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.

CAS Year 2010-11 Reflection

When thinking back to the goals that I set at the beginning of the year, I think I did well in completing them.
Sunflower Village is one activity that I participated in throughout the whole year and with that I completed multiple things from the CAS criteria. I undertook new challenges, because even though I have been swimming for a long time, I've never helped other people learn how to swim. Also, I have worked collaboratively with others because apart from me, there are few more students with who I work together. I have participated in planned and initiated activities because before the kids come we always have a plan for what we are going to do, which is: swim for 30-40 minutes then spend some time having fun, playing waterpolo or something else.
For the other activities like football and wall climbing, my goal was to fulfill my time with something interesting and keep my body in a good shape. With participating in these activities I have worked collaboratively with others, because football is a team sport and it requires working as a unity, and for wall climbing, there should be at least one more person that you have to work with, which is again, working collaboratively. I also participated in planned and initiated activity while playing football, because before the matches we always have a team talk regarding our strategy and way of playing.
With Pinhole Photography and SAISA Art, I have completed my creativity part of CAS and I have developed my skills and undertaken new challenges because while working during SAISA I tried different methods that I haven't used before, and Pinhole Photography is a totaly new thing for me, so it's obvious that I have undertaken new challenges.

Sunflower Project, Second Semester

A couple of weeks ago the Sunflower Project continued to take place. I couldn't come the first time, because of being sick I think, I don't really remember. But apart from that I participated every Thursday.
Anyway, we continued what we were doing in the first semester, which is teaching the kids how to swim, while also having fun.
As usual, for the first 40 minutes we work hard and in the end we play some water polo, or some of the kids that don't want to play continue swimming. The good thing this semester is that our group of OSC students got bigger, and we have a better chance on concentrating on deviding the group of kids equally and working in smaller groups.
With participating in Sunflower Project I have planned and initiated activities and worked collaboratively with others, because it's a project that needs team work, with the other students from OSC and with the kids from the local school. Also, I have shown perservance and commitment in my activities because I have attended every time except the first day, because I wasn't informed that the kids are coming, therefore I didn't take my swimming stuff to school.

Me and Yariq discussing something

SAISA Football

The match against Dhaka, I'm #15

In February 2011, the SAISA Football tournament took place in Dhaka, Bangladesh. OSC participated in it among 9 other schools from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Nepal. I was on the team that traveled to Dhaka, with 11 other players and our 2 coaches Mr. Shipley and Mr. Campbell. Before the tournament we had lots of plactices and friendly games with other schools from Colombo and with the professional football club Colombo Lions too.

In Dhaka we played 6 matches, 2 matches per day and these are the results we got: 2 wins, 1 draw, 3 losses and in the end we came at 8th place out of 10. Looking at this from your perspective is a bad result, but taken the fact that we had only 12 players (one of them got injured halfway) and that we played 2 matches per day on a really high temperature, we didn't do too bad.

With participating in SAISA Football I increased my awareness of my own strenghts 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. I also participated in planed and initiated activities and I worked collaboratively with others because 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.

Overal, this was another good experience for me.

Me against one of Dhaka's players



Week Without Walls

In January, two weeks after the start of the school year, Grade 11 went down south to Hambantota for 5 days. The first and the last day we were just having fun around the hotel and in the rooms, but duriung the 3 days in between, two groups of us went to two different schools in two different villages in the area of Hambantota. There, we participated in an activity of painting the walls in those schools, which were built by OSC after the Tsunami.
I did work on a murial on one of the walls, and also helped with the painting of the walls, the doors and the windows around the whole place.
With this, I have undertaken new challenges, because I haven't participated in this kind of activities before, and I haven't painted walls nor windows and doors. Also, I have done something like murials in art, but I've never done it on a wall.
Apart from this, 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.
During the painting, I worked collaboratively with others while painting, which is normal because this is a group activity.
I also showed perseverance and commitment in my activities, because apart from doing the murals, which was the only thing I was supposed to do, I also helped people with other stuff, like painting the windows and the other walls, as well as moving things around and cleaning the equipment.
With participating in this activity, I was engaged with issues of global importance, because 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.
With the whole activity, I have developed new skills, because as I mentioned for the first time I painted walls.

This is me painting the background of the murial

SAISA Art

From 2nd to 6th December 7 people from OSC went to Kathmandu, Nepal in order to participate in SAISA Art 2010 together with students from many other schools. Our flight was scheduled for early morning on Thursday, and on the way to Kathmandu we stop in Delhi where we had an hour free time. After the arrival in Kathmandu, we went to our host families and we spent the first couple of days there, and we spent the last night in a hotel. During that time I made 2 pieces of work, one of which with acrylic colours, charcoal and a marker and the other one with charcoal, ink and marker. On the first piece I worked collaboratively with other students which helped me improve my collaborative skills. And with participating in everything that was happening I also showed perseverance and commitment in my activities. On the second piece I worked individually and experimented with different kind of paper and different medias. With this I undertook new challenges, because I haven't tried working like this before. Also , 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 colours.


Overall, it was a good experience and I had a nice time.

 OSC SAISA Art group 2010

SAISA Art students in Bakhtrapur, 2010

Pinhole Photography

For an after school activity in block 2 I have chosen Pinhole Photography. My goal is to cover some more time in the Creativity part of CAS.
So far I've learned how to create photographs using a pinhole camera, and I've created couple of examples from which this one is the best.
First, I need a can with a very small hole on it (about 2-3mm) and a black cover for the hole. Also, the inside of the can where the photo paper is put should be black. Then, I put the camera on the place that I want to take picture of, and open the hole for a minute or two, dependable of the amount of light in the room, and how big the hole is.
Apart from taking pictures, we have learned how to develop our photographs. In the dark room I put the photo paper in 3 different chemicals until it's developed. After that the photography is left drying.
Yesterday also, we went to the Computer Lab and scanned and photoshoped our photographs, inverted it, flip it and change the contrast. In the end they came out to look very good, regarding the fact that this is the first time I've done this.
With this I have undertaken new challenges and developed new skills, because these are things that I haven't done before.

Picture of me with a Pinhole camera

Wall Climbing Trip

On the 8th of October, the Wall Climbing group with guidance from Mr. Lockwood, Mr. Simms and Mr. Smith, went to Thulhiriya where we had opportunity to do real rock climbing, b-laying, ab sailing and climbing up the giant ladder. I have already done that before, on the IB trip which was on the same place, but still it was a good experience because now I had more practice before the trip on the Wall in the gym.
We started off at 7 A.M. from OSC, and from the beginning we could see that the weather is going to be a problem, it looked like every second it was about to rain. And it eventually did. We spent around 2 hours on the way to there, and as soon as we arrived, we had a short snack and we were ready to go. First we did the rock climbing and it was really challenging because it was raining and the rocks were really wet and slippery. I was b-laying first, which was little challenging for the arm muscles, but apart from that it wasn't hard. Then the time came when I was supposed to climb up the rock and I think I did good. I got to the point which we considered to be the top, because the rain didn't allow us to go further up.
After that we went ab sailing, and I was little scared at the beginning, but I did good but I got out of it with bruised fingers from the rope. And finally I climbed up to the top of the Giant Ladder with another student, and it was challenging because as we went further up the difference between the steps got longer and longer.
It was a good experience because I developed my skills and tested my strength. Also, I worked collaboratively with other people, like in b-laying and the climbing on the giant ladder which took place in pairs. The activity was a good one, and it had a big role in my action part of CAS. This trip, and the whole Wall Climbing course made me think about continuing to do this sport, as I will be looking forward to doing it next year too.

 Me on the Giant ladder

Me b-laying

Pictures taken by Mr. Lockwood, October 2010

Football

Saturday, 3:40 PM.
That's what I am waiting for the whole week - Football.
I have been playing football for long time now, since I have started going to school, and I don't think I'll ever get bored from it. I joined the group as soon as I found out about it, and I've been going to trainings every Saturday unless I'm not in Colombo. In the group there are a lot of people, from different ages, both boys and girls but that doesn't make any difference whatsoever. We play for 2 to 3 hours every training and sometimes it's hard because of the hot weather, or sometimes the pitch is bad because of rain. But that's good - if it wasn't hard it wouldn't be interesting. (:
Anyway I haven't been on a training for 3 weeks now, I have a leg injury sustained guess where... football. Well, football is a rough sport and this is normal, so I am not complaining. If nothing else, this will remind me to wear my shin guards next time. With football I am fulfilling my Action part of CAS, as I am running and sweating, and I am completing my goals of training hard and getting my body in better shape.
The football games include working collaboratively with others, and it also increases my awareness of my strenghts and areas for growth.


And, another thing regarding the other sport I started this block - swimming, I was obliged to quit because of medical problems that I have already suffered before.

Wall Climbing

For my after school activity in OSC, I have chosen Wall Climbing, Mostly because I've never had any experience with this kind of sport, except little rock climbing on the IB Trip. Anyway, the Wall Climbing classes, now finished, have proven to be a good experience for me. A lot of action which results with lots of sweating, and arms' and legs' muscles pumping. I was the oldest student in the group, but not the best because there were other students who have already been rock and wall climbing. But as time went by I started getting better and better, and by now, I've managed to climb up 2 of the 4 walls which I consider a success, also regarding the fact that I have broken my arms' bones couple of times.
With this I have increased my awareness of my strenghts and my areas for growth, undertaken new challenges and developed new skills.
Overall, I liked this activity, and I am looking forward to joining in next year again.

Sunflower Project

I have joined the CAS group Sunflower Project, where every Thursday there are students coming to OSC from a local school. Our goal is to teach them how to swim, and to develop the skills of the ones that have basic knowledge about swimming already. Three weeks have already passed since we had our first training, and everything is going fine. We divided them in two groups, the ones that can and the ones that can't swim, and I am one of the students in charge the group of three guys that can swim. We are having trainings for about 30 minutes to 45, after that we spend around 20 minutes having fun, mostly playing water polo. After the training, they are all rewarded with a chocolate milk. From my point of view there can be seen some progress in our group of 3, but there is still a lot to be done.
With
This is fulfilling my service part of CAS and my goals of teaching the children how to swim, also I have worked collaboratively with others.

Community Action Service Goals. @ OSC

My goals for the CAS program, which is still new to me, I will be setting now, and will look into expanding them in the future. They will be interesting, and some new to me, and doable so I don't have problems afterwards. At the beginning of 11th grade, I started wall climbing for the first time, also football and swimming (which I've been doing for years). I got in the Sunflower Village group, and we will be looking to teach them the basics of swimming.The Sunflower Village is new to me, and my goal is to teach the kids from a local school how to swim, as much as I could. And with this I want to develop my leadership skills towards the kids. As far as football and swimming, my goal is to train hard, compete, and get my body in better shape, with that also fulfill my free time with something active.


So this are my goals for the first few months, after I finish them I will set new ones about which I will think in the mean time. (: