Final Reflection 2012

Learning Outcomes	Achieved?	Nature/Location of Evidence
Increased awareness of their own strengths and areas of growth	Yes	SAISA Football –I increased my awareness of my own strengths and areas of growth. I was aware of my technical abilities and team work, but I lacked stamina, which was essential because we played 2 matches per day. SAISA Art - I've increased my awareness of my own strengths and areas for growth because I saw that I am good in working with charcoal but not as skillful in working with acrylic colors. www.jsimjanoski12.blogspot.com
Undertaken new challenges	Yes	Wall and Rock climbing – because I have never done this before. Pinhole photography – similarly, I have never done or known about pinhole photography before. www.jsimjanoski12.blogspot.com
Planned and initiated activities	Yes	Recycling – I have participated in planned and initiated activities because everything we do is systematically arranged and everybody's job for the day is determined before we start working.  Week without walls - we planned and initiated our activities, because before we started, even before the trip while we were still in school we made plans about who is going to work on what, so we don't waste too much time when we're there. And because I was in the murial group, we came up with a theme and we came up with the whole design before the trip. Sunflower Village - With participating I have worked in planned and initiated activities, because every time before the kids came we had discussions about how we’re going to conduct the class. www.jsimjanoski12.blogspot.com
Worked collaboratively with others	Yes	Football - these practices were conducted as a team, together with the other students and Mr. Shipley, our coach as well SAISA Football 2011 - before every match we talked about our tactics and the way we're going to play. Also, because football is a team sport, it includes working collaboratively with others Wall and Rock climbing – it takes 2-3 people to conduct one person’s climb, as b-laying is important part of safety. Recycling - there are many other people in the group and we work collaboratively in collecting the materials as well as sorting them and getting them into the pickup truck  Sunflower Village – because there were couple of more students with whom I collaborated while teaching the kids Sports Day 2011 - As all of the sports I played are team sports I have worked collaboratively with others on the field and in the gym Week without walls – painting together with other students SAISA Art -  On my first piece I worked collaboratively with other students which helped me improve my collaborative skills www.jsimjanoski12.blogspot.com
Shown perseverance and commitment in their activities	Yes	Attending regularly in all of my activities mentioned throughout this form. www.jsimjanoski12.blogspot.com
Engaged with issues of global importance	Yes	Recycling - recycling reusable materials is an important thing to do in today's world in order to contribute to providing a environmentally sustainable society Week without walls - we are helping people that are dealing with poverty and education, and I have contributed to the children having more convinient facilities while in school. www.jsimjanoski12.blogspot.com
Considered the ethical implications of their actions	Partly	Sports day - getting off the team in order for other people to be part of the games, not taking under consideration the difference in our skill level. SAISA Football - sportsmanship-wise and regarding team play, because during matches we often find ourselves in situations where we have to make important decisions which can affect the whole game Recycling - I am one of the 4 seniors around, but that doesn't mean that I do less work than the younger people in the group www.jsimjanoski12.blogspot.com
Developed new skills	Yes	Pinhole photography – as mentioned, it is something new for me and as seen on my blog, I do have some skills with pinhole photography Wall and rock climbing – I have never done this before and taking under consideration my success in this activity I can say that I have developed new skills Beat Making – primarily, starting to use Reason 4, and making my first beats, and furthermore, making use of different and more sophisticated programs like Recycle and Reason, together Week without walls – it’s the first time I was painting walls and some of the teachers taught me interesting techniques www.jsimjanoski12.blogspot.com

God Made Me Funky

Hello, hello.
So for the last couple of weeks I have been working on these two beats and unlike my previous ones, I tried to make as much use of samples as I could. Even though I haven't fully finished them, most of the general idea is done.
The first one, called God Made Me Funky, includes a drum sample from a song called God Made Me Funky by Headhunters. Also, I used two other samples from the songs Getting it Back from Cymande and one song from the rap group Cypress Hill - I Wanna Get. The other one I named GOAT (Greatest of all Time), includes my original drum beat, while there are samples from the song Labi Siffre - I Got The.
Apart from Reason 4, the main program that I make use of while producing my beats, I also made use of Recycle, which is published by the same company as Reason, and they are compatible with each other. With Recycle, I can take parts of those songs and make samples out of them which can afterwards be easily used in Reason. With the use of Recycle, I have undertaken new challenges as this is a new program I have recently used. I have also developed new skills by making use of Recycle and Reason, together.
I will soon look to upload these beats that I am talking about.

Here is a link to some of my music:
http://soundcloud.com/jakov-jose-simjanoski

Football

It seems like I have forgotten about this post, but here it is published now.
For the first part of semester one of this school year, I was doing football as an afterschool activity. In the beginning, I had an idea to go to SAISA Football, but because of financial reasons I wasn't able to.
Anyway, I had fun while I was in it and I certainly worked hard during those 1-2 months. By participating, I have again increased my awareness of my own strenghts and areas of growth, and just like in previous times the thing that seems to be my fallacy is my lack of stamina and speed. This can be addressed to the fact that I am not in the best physical shape and I have gained a little weight. On the other hand, my technical skills seem to have gotten better compared to last year and my tactical abilities to make decisions have grown as well. I have worked collaboratively with others, as these practices were conducted as a team, together with the other students and Mr. Shipley, our coach as well. I have also shown preseverance and commitment in my activities, because I attended practice as regularly as I could, until I realized that I wasn't going to go on the SAISA trip to Dhaka.

Beat Making

So since the end of last school year I have had interest in making hip hop instrumental music. In order to do that, I installed a program called Reason 4 and since then I have made many beats, some of which better than others. This year with spending more and more time on this, I increased my awareness of my own strengths and areas for growth because I have realized that I am good at conducting the program, but however I need to try more and sample music from other songs, as this is an essential part of making hip hop music. I have undertaken new challenges as this is something I have never done before, even though I like hip hop music, I listen to it all the time and I have even written some lyrics. I have developed new skills because as I said, this is something I have never done before and from listening to my music I can conclude that my skills have grown enormously with time and practice. 
Soon, I will look into uploading my music on my blog.

Recycling

As planned, every Thursday we have Recycling. We go around the school, collect paper and cardboard from all the classrooms and bring it to our recycling room. Every week we get a huge amount of recyclable materials, especially paper. Every Thursday we put everything in our pickup truck and every week 2 students go to a place where they recycle all kinds of materials and sell the paper and cardboard. I have gone almost every time and most of the time we make around 300-600 rupees per week, which is $3-6. Meanwhile, plastics and glass are being collected and when we have a sufficient amount we will take them for recycling as well. With participating in this CAS activity I have participated in planned and initiated activities because everything we do is systematically arranged and everybody's job for the day is determined before we start working. Also, I have worked collaboratively with others because there are many other people in the group and we work collaboratively in collecting the materials as well as sorting them and getting them into the pickup truck. Every time, I show perseverance and commitment in my activities because I attend recycling regularly and most of the time it is me that goes to the recycling place. Together with the other older students in our grade, I make sure all the younger people are not being distracted and are doing their job properly. I have also engaged with issues of global importance because recycling reusable materials is an important thing to do in today's world in order to contribute to providing a environmentally sustainable society. I will be uploading pictures of our activities shortly.

Sports Day 2011!

On the 7th of September in the Overseas School of Colombo there was a Sports Day! There were many sport activities including volleyball, football, basketball and kickball games. Due to a shoulder injury I sustained during football practice a couple of days before, I couldn't participate in every game but I did as mush as I could. First, I played two volleyball games, followed by 3 football games. After the lunch break there were kickball games and I participated in every game my (yellow) house participated in. With this, I have contributed to the action part of CAS. By participating in these games I have increased my awareness of my own strengths and areas for growth, and I have realized that I am not as physically fit as I should be, but that my technical skills are good in both volleyball and football. However, in kickball I realize that I have a strong shot but I need to improve my skills of striking the ball in the right direction. As all of these are team sports I have worked collaboratively with others on the field and in the gym. Also I have considered the ethical implications of my actions by getting off the team in order for other people to be part of the games, not taking under consideration the difference in our skill level.

Goals for First Semester of Grade 12

Another school year has started and just as last year, Thursday is CAS time, yayy! :)
This year I will aim to continue doing what I started last year while also set new goals which will guide me in the year that follows.


For creativity, there is something that I have been doing for quite some time now, but I haven't really reflected on it here. That is making hip hop beats using a program called Reason 4. Since April 2011 I have made a huge amount of beats but most of them aren't that good, except for some of them to which I dedicated more time than others. Soon, I will add videos of my music on youtube and I will add the links here. With starting this, I have undertaken new challenges because music production is something I haven't done before last year. Also, while making beats every day I learn new tricks and develop new skills which make my music better and from the beginning to now, I have increased my awareness of my strenghts and areas of growth, and I have grown a lot which I can see when comparing one of my first beats and my latest ones.


Regarding action, I have joined the school football team and we have practices 2-3 times per week. With joining the team, I work collaboratively with others during matches and practices and I have participated in planned and initiated activities, because football takes a lot of tactical planning. Every practice and match, me, and everyone on the team has to consider the ethical implications of their actions, sportsmanship-wise and regarding team play, because during matches we often find ourselves in situations where we have to make important decisions which can affect the whole game. Since joining the team a week ago, I have increased my awareness of my strenghts and areas of growth and I have realized that because I haven't played football for a really long time, my stamina has dropped a lot and that I need to grow from that point of view.


For service, for the first time I have joined the Recycling group and every Thursday we will collect paper, cardboard, glass and plastic from around the school and we will take them to a nearby recycling place. With this, I have undertaken new challenges because this is something I haven't done before. I have participated in planned and initiated activities, and I have worked collaboratively with others and while doing that I have considered the ethical implications of my actions. I am one of the 4 seniors around, but that doesn't mean that I do less work than the youger people in the group. I will aim to show perseverance and commitment in my activities with attending regularly and being a significant part of the group.