improve my stamina and how hard I kick the ball. One of my streanghts in football are defence and endurance. By going to all the pracices I am showing how commited I am to this sports. This is true because I do take football seriously as it is one of the only sports besides Archery that I like and would continue to do later in life. Also because of football I learned to collaborate with others . These are girls from grades 9-12 so most of the people I interact with in football are people who I don't interact with on a daily basis so it's good to work with new people for a change.