Last interviews

Interviews complete

This is the last week for interviews for CAS this term.  I hope that I have met everyone - if for some reason you have not had a meeting with me and don't have one booked this week, please see me as soon as possible.

Most of you have a good variety of experiences and are well on your way to having complete CAS portfolios at the end of grade 12.  Don't forget to do the CAS questions and get supervisor reviews for any experiences that are already completed.  Don't wait too long after completion to do this.

CAS and Ethics

This is one of the outcomes that many people find hardest to meet and reflect upon.  A new book (see details below) that has just been published about CAS gives the following example:

A student in a dance performance had her leg in a cast after she tore a muscle and wouldn't be able to train with the other dancers in the last weeks leading up to the performance. The producers of the show had to make the decision to exclude her as she wouldn't have time to catch up when her cast was removed.  Decisions like this that you have to make - accepting or not accepting people as part of a group, or their piece of work etc are important if difficult decisions that involve ethical considerations.

You can think about ethical decisions you have made in the following contexts: 

• sport
• dealing with other people
• carrying out a service experience
• in terms of academic honesty
• reflection

Think about how often "we make decisions in CAS relative to the feelings of our peer group."

Cannings, John, María Inés Piaggio, Peter Muir, and Tom Brodie. Creativity, Activity, Service CAS for the IB Diploma An Essential Guide for Students. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ Pr, 2015. Print.

Amnesty - Run with Pride

It's not too late to sign up for the Amnesty Pride run this Sunday.  Take a break from studying and give your brain some fresh air! 

stockholm/amnestyloppet-run-with-pride

Summer volunteers

For those of you who are here in the summer there are quite a few opportunities on Volontärbyrån.  Many of them require Swedish but keep an eye out as jobs pop up all the time.

Working with refugees in the summer

If anyone is interested in working with refugees and asylum seekers here in Sweden over the summer, please come and seem me.  For many young unaccompanied asylum seekers, the summer can be a very long period of time without school and not much to keep them occupied.  They have little money and not much to do.  I have contact with a group - Fånga Framtiden Tillsamans - 'Catch the Future Together'.  This group would like to organise some activities for the young people over the summer.  You can get involved, even if you don't speak Swedish.

I will not post on the blog next week as you have exams and I will be away with the grade 12s.  

Plan for the Summer

What are you doing in the summer?

There are a lot of volunteer opportunities for people who wish to do something in the summer break. I have listed a few here below from the Swedish volunteer site but I know that many of you are not going to be in Stockholm over the summer.  Will you have some time to do something in your own country?  Many help organizations need extra people in the summer when everyone goes on holiday.  If you think that you could give up a week or 2 of your summer, now is the time to look into it.  Find out what is available where you come from and see if there is something you can sign up for now.  This can count for CAS – just remember to get some evidence – a reference from the supervisor at the organization is great not only for your CAS portfolio but can come in handy when you are looking for jobs and further studies in the future.

 Here are some of the jobs that are available in Sweden.  The first is in English but the others are not.  I think that it is still possible to help out with the others –it can’t hurt to apply.  Use googletranslate, a friend who speaks Swedish or me to help you understand.  I have put a short summary in English a the end of each postion.

 Action 10

Action10 is a nonprofit organization operating in low-income countries (www.action10.org). We have programmes in seven countries: Kenya, Uganda, Togo, Cameroon, Liberia, Nigeria and Colombia. Our vision is a world without extreme poverty.

We are currently looking for more volunteers to join our Evaluation Planning Working Group. The group's responsibility is to ensure that all programs are carried out in accordance with our ten "actions" (needs-driven programs, resilience, quality values, equal partnerships, etc.). The group uses Action10's own evaluation method called The Ten Action Strategy. Furthermore, the group's responsibility is to collect and analyze the results of our programmes as well as maintain regular contact with our focal points in other countries.

When and where will the volunteering take place: 

The tasks are ongoing and all the meetings are held in Stockholm.

See action 10 for more details

Retoy

Lek är något som förenar alla barn, vart vi än befinner oss, vilket gör just leken och leksaken till ett utmärkt verktyg för att öva oss på hållbar konsumtion!

Retoys Leksaksbytesaktiviten är en uppskattad mötesplats som på ett skojigt sätt låter barn praktisera smart resurshantering och göra dem medvetna om deras roll i att skapa en hållbar framtid genom att byta och återvinna.

Din roll är att agera bytesaktiviteten vilket innebär att du kommer att ta emot barnen och deras leksaker, hantera stämpelkort och vägleda barnen i hur leksaksbytes går till. Du kommer att få förklara aktiviteten och inspirera barnen att skapa bilder av allt bra som barn i hela världen har rätt till!

När och var ska uppdraget genomföras: 

Från 9:e till 18:e juni kommer vi att arrangera leksaksbytesaktiviteter i samband med clownen Mannes föreställningar under hans parkteaterturné runt om i Stockholm! Vi söker dig som vill vara med och hjälpa till under några av dessa intensiva och roliga dagar. Spelplatserna varierar men tiderna är 10:00-13.00

This is a group that works with children.  This particular job is helping out on a toy exchange day.  They want people who speak other languages so lack of Swedish can be compensated by your skills in other languages.  The main days they need help are the 9th and 18th of June.

 More information: retoy

 Volontärbyrån

Volontärbyrån hjälper människor och ideella organisationer att hitta varandra och vi tror på att man mår bra av att engagera sig ideellt i samhället och vill därför vill vi ge fler möjligheten att hitta sitt volontäruppdrag. Vi arbetar med att förmedla kontakten mellan ideella organisationer i Sverige och de volontärer som vill engagera sig. Nu söker vi dig som vill hjälpa oss med detta arbete under nationaldagen då vi har möjlighet att nå ut till 20 000 personer!

Vi söker flera volontärer som vill hänga med oss i vårt informationstält och på festivalområdet för att dela ut flyers och uppmuntra till ideellt engagemang! Vi kommer troligtvis att genomföra en del tävlingar och ha frågesport eller något liknande och till det här evenemanget behöver vi din hjälp!

Vi kommer också att bygga upp och river ned informationstältet under dagen, om du kan komma tidigt eller stanna sent på dagen så är det uppgifter som ingår för dig som volontär.

On the 6^th June (Swedish National Day) there is always a bit celebration in Rålombshov Park on Kungsholmen.  Voluntärbryån (the volunteer organization) needs people to help set up their stall and give out information about their work.

More information: volontärbyrån

 Raoul Wallenberg Academy

Under Raoul Wallenbergs dag den 27 augusti kommer det nationella skolprojektet ”Varje människa kan göra skillnad” att visas upp för allmänheten.

Skolklasser runt om i Sverige har fått varsin kub (3x3x3 meter), där de på olika sätt skapat sin tolkning av en mänsklig rättighet. Vi söker nu volontärer som under ett pass om ca tre timmar bemannar en kub, hälsar besökare välkomna och ser till att hjälpa lärare och elever att hålla ordning i kuberna.

När och var ska uppdraget genomföras: 

Kuberna är uppställda i Kungsträdgården i centrala Stockholm mellan den 26-28 augusti.

This organization works for encourage young leaders.  They will have stalls set up in Kunsgträdgården on the 26^th – 28^th of August and need people to help out.  School children will be coming with cubes that they have use to display their interpretation of human rights.

More information: Raoul Wallenberg Academy

Make Hay While the Sun is Shining!

Exams, CAS, extended essays ......

It might feel just now that there is a lot to think about.  You are supposed to be around half way - if not more, through your CAS.  You are supposed to be writing extended essays and be about half way through that.  Then, to top it off, you are supposed to prepare for exams at the end of May.  Just as Spring is arriving and you really want to be outside making hay - metaphorically speaking of course.  I can say that most of you are in a good position with CAS.  I have spent the last few weeks interviewing people to check progress and found that you are well on the way to satisfying the CAS requirements. Please make sure you follow up on the points that we talked about as that will ensure that you do not fall behind.  It's really about getting on top of it now and not waiting, as next term you will not have so much time.  Make good progress now and you will thank yourself for it later on.

Theatre Performance a success

On Friday, many of us were lucky to see a very successful creativity experience.  Alexane directed a play with actors from the MYP and presented it to a large audience in the auditorium.  It was an fascinating story about monkeys writing Hamlet.  I hope that more of us will get a chance to see a repeat performance in the near future.  Well done Alexane.

Rhino Event

The Rhino preservation group has decided to hold an event at the beginning of next term and are looking for acts, art, and music to present.  If you have a budding ambition to be on stage, this is your chance.  Come to the meeting next week on Thursday or let one of the group members know that you would like to be part of this fund raiser.  

Sports Club

David and William's sports club is off to a good start and they are always looking for new members.  They are recording their progress on a vlog which you can watch on youtube.  You even see how to do different exercises.  Subscribe to their SIS Sports Group for regular updates and fun viewing.  This is their latest video.

Amnesty:  Run with Pride

Some of the students in the Amnesty group will be helping out at this fun event.  It is being held in Rålambshovs Park on Kungsholmen on the 22nd May at 15.00.  I know that is the day before your exams - but it is a good chance to run off some of the stress.  You can run 5 or 10 km.  The point the run is to show support for all people no matter what their sexual orientation.  In many countries people are persecuted if they don't fit into the norm and Amnesty is working to improve rights for all people.  You can register at: amnestyloppet-run-with-pride.  The cost is 100kr.  

Have a good and sunny week.