madisons-cas-blog

[madisons-cas-blog]

Reflections as a Class of 2020 IB Student

This year completely flipped my life upside down, to say the least.

So many unexpected turns happened throughout my senior year that I could not have anticipated. I remember my “last first day” of high school thinking it was crazy that I was finally a senior, and how crazy it would be to eventually walk across the graduation stage, take my IB exams and say goodbye to my closest friends. Turns out, i’m still thinking about how crazy that would be, because I won't ever take my IB exams, and I probably won't be able to have the rite of passage most seniors get by saying goodbye to their friends and teachers and walking across their school’s stage.

Not only was I confronted with this harsh truth, but during the build-up to the current pandemic I dealt with other large changes in my personal life. My first ever dog passed away, I was slapped in the face with a slew of college rejections, and I experienced my first ever breakup-- right before all of my IA’s were due. 

Balancing my personal life and school was already difficult enough, as I put so much pressure on myself to be the best and work as hard as I could that I became a workaholic and lost the balance so many strive for between school and home. Between not getting recognized by most of the colleges I applied to and the burnout I was feeling from all the work I put in these past two years, I was especially conflicted with my feelings towards my exams being canceled. 

On one hand, I was ecstatic because it was a weight lifted in some areas like Math: a subject where I had almost no confidence, but a good quality IA that would stand out compared to math exams where my test anxiety often took precedence. On the other hand, in subjects like Biology and Anthropology it felt odd studying either one large textbook or multiple ethnographies all for our entire grade to be based on one science--or social--experiment we did in a couple of days.

As I look back, it’s hard to know if it was all worth it yet. I am in this in-between stage where my graduation has not been confirmed or denied, so I don’t know how to feel quite yet. It was definitely an odd feeling, though, sitting in my bed and turning in my last IA and knowing that was it. Two years and it ended with me sitting on my bed, laptop on my lap at 10pm. 

The amount of tears I shed over trying to understand a math concept, the one time I fell asleep with my head in my Biology book and the first thing I saw when I woke up was 3.4 INHERITANCE, the times I cried into my floor after getting rejected from every school I applied except for two (one which I couldn’t even afford) are all memories that stick out when I think about what made these two years so intense. To think, not only do I not get to feel like I really even completed the DP but that I don’t even get the one thing a senior has to look forward to, their graduation, is odd. I feel like I am at this stagnate point where I am just waiting for answers, waiting for everything to go back to normal, waiting to see my friends and teachers and hug them one last time before the people that I have seen every day all disappear from my life. 

Right now, I feel that IB benefited me in many ways, but not the ways I expected. No, it did not get me into the top colleges I felt I was promised when starting the program. No, it did not help me get higher standardized test scores. No, it did not make me stand out. However, it did turn me into a critical thinker. It showed me how much I was truly capable of. It introduced me to ideas and ways of thinking I would have never known of before. It allowed me to speak spanish to the non-english speaking man that rear-ended me before entering the freeway. 

Overall, I am so grateful for my time not only in the IB program, but in high school. I met some of my closest friends that I feel are more like siblings, I gained a giant support network of teachers that truly looked out for my best interests, and I got some of the best, and worst, memories of my life. When I think about my time in high school as a whole, I feel nothing but gratitude. And, I think that no matter what the outcome of this pandemic is, that will be what I continue to feel moving forward.

[madisons-cas-blog]

Title of Activity: Yearbook

Date(s) of activity: December 2019 - April 2020

Number of hours spent on this activity: 13

Which of the following learning outcomes have you addressed with this activity? (choose all that apply)

Increasing your awareness of your own strengths and areas for growth

Undertaking new challenges

Planning and initiating activities

Working collaboratively with others

Showing perseverance and commitment in your activities

Engaging with issues of global importance

Considering the ethical implications of your actions

Developing new skills

Because I attend a really small school, I had the opportunity to design a personalized page for every senior graduating this year based off of their interests and personality. I really wanted to contribute to the yearbook somehow and make something special. I figured that by applying my design skills, I could make something memorable that would make the class of 2020 stand out from the rest. I worked with every senior individually to understand what they liked and how they wanted their page to look. The photos attached are some of my favorites.

 The most challenging part wasn’t the designing though-- the hardest part was finding a way to fit each picture in and make it symmetrical, especially when some seniors submitted 30+ pictures. Fitting them into the photoshop layer often took the most time out of everything else. However, towards the end I created a system by using Photoshop’s built in rulers to structure my pages before adding the pictures which helped immensely. Another challenging part was sticking to the deadlines while also working at my job and my IA’s. I often forgot about yearbook because it was so low on my priorities list compared to my IA’s but I managed to complete everything on time which demonstrated my commitment to the task.

My favorite part of the process was how different every single page was from the other. I really feel that I was able to capture the essence of every seniors personality and portray them in a way they would like. Also, being able to see their reactions after showing them the finished page was really rewarding for me.

Overall, now that everything is done, I am really proud of what I created for everyone and I hope they like it once the yearbooks are shipped to everyone.

[madisons-cas-blog]

Creativity Reflection

Title of Activity: Designing a Flyer

Date(s) Spent: April 29th 2020

Number of hours spent on this activity: 2

Which of the following learning outcomes have you addressed with this activity? (choose all that apply)

Increasing your awareness of your own strengths and areas for growth

Undertaking new challenges

Planning and initiating activities

Working collaboratively with others

Showing perseverance and commitment in your activities

Engaging with issues of global importance

Considering the ethical implications of your actions

Developing new skills

My cousin is an IB teacher and needed a flyer made for an online course he is teaching. I used his school colors and found a historical background to add underneath since it was within the subject of Social Studies. I also incorporated the logo of the school county that was holding the course. I really enjoyed being able to help out and also have something creative to do during the pandemic where I have otherwise felt really uninspired to create. By having something assigned to me in which I was forced to be creative, I pulled myself out of my creative rut and want to make more now that I finally have free time.

[madisons-cas-blog]

Activity Reflection

Title of Activity: Hammer and Chisel

Date(s) of activity: April 26th - May 2 2020

Number of hours spent on this activity: 7

Which of the following learning outcomes have you addressed with this activity? (choose all that apply)

Increasing your awareness of your own strengths and areas for growth

Undertaking new challenges

Planning and initiating activities

Working collaboratively with others

Showing perseverance and commitment in your activities

Engaging with issues of global importance

Considering the ethical implications of your actions

Developing new skills

Today marks my one week of a 60 day workout challenge I started with my mom! We are following the calendar to Beachbody’s Hammer and Chisel and I really like it so far, though it is really different from other programs i’ve done. Compared to other workouts, this focuses on slow, controlled movements rather than fast paced and intense ones. Despite this, I still feel just as--if not more--tired in the end. Some of the hardest moves for me were Pistol Squats, where you stand on one leg and squat while holding a weight, and Decline Push-Ups, where you do push-ups at a downward angle. Since the week has begun I’ve used five-pound weights but today I moved up to eight which was an achievement! Though neither of those weights pose a challenge to me by themselves, when coupled with the moves I have to do it makes things much harder, so I decided to start small.

In the beginning it took a lot of work to find motivation because I have become so used to going to the gym. However, because of the pandemic I haven’t been able to go and i’ve had to make it work at home. Since starting, though, I have actually found myself enjoying the flexibility of working out at home and I think this challenge will produce really good results for me-- some of which I am already starting to see! My arms are noticeably stronger for one, and my endurance has gone up a lot as well. I am really happy so far in this challenge and I can’t wait to revisit this reflection once I am finished and see how far I’ve come.

[madisons-cas-blog]

Title of Activity:

Ultimate Strength Yoga

Number of hours spent on this activity:

00:45:01

Date(s):

04/25/20

Which of the following learning outcomes have you addressed with this activity? (choose all that apply)

Increasing your awareness of your own strengths and areas for growth

Undertaking new challenges

Planning and initiating activities

Working collaboratively with others

Showing perseverance and commitment in your activities

Engaging with issues of global importance

Considering the ethical implications of your actions

Developing new skills

Due to COVID-19 closing the gyms, I still wanted a way to be active. However, instead of doing regular strength workouts with equipment like I’m used to, I decided to try yoga. I really enjoyed it and I especially liked being able to put my flexibility gained from doing gymnastics as a kid to use. One of the hardest moves for me, though, was Frog Crow Flow, where you go from a low squat position to the crow position. The Crow entails putting pressure on your wrists and leaning you knees on your shoulders so your feet are off the ground. Though the actual move was not extremely hard, my wrists were really sore afterwards which made me more conscious of my form. As the movement repeated later in the workout, I moved my legs higher up on my arms and this relieved the wrist pain a bit. Overall, I really enjoyed this yoga workout and it showed me that despite the gyms being closed, I can still be active even on the floor of my own bedroom.

[madisons-cas-blog]

Date(s) of CAS Activity: 3/14/20

Title of Activity: Core Burn Out

Number of hours spent on this activity: 15:00

Which of the following learning outcomes have you addressed with this activity? (choose all that apply)

Increasing your awareness of your own strengths and areas for growth

Undertaking new challenges

Planning and initiating activities

Working collaboratively with others

Showing perseverance and commitment in your activities

Engaging with issues of global importance

Considering the ethical implications of your actions

Developing new skills

My spring break just began and I want to begin working out every day now that I don’t have to be at school every day. Through the Nike Trainer App, I attempted a new ab workout. I also needed to work on my core strength after going to a sports medicine physician and finding out that the back pain I was experiencing would be alleviated through certain abdominal and glute movements. While the workout moves itself were not more challenging than I was already used to, one move proved extremely hard for me, and that was hanging from a bar and bringing your knees up towards the left, down and then towards the right. While this doesn’t sound challenging, I surprisingly had a really difficult time gripping the bar for the one minute time limit the exercise move had. In the future, I want to work on this more to increase my endurance in this movement.

[madisons-cas-blog]

Date(s) of CAS Activity: 3/9/19

Title of Activity: Sarasota Film Festival Red Carpet Photoshoot

Number of hours spent on this activity: 7

Which of the following learning outcomes have you addressed with this activity? (choose all that apply)

Increasing your awareness of your own strengths and areas for growth

Undertaking new challenges

Planning and initiating activities

Working collaboratively with others

Showing perseverance and commitment in your activities

Engaging with issues of global importance

Considering the ethical implications of your actions

Developing new skills

A few days before this event, I received a phone call from a friend who told me that his place of work, the Sarasota Film Festival, was looking for a few photographers to photograph their red carpet and press release event in preparation for the upcoming film festival. He told me I was the first person he thought of. I arrived at the event two hours early and introduced myself to the staff at the event. The friend that gave me the volunteer opportunity, Mikey, introduced me to other staff at the event as well and handed out some of my business cards for me to increase my networking opportunities

As more people started arriving to the event, I began networking with the other photographers and exchanging social media profiles. I also saw a photographer I had been an intern for a few months prior and he told me that he had a photography gig for me if I was still in the area when January came around, which felt really exciting. Especially because I looked up to him when I was interning and strived to one day be in his position. To have him recognize me as someone he would want to work with felt like a huge accomplishment.

As the night went on, I continued photographing the rest of the event until I was stopped by Mikey’s boss. He told me that he recognized how hard I was working and felt I stood out among the other photographers. He wanted me to have full access to the festival and photograph the rest of their promotional events. Unfortunately, though, due to COVID-19 I learned shortly after the event that the festival would be cancelled. 

[madisons-cas-blog]

Title of Activity: Senior Photos

Date(s) of activity: March 1st 2020

Number of hours spent on this activity: 5

Which of the following learning outcomes have you addressed with this activity? (choose all that apply)

Increasing your awareness of your own strengths and areas for growth

Undertaking new challenges

Planning and initiating activities

Working collaboratively with others

Showing perseverance and commitment in your activities

Engaging with issues of global importance

Considering the ethical implications of your actions

Developing new skills

While taking senior photos for my friend, I decided to film her with my camera just for fun. After I finished I took it into Final Cut Pro X to edit. I wanted to emulate coming of age films that ive seen and also add music that captured the energy of the moment. I used the song “As Long as I’ve Got You” by the Charmels because I loved the vintage sound of the song coupled with the modern scenery, and the contents of the lyrics looked charming layered over my friend’s cheerful and carefree expressions. I filmed in a high frame rate of 59.9 FPS which allowed me to slow the footage down without it looking choppy. I also used a color correcting plugin to create the look of the video. 

[madisons-cas-blog]

I wrote an article for a magazine about my experience with IB

IB was something I never expected I would end up doing.

I have always pursued alternative education whether that be through Montessori, Waldorf or homeschool. Therefore, it was a shock to me to think that I would be involved in a program so widely recognized across all types of schools. I remember my first day touring NewGate School as a high school freshman. I met with Tim Seldin who showed me around campus and encouraged me to give the IB Diploma Program a shot once my junior year came-- to which I replied, “but I can’t do math!” (to which he replied, “just do an IB certificate!”)

I did not expect how much I was going to push myself over the course of these two years. I wasn’t aware of how much I was really capable of. I remember the first day of our Science (Biology HL) class, our teacher told us there was going to be a ‘learning curve’ and that we should prepare ourselves to not always get A’s on our test like we may be used to. Although my classmates and I took in this information, it didn’t quite set in until we all studied for one of our first big tests, thought it was our best work yet, then realized that we all just scored in the ‘2-3 range’ out of 7. 

Suddenly, our teachers were no longer there to give us all the tools to get a good grade in the class, to make sure our homework is done on time or to make sure we were present for the lessons. By IB’s design, the weight was now put on us as the students and it was time to get to work.

What is IB?

In a nutshell, IB is a two year long diploma or certificate program that is internationally recognized across universities to award college credit. That means that from junior to senior year, you will be in the same classes preparing for (depending on your course) between two to three final exams that will be scored from 1 and 7 in each subject. These courses will be three higher level (HL) courses and three standard level (SL) courses. The difference simply being that a HL course may have some extra requirements that SL students don’t have to complete.

Along with the end of the year exams, there is the Internal Assesment that you must complete in each IB course. In Biology, that might look like a science experiment that you write a paper about. In Literature and Performance, you adapt a short story or poem into a play. The teachers grade it and then send it off to IB to be assessed by them.

In addition to your coursework, you must complete the Extended Essay (EE), which is a 4000 word research paper that is situated in one of your six IB courses. Then, there is the additional class you must take called “Theory of Knowledge” or “TOK”. This is essentially a philosophy class, and the only two requirements from it are that you complete:

One TOK essay using one of IB’s supplied prompts 

a TOK Presentation where you develop your own research question and explore it using a real-world example

All of these go towards your final IB score which can be up to 45 points. I promise this will all begin to make more sense once you are in the course.

Finally, at the heart of IB’s program there is CAS (Creativity, Action and Service). This is something you complete outside of school and most of time, you are already doing it. Do you play a sport or an instrument? If so, the action and creativity boxes are already checked off. The only requirement for CAS is that you create a portfolio containing reflections about these activities throughout your two years (mine is in the form of a blog) and that you complete one CAS project which can involve one or all of the CAS components and is at least six weeks long. While this does not go towards your score, you will not receive your diploma if you do not complete it.

Overall, IB takes a global approach by looking at big ideas across disciplines. You will notice yourself finding connections between something you learned in science class with something you are talking about in Spanish. No matter what they’re studying, students dig deep into subjects and try to find answers.

What if I don’t want to commit to all that extra coursework?

For whatever reason, if a student does not want to do the full IB diploma, they can take up to three IB courses and they only need to complete what is required in that course. That means no CAS, no EE and no TOK. Just the higher level or standard level requirements in the courses they are taking. This is beneficial for a student that maybe has a tighter schedule and doesn’t have time for the full diploma or has a subject area they do not want to take at such an intensive level.

My Experience

IB is usually perceived as a big, scary and difficult program that only those suited for ivy leagues can bear to get through. However, through my experience, I have learned that it is not the skills that you enter the program with that matter but rather the skills you acquire throughout it that will carry you to the exams. 

I did not think at the beginning of my junior year that I would be leading a discussion in my Social and Cultural Anthropology class about hegemony in marginalized groups in East Harlem. I also did not think I would ever receive a 90% on a math test, but it happened! For me, IB has been a journey full of self-discovery and lots and lots of struggling. However, my own academic struggles have taught me so much about who I am and what I am capable of. 

I did not enter the program feeling like I was someone who was even remotely able to tackle all of these requirements. However, by putting in the work, learning how to manage my time and not get in the way of myself, i’m able to positively reflect on it now. I can’t speak for every school, but at NewGate the support system from the teachers and students is something I attribute to why I entered IB in the first place. Therefore, I encourage anyone considering the program to try it out. Your name is not even registered as an IB student until late in your senior year, meaning you have time to see if the program works for you and adapt accordingly. 

Looking back, all the stress tears I cried, the coffee I consumed and nights I stayed up were all formative in enabling me to believe in myself. Even though I am not at the finish line, it is now in my line of sight and I am sprinting towards it faster than I ever have before, with my teachers and family cheering me on until I arrive.

[madisons-cas-blog]

Date of this reflection: 10/6/19

Date(s) of CAS Activity: 10/5/19

Title of Activity: Couples photoshoot

Number of hours spent on this activity: 4

Which of the following learning outcomes have you addressed with this activity? (choose all that apply)

Increasing your awareness of your own strengths and areas for growth

Undertaking new challenges

Planning and initiating activities

Working collaboratively with others

Showing perseverance and commitment in your activities

Engaging with issues of global importance

Considering the ethical implications of your actions

Developing new skills

Today I tried my hand at taking pictures of couples for the first time! It had just rained so I was super nervous about how the photos would turn out but I am so proud of the end result. I had to adapt to a new location and a new style of photography which made me nervous but the couple I shot was so willing to try whatever I wanted and had so much natural chemistry that it made the whole photography process so much easier. My goal was simply for laughter and movement and I got just that. One of the ways I achieved this was to have them hold each other and look into the eyes of each other while I told the guy to whisper his favorite vegetable into the girl’s ear to make her laugh. I also had the couples walk around while holding hands, stretch out and then pull into each other for movement which created some great, fluid effects. I shot the pictures in Camera RAW so that way I could preserve any details that could potentially get lost due to my camera settings. The first image is an example of how I was able to brighten up a really dark picture and make it into something viewable. 

[madisons-cas-blog]

Title of Activity: College Tour Video

Date(s) of activity: October 5 2019

Number of hours spent on this activity: 160

Which of the following learning outcomes have you addressed with this activity? (choose all that apply)

Increasing your awareness of your own strengths and areas for growth

Undertaking new challenges

Planning and initiating activities

Working collaboratively with others

Showing perseverance and commitment in your activities

Engaging with issues of global importance

Considering the ethical implications of your actions

Developing new skills

My best friend and I flew to Boston to tour colleges and it was my first time ever visiting the city before. I wanted to film our time together not only because it will be a fun memory to look back on but also to do something creative and fun outside of school. We toured four colleges and it was filmed on both of our phones though I edited the footage using Final Cut Pro X on my computer. Most of the video is lighthearted and not meant to be taken seriously, as the background song is mashup of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody and multiple childhood television theme songs, along with a rap song by Migos called Bad and Boujee. Throughout the vacation we went to college tours, took pictures in the hotel and reviewed the food. This video documents that process in the most boisterous way possible.

[madisons-cas-blog]

Service Reflection #6

Date of this reflection: 7/13/19

Date(s) of CAS Activity: 7/12/19

Title of Activity: Glass Show Training

Number of hours spent on this activity: 1

As the Gaugin show comes to a close, Selby Gardens has started training docents for the new show aptly titled the Glass Show. It features several artists and all the artwork is for sale and will go towards the artists as well as Selby’s education program at the gardens. We learned about the history of glass and some new upcoming events, as well as how to help customers fill out payment information. Although they are purchasing artwork, this is still a service activity because I am not being paid for it. I have never docented their Glass Show before, and I am really excited. Photos are allowed, so I am able to show off some of the beautiful artwork showcased here!

5. Which of the following learning outcomes have you addressed with this activity? (choose all that apply)

Increasing your awareness of your own strengths and areas for growth

Undertaking new challenges

Planning and initiating activities

Working collaboratively with others

Showing perseverance and commitment in your activities

Engaging with issues of global importance

Considering the ethical implications of your actions

Developing new skills

How does the activity address these learning outcomes?

I undertook the new challenge of a show i’ve never done before. I am working with other volunteers to provide information to the guests and help them with purchasing work. I am showing commitment by continuing to be a reliable and committed volunteer at the gardens.

[madisons-cas-blog]

Title of Activity: Photoshoot in the park

Date(s) of activity: June 2019

Number of hours spent on this activity: 3

Which of the following learning outcomes have you addressed with this activity? (choose all that apply)

Increasing your awareness of your own strengths and areas for growth

Undertaking new challenges

Planning and initiating activities

Working collaboratively with others

Showing perseverance and commitment in your activities

Engaging with issues of global importance

Considering the ethical implications of your actions

Developing new skills

Today I went with my friend to the park because she wanted to take pictures with the flowers that were in bloom. We had a picnic but had to be careful not to damage any of the flowers, which has become a huge problem. Unfortunately, upon arriving, many of the flowers had already been crushed from those visiting previously. In order to not disrupt the nature further, we set up on top of flowers that had already been very crushed and ate our food/photographed there. Places where damage had already been done were the only places we filmed ourselves walking. This is one of my favorite videos i’ve made and I think it almost creates an otherworldy and dreaming visual that I am quite proud of. I really wanted the video to look as if it was shot with a Super 8, so I tried to emulate those effects in Final Cut Pro X.

[madisons-cas-blog]

Activity Reflection #1

Date of this reflection: 6/1/19

Date(s) of CAS Activity: 5/31/19

Title of Activity: Gym Reflection

Number of hours spent on this activity: 2

   1. Briefly describe the CAS activity.  What did you hope to accomplish?

I took my younger brother with me to the gym because he had wanted help getting fit. I showed him some easy to use equipment like the stair climber and the elliptical. He had just gotten a gym membership and was looking to me for guidance. I wanted to show him what I do at the gym so he would feel confident enough to do the same by himself with his new membership.

   2. What was the outcome of the activity?  Did you accomplish your goals?

Although my brother was visibly self-conscious of his lack of gym and equipment knowledge, I showed him there was nothing to worry about by having him do the workouts with me by his side. Because he is still young and a beginner we mostly did body weight exercise, but it was still a challenge for his (and my) endurance and in the end we both woke up sore the next day so I would consider that a success. 

  3. What would you do differently if you did this activity again?

I would have watched over my brother better in the beginning and not assume that he knew things that he did not. He had trouble with the treadmill in the beginning and it was because I assumed the functions of it were common knowledge to some extent. Once I focused more of my attention on helping him instead of working out alongside him, I made him feel much more comfortable and motivated and now he wants to go to the gym with me again.

 4. Describe how this activity represents Creativity, Action, and/or Service. Diploma Only!

This represents action and service because I trained my brother at the gym and we completed many exercises that were new to him. With my help, though, he became much more comfortable exercising and he was really happy about it.

 5. Which of the following learning outcomes have you addressed with this activity? (choose all that apply)

Increasing your awareness of your own strengths and areas for growth

Undertaking new challenges

Planning and initiating activities

Working collaboratively with others

Showing perseverance and commitment in your activities

Engaging with issues of global importance

Considering the ethical implications of your actions

Developing new skills

How does the activity address these learning outcomes?

I undertook the challenge of training somebody at the gym which I had never done before. Although I could have done a better job briefing my brother on some things in the beginning, I think I did a really good job making him feel at ease in this new environment full of intimidating, strong people and my brother went back to the gym with his friends the next day on his own, showing me that I was able to help him feel ready to workout on his own terms and not solely with me. I considered the ethical implications of my actions because I considered the impact of not helping somebody enough with equipment and potentially having them hurt themselves. I did not want this to occur, so I took special care to make sure my brother was fully aware of everything he needed to know for each piece of equipment, while not having him use anything that I felt would hurt him or be unnecessary for his athletic progress.

[madisons-cas-blog]

Date of this reflection: 5/30/19

Date(s) of CAS Activity: 5/28/19

Title of Activity: Video editing

Number of hours spent on this activity: 2

Summer has begun but that doesn’t mean much for IBDP candidates-- at least regarding CAS reflections. I was with my friends on one summer night and I decided to capture what we were doing on tape and edit it to fit the 80s aesthetic that I love so dearly. I directed them for some shots but many were candids (they rehearsed that beginning shot for a long time trying to perfect it although the full video is not entirely shown to reflect that) and I picked a song that I felt fit the overall tone (West End Girls by the Pet Shop Boys-- a favorite of mine). This was an interesting video to film because I shot and edited it entirely on my phone (using an app called Groovo) which I never do. It is crazy to see how powerful iPhones can be nowadays. The line between what is considered ‘professionally edited’ and ‘casually shot on an iPhone’ is blurring more and more each day and this activity really made me realize that your equipment does not matter as long as you have a creative vision

*The first two photos pictured are of the interface of the app that I used to edit the video I made. The gif below shows the beginning shot of my final movie, created entirely on my iPhone.

[madisons-cas-blog]

Designing My Blog

Date of this reflection: 5/30/19  

Date(s) of CAS Activity: 5/29/19, 5/30/19

Title of Activity: Designing My CAS Blog

Number of hours spent on this activity: 12

    1. Briefly describe the CAS activity.  What did you hope to accomplish?

I originally had been keeping my CAS reflections as separate docs in google, but I felt a more cohesive and easy to access collection of my reflections would be in blog format. I intended to have a personal and smooth looking blog theme with an icon I created myself.

    2. What was the outcome of the activity?  Did you accomplish your goals?

I spent a lot of hours trying to tweak my theme to fit my needs, along with figuring out my creative vision for my aesthetic and my icon. I am really happy with how they came out although I suffered a lot of creative blocks along the way, scrapping many different drafts until coming to my final version. 

   3. What would you do differently if you did this activity again?

I don’t think I would change anything about this experience because each version of my blog or my graphics led me to my finished product and because of this, I don’t believe my scrapped versions are any less valuable just because I didn’t use them.

  4. Describe how this activity represents Creativity, Action, and/or Service. Diploma Only!

This activity represents creativity because I used photoshop to create my blog and my graphics on my own. 

  5. Which of the following learning outcomes have you addressed with this activity? (choose all that apply)

Increasing your awareness of your own strengths and areas for growth

Undertaking new challenges

Planning and initiating activities

Working collaboratively with others

Showing perseverance and commitment in your activities

Engaging with issues of global importance

Considering the ethical implications of your actions

Developing new skills

How does the activity address these learning outcomes?

I developed my graphic design skills further and exercised my creativity by making my graphics, and I also learned more about web design and coding and how many things can go wrong by simply adjusting one small thing. I feel that I learned a lot about how coding (specifically for tumblr) works and how precise you need to be. Furthermore, I don’t think I ever would have undertook the challenge of editing a web page if I hadn’t done CAS so for that I am super grateful because I have stepped out of my comfort zone in so many ways throughout my IB diploma experience. 

My creative process

[madisons-cas-blog]

Service Reflection #5

Date of this reflection: 4/28/19   

Date(s) of CAS Activity: 2/16/19-4/27/19

Title of Activity: Gaugin: Voyage to Paradise Docent

Number of hours spent on this activity: 40

     1. Briefly describe the CAS activity.  What did you hope to accomplish?

I was able to get a reoccurring position as a docent during the “Bridge Shift” for this exhibition, and I worked in this position until the shift was discontinued after large crowds were no longer an issue. I wanted to give guests a good experience and provide insight into meanings behind Gaugin’s work and also some backstory behind some of his inspirations to draw connections to how his artwork was influenced by them.

     2. What was the outcome of the activity?  Did you accomplish your goals?

I learned a lot about Gaugin and his life, the importance behind his works and also how to approach guests when they seem confused about an artwork to provide information to help them. During other shows, I mostly welcomed guests and told them what they were going to see through the museum but this time, I showed them around different rooms, explained what different works meant and provided cultural context.

    3. What would you do differently if you did this activity again?

If I were to do this activity differently, I would have read more about Gaugin as a person before starting this activity rather than just learning about his artwork, because I found that many people wanted to know about his life in Tahiti rather than the methods he used to produce lithographs.

   4. Describe how this activity represents Creativity, Action, and/or Service. Diploma Only!

This activity represents creativity because seeing Gaugins artwork and surrealistic methods helped give me inspiration for my artwork in my Visual Arts class. It represents service because I am educating guests about the artwork.

   5. Which of the following learning outcomes have you addressed with this activity? (choose all that apply)

Increasing your awareness of your own strengths and areas for growth

Undertaking new challenges

Planning and initiating activities

Working collaboratively with others

Showing perseverance and commitment in your activities

Engaging with issues of global importance

Considering the ethical implications of your actions

Developing new skills

How does the activity address these learning outcomes?

I increased my awareness of my strengths and weaknesses and developed new skills because I learned how to be a more involved docent rather than a greeter. This was a skill that came naturally to me but was something I had to learn to develop as I volunteered. I undertook new challenges by docenting for a new exhibition and learning about an artist I did not previously have knowledge about. I worked collaboratively with other docents to help them answer guest’s questions that maybe I was stronger in than they were and vice versa. I showed commitment by showing up every Saturday to my shift rather than being a ‘floater’ as I had been in the past, not having a routine position.