Reflections

This week there has been much to reflect upon.  

The Rhino group spent the week going around talking to classes and encouraging people to join the Global March to raise awareness about Rhino and Elephant poaching.  They went round to a lot of classes and certainly raised awareness in the school.  Six people from the group also participated in the  March on Saturday, marching from the Thai embassy behind Humlegården and and all the way to the Chinese Embassy on Djugården.  Candles were lit and left at both embassies as symbol for the animals who have died for their horns.

The Newspaper group is on the verge of giving out their first edition and had to make some important decisions about content.

The Annexe council has found a new way to work that seems to be functioning.  The people in this group have decided to make committees to deal with different events and issues and take responsibility.  Many students have reflected on how this new way of working makes more people feel active in the group and is a good way to spread responsibility.

Writing reflections

It's important to remember that when you write a reflection it needs to be more than just what you did.  It should be about how you feel participating in the group/activity.  It should be about what you learn about yourself as a learner and others.  CAS is learning by doing so you need to show what you learn.  Even if you are part of an activity because you feel you have to be, you will learn something and that is the point of CAS!

Here are some questions that can guide your reflections.  Remember always to keep in mind the outcomes that you chose and see that you related to those as well.

• What do you perceive and notice?
• How you feel being involved?
• What do you think and feel about the activity itself?
• What does the activity mean to you?
• What value does the activity have?
• What did you learn from this activity, and how might you use this in other areas of your life ?

Coming up:

This coming week look out for activities by the Amnesty group.  Friday is World Day Against Death Penalty.

Are you a Halloween enthusiast? 'Shockholm'  is organizing an even in Stockholm and looking for volunteers. http://shockholm.se/

CAS events in October

All the grade 12s have had their interviews and are busy working on fixing any holes they might have in their CAS folders - in between studying of course.  At this time of year in grade 12 work really starts to take a priority - so it's good to have things under control with regards to CAS.  A couple of groups have some exciting events planned for this month.

A note on Reflections

When I was going through the CAS folders for grade 12, I noticed that a lot of people have some difficulty with reflections.  A good hint is to look at the outcomes you have chosen for the activity.  Choose one as a focus for each reflection.  Write about how you feel doing the activity.  A reflection should not just be what you did but what you learned about yourself doing it.  That's really the point of CAS - to learn through doing.  If you take it a sept further you should also be able to comment on how your participation impacts on others and the future implications for what you do.

Rhino Preservation Group

Oct 4th - Global Walk for Elephants and Rhinos.  

This week the students are going around the whole MYP to encourage people to join this walk to raise awareness of the plight of these animals.  They will be giving out leaflets and presenting to advisory classes.

Check out their web page:  http://rhinopreservationstockholm.wordpress.com for more information about the plight of rhinos and sign up to join the walk on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/events/537467249697710/

Amnesty International Group

October 10th - Debate/presentation about Death Penalty 

This will be held during the grade 11/12 advisory time and coincides with World Day against Death Penalty.  More activities are planned to draw attention to this important issue.

Hiking group

October 12th - Hike with global issues and ethical implications in focus

A hiking group is planning to take a hike in Tyresta National Park.  Kris has more information about this and will be spreading the word.  Grade 11 and 12 students are invited to join.  Ms Celino will be accompanying the hikers to this area where we will see what happens to a forest after fire.

MUN group

October 24th - United Nations Day

Plans are underway for a trip to Berlin to join the Model United Nations conference there.  This group is also working on an event for United Nations Day on October 24th as well as planning a MUN day in February.  Last year's theme was refugees and they are now looking at a theme to follow up on the work done in the last school year.  

Newspaper Group

No date set but hopefully we will be seeing the first edition of the paper in October!

Keep looking on volontarbyran.org for ideas for service.  This week there are requests for tutors (on the English page) as well as people to help with football training for refugees (Swedish page).  Stockholm Film festival is still looking for volunteers and whilst this appears on the Swedish page many non-Swedish students have helped with this before.  Ask a Swedish friend to help you fill out the application!

This week in CAS

The interviews are over with most of the grade 12s and I have been impressed by the range of activities that you are involved in.  Well done.  Make sure that you have something that keeps your CAS folder open until the exam times and look out for some short term opportunities to get involved in.

This week there have been a few events.

Amnesty Group
This group had a visit from an organiser from Amnesty Sweden and is looking at becoming an official Amnesty youth group.  This means that Amnesty will look at the way the group handles the upcoming campaign and then if all goes well invite the members to officially join Amnesty.  This will mean that students will be invited to meetings outside of school as well as other activities.  The current campaign is about Death Penalty - culminating with World Day against Death Penalty on October 10th.  The group will be holding a debate/presentation during advisory lesson on that day and plans to have other activities leading up to it.

The recycling group
This group have set up some bins for bottles and cans in annexe C.  I have noticed that people haven't quite caught onto the right way to use them so perhaps they will have to start some education for the annexe students.

Rhino Preservation Group
This group is well underway with plans to present the plight of rhinos to the whole MYP and DP sections of the school.  Their efforts will culminate in 'Global March for Elephants and Rhinos' on October 4th.  


Kindergarten Assistants
Five students from grade 12 have been offered the opportunity to help as assistants in the kindergarten.  The will be starting next week.

Film Festival
Many students in both 11 and 12 have signed up as volunteers for the Stockholm Film Festival in November. 

If you wish your group to get a mention here - send me an email for drop in for a chat.  If you are interested in any of these groups - go along to the meetings.  Meeting times are displayed on the pink notice board.



This week on Volontärbyrån:

A group called Action 10 -  a non-profit organisation operating in low income countries (www.action10.org). which has   programs in eg Togo, Kenya, Cameroon, Uganda and Nigeria and a vision of  a world without extreme poverty - is looking for several people to help - especially with IT skills.

Some of the positions mentioned in previous blogs are still open.  Check out volontarbyran.org for more information.

CAS interviews and projects

Interviews

This week I have been interviewing grade 12 to make sure that they are on track with their CAS folders.  It's time for everyone to make sure that they have enough Creativity, Action and Service.  You also need to check that you have covered all the 8 outcomes, have a least one project and at least one activity that continues right up to the end of IB.  Most students are well on their way to having a completed CAS folder in May.

Projects

Many of the CAS groups are planning their projects for this term.  Here are some of the exciting projects that are on-going.  If you are not a member of one these groups but think it is interesting go to the meeting and join up.

Mondays 10.30 - Compassionate Journeys
This group is planning to finish up their 'dream pillow' project and raise some more funds to pay for bicycles to help teachers get to schools in Ghana.  So far they have raised over 1000 crowns.

Mondays 15.30 in C9 - Newspaper group
Last school year 2 girls in grade 10 came to me and asked if starting a newspaper would be a CAS activity.  It is great to see that now they have started the IB, they are going ahead with this project and have got quite a lot of interested students with them - in both grades 11 and 12.  I have been contacted by a school in Tianjin in China about co-operating with a CAS project and we hope that the newspaper group can perhaps interview someone in the IB school there.

Tuesdays 10.30 C10 - Amnesty International Group
This group is currently working on  debate/presentation about death penalty.  They have quite a few people on the against side but not some many for.  If your are interested in helping out with this please go to the meeting.
On Sept 19th, Heidi - a student from last year, will visit and meet with the Amnesty group during advisory time (13.45).  She is currently volunteering at Amnesty in Stockholm and helping them to form youth groups in schools.

Wednesdays 10.30 Rhino preservation group
This group is continuing to raise awareness about Rhino preservation this year and are currently planning a week with presentations to the whole school.  The week will culminate in a walk called the 'Global March for Elephants and Rhinos' on October 4th.  This is being organised world wide and the school that we have been cooperating with in Botwsana will also be participating.  The group aim to get as many SIS students to join as possible.  There are posters up around the school and a facebook page with details about the Stockholm walk.
https://www.facebook.com/events/537467249697710/


There are other groups that are working on projects - if you want me to include them here next week please send me an email with details.

Don't forget if you are looking for more service activities that  http://www.volontarbyran.org/eng/ has listings from groups wanting volunteers - this is the link to the English page - you find even more opportunities on the Swedish page.  This week you can find:

Activity organisers wanted for a group called Taman - arranging activities for children.  This is an international organisation working for Friendship without borders.

Also if you are interested in volunteering at a homeless shelter see the notice on the pink notice board for Vinternatt or speak to Anna in grade 12 as she has worked there.

Keep up with your CAS and let me know if your group have something it wants to be included in this blog. 

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Back to school

It's back to school for real now with a full week of classes and lots of goals to be met in the last year of the IB for the grade 12 students. Interviews will take place the week beginning 8th September.  

CAS continues and must continue right up until May for it to be 'completed'.  When you begin your exams I will take my last look through your folders and click the 'completed' button before sending a message to the IB co-ordinator who then sends a message to the IB.

What do you have to do to make sure that your folder gets that final 'completed'?

• Make sure you have a good balance between Creativity, Action and Service - approximately 50 hours of each but remember it's not the hours that count but the quality!
• Make sure you have at least one 'project'.  This must be an activity you did in a group and it has to combine at least 2 of creativity, action and service.
• Make sure that you have activities right up to the end - you cannot finish CAS early. At least one activity must be continue into May.
• Keep up with your refections.  Once again it's quality not quantity that counts but if you have only one reflection for an activity that is long term, it had better be a very good one!  For short term activities (one day or a few hours) the CAS questions are enough.
• Make sure you have supervisor reports for any finished activities.  try to get these as soon as you finish - don't wait 6 months.  Your supervisor might change jobs, email address or not remember you etc.
• Make sure you have covered each of the 8 outcomes.

This week in school

Most of you will have your CAS interviews this week.

Amnesty Group is meeting at break on Monday.

Other groups are meeting look at the pink board for updates.

Still looking for service activities?

Have your tried http://www.volontarbyran.org/eng/for-volunteers/ ?

They now have a lot more in English as well as a long list of opportunities in Swedish.

This week you can find volunteer work as:

•  'Dungeon Masters' leaders
•  people to take pens and paper to places in need when they travel
•  the American Football league is looking for help - no need to know anything about football (16 August) 
• people with communication/computer skills to work with an organisation in Ghana (distance)
• all kinds of jobs with 'Shockholm' a group organising a Halloween celebration in Stockholm
• translators are needed for a Christian organisation (English and Swedish fluency)

CAS award and the summer

It was a pleasure to give out the CAS award for service for my first time as CAS coordinator.  The award went to  Heidi and Oliver in grade 12.  Both of these students have been active in many CAS projects including MUN, Amnesty and Career Day.

In grade 11 the award went to Laura, Thea and Charlotte for their work with the 'Compassionate Journeys' organisation.  Most recently they organised students to participate in a fun run to and collected over 1000 crowns from sponsors.  They hope to do this again on a bigger scale next term.  They will let you know how you can participate either actively or by sponsoring.  They money they raise will go to help buy bicycles for teachers in Ghana to assist them in getting to school.

Remember that you can do CAS over the summer.  Heidi, in conjunction with Amnesty,  is looking for people to help out in the Pride Parade that is held in Stockholm each summer.  It's from the 27July to the 2nd of August.  Send an email to her school email address - just type in Heidi and it will come up - if you are interested.


Remember that http://www.volontarbyran.org/ is a good place to find volunteer work on Sweden.  There are quite a few events that are happening over the summer that you can volunteer for.

Enjoy your holidays.

See you in August

Last weeks!

CAS reports

Next week I will be uploading progress reports for all grade 11s.  Your  parents/guardians will receive a link to click on so that they can see the report on ManageBac.  You will be able to find your progress report in your CAS folder under CAS documents.  It will give details of both your planned and completed activities.  If you get a red flag on that it means that I am concerned that you have not planned or completed enough hours to reach the goals for CAS.

Completed/planned hours

Please note that hours only appear as completed when the activity is finished.  This means that if you have an activity such as going to the gym, you might already have done 25 hours and plan another 25 hours but on the report it will show 50 hours planned.  They will not change to complete until the activity ends some time in the next school year.

Don't wait to get a report

If you have activities that are finished, make sure that you write up the CAS questions and request a supervisor report as soon as possible.  Do not wait 6 months before asking someone to write up a report.  Your supervisor might not be around any more or have trouble remembering who you are!

Grade 12 CAS reports

All grade 12s parents/guardians should have received a link to the final CAS report for their sons or daughters. You can find this under the CAS documents on ManageBac.  It is there as long as you have access to ManageBac.  I recommend that you print it out and save it as it has details of activities that you have been involved in as well as the comments that supervisors made about your participation.  If you would like me to print it for you, pop by before the end of school.

Project Outreach/Hunger Project

This week saw the grade 12s graduate and the end of a project that many of them have worked on over the last 2 years.  This project started in the school several years ago by a student who wanted to help children in Afghanistan.  It has evolved over the years to a group that supports an organisation called the Hunger Project: http://www.thp.org/where_we_work/partner_countries/sweden/overview1 This is an organisation that is active in many countries helping people in need.  This week 4717.00 sek was donated to The Hunger Project through their Swedish office.  Well done to all the students involved in this project.  

Amnesty Day

On Wednesday 11 June the grade 12 students who have been part of the Amnesty Group will be holding an Amnesty Day in the morning for the grade 9 and 10 students.  They are coming back in to school to run this activity.  They are hoping to stimulate interest in Amnesty and hopefully see the start of  an active Amnesty Youth Group in the the school next year.  Heidi will actually doing some  work for Amnesty over the summer and hopes to help develop their youth program.