Third CAS interview

CAS programme

●     What did you most enjoy about CAS?

In my opinion the most enjoyable aspect of CAS was definitely the possibility to work with people. Not only did the programme make me understand the importance of teamwork, but also actually made the whole group more willing to cooperate. I think that the work done in groups was the most memorable part of CAS.

●      Did you manage to reach your goals? What have you achieved through CAS?

I think that I have managed to reach some of my goals I had seen at the beginning of the CAS programme. I have been able to develop myself in more than one area. In addition, through CAS I have achieved a greater degree of self-discipline and management skills since completion of the CAS tasks required very good organisation.

●     What was your greatest challenge in CAS? How did you overcome this?

I am convinced that my greatest challenge with regards to CAS was not sufficient amounts of time to carry through deep analysis of my CAS activities. Eventually, I was able to overcome this issue with the pieces of advice from my coordinator, who suggested different approach to the CAS reflections.

●     What have you learned about balancing your time with your choices and commitments?

I have learned that there is enough time to balance both. In order to be successful in completion and recording of the CAS programme, one needs to be able to manage free time in a very ordered manner. In fact, I think CAS allowed me to understand the importance of time management to a greater extent, which allowed to me do more things overall.

●     How did knowing the CAS stages assist you? Where else can you apply these CAS stages in future learning or in life in general?

I think that knowing the CAS stages allowed me to make my CAS activities more regular and ordered. Consequently, I think that CAS stages in a similar way may help in organization of my future learning and life in general. This distinction between certain stages proved to be very helpful and assist me in a satisfying way.

●     How do you already apply what you have learned from CAS in your daily life? How can this continue as you make future choices?

I have been able to apply the abilities connected with teamwork in my everyday life. The RPG sessions and group conducted by myself require social skills on a quite high level and CAS helped me to train myself in that area. I think that ability to cooperate and work in group will continue to develop in my future life and I think I will be allowed to make choices that would be unachievable without the mentioned experience.

●       Looking ahead, have any new goals emanated from your CAS programme?

I think that no new goals have emanated from my CAS programme but it has definitely strengthened will to continue activities connected with the most important aims in my life. Actually, I am convinced that CAS allowed me to understand those goals better.

●       How did you integrate the three CAS strands in your overall programme?

I have tried to do activities that include at least two of the mentioned strands. Although, it did not always happen to be possible, in many cases my activities are composed of at least two strands, thus it was more easy to keep enough harmony in the programme.

●       Describe your CAS project: how you planned, who collaborated, your roles and responsibilities and the results of your collaboration. How were your expectations met or exceeded?

My CAS project was planned for a few weeks during regular meetings at our school with a company responsible for aiding students in their voluntary activities. Together with a few people from my class we have set up a team aimed at creation of workshop for young students from primary schools. Moreover, there were many different roles needed in the group and it happened that I have taken up the responsibility in the English part of the workshop, during which I have been occupied with teaching the children vocabulary connected with animals. Finally, our cooperation in the team succeeded to the extent that we were able to create a successful event for the students, which hopefully had a very positive impact on the students’ development. I think, my expectations were exceeded by the enthusiasm of the children and in fact on the day of the event I was absolutely astonished by the reaction of the young students, which eventually gave a lot of satisfaction.

Evidence from CAS

●     What has the role of reflection been in your whole CAS programme? Describe any way your experience with reflection has been helpful and memorable.

I think that the most memorable and helpful experience concerning CAS reflections was that done after the concert of a music group Accantus, which allowed me to a big extent reconsider the nature of music and creativity. I have found it very memorable due to the fact that it caused my creative skills to increase as well as sparked anew my individual love for the music.

●       How could you use something similar to a CAS portfolio in future endeavours?

In my opinion I could use a similar pattern of a portfolio for marketing purposes. I actually have chosen to pursue carrier in area of services, where, according to the best of my knowledge, marketing is a matter worth considering. The regular practice of updating CAS portfolio combined with uniqueness of every analysis creates an image that could be very mesmerizing for the people, thus I believe it could be useful for the mentioned purposes.

●       In what ways has the process of reflection and collecting evidence of your CAS experiences helped you develop the attributes of the IB learner profile? What would you do differently?

I think that the process of reflection of collecting evidence has boosted the open-mindness of an IB learner. The reflections made me consider everyday matters from different viewpoints, thus enchancing that attribute. Nevertheless, I believe, if had the chance, I would have spent more time focusing on the nature of the reflections to broaden my horizons, instead of the popular nature of the blog itself. This way, I hope I would be able to achieve more with regards to my self-development, while at the same time assuring high standards of the CAS reflections.

CAS learning outcomes

●       How did you improve and develop your planning skills?

I have been able to organize my time more efficiently as well as I have understood how to choose the most important goals that need to be resolved first, so that their completion can aid conduction of other aims.

●       What did you learn about yourself and others?

I have learned some of my weaknesses and strengths, while at the same time I have understood that other people will not always be able to do the things that I am capable of and vice versa. With regards to my weaknesses and strengths, I have realized that I do not always possess the amount of motivation needed for regular updates of the CAS blog, on the other hand I have found writing the reflections to be quite easy and entertaining.

●     What have you learned through working in collaboration with others?

I have learned the importance of teamwork and leadership. Without a very well-planned programme and a plan, teamwork becomes extremely difficult, yet once some form of leadership is settled, true strength of teamwork can be seen and projects can be done more easily.    

           

●     What abilities and skills did you develop most significantly in CAS?

I have developed the most the ability to look at things from many different perspectives and the skill to constantly seek different forms of activities that can somehow contribute to my self-development.        

●       Did CAS help you to consider issues of global importance? How?

The voluntary activities made me consider the global cultural and economical issues. During the workshop done for students from not well-equipped schools, I have understood the importance of good economical supply for the education. I think it is a quite important global issue that I have been taught through CAS activities.

●       Which learning outcome did you find most easy to achieve? Most difficult to achieve?

I think that the most easy to achieve were the improvements in my creativity and self-management skills due to the fact that CAS allowed me to develop them without any specific training or work. On the other hand, I think the most difficult to achieve was the habit of recording of very important activities I have taken up. It was not quite easy to remember that memory of every activity should somehow be saved and later presented.

●       What qualities did you discover and develop? What areas for growth were evident?

I have discovered and developed the leadership ability. Conduction of the group as well as my CAS project allowed me to put myself in the position of a leader, which definitely made me develop that ability to a satisfying extent. In addition, I think I have grown in areas of creativity, self-management and teamwork. Finishing the CAS programme I feel much more developed in all of these areas.

Closing

●     What could be improved about the way CAS is organized in school?

I believe that the biggest improvement to the CAS organisation in my school would be the abolishment of CAS lessons during the first year of diploma programme. Even though, the hours spent were quite developing and allowed the coordinator to assure our development of CAS portfolios, I believe this could be achieved by introduction of some forms of different meeting focused on multiple aspects of CAS.

●  What advice do you have for upcoming CAS students regarding making CAS enjoyable, sustained over time and meaningful?

I think the biggest advice I can give for upcoming CAS students is to contribute to CAS portfolio through activities that bring them joy and that they find entertaining. This way, the development of their individual activities will become easier to achieve as well as they may be more willing to keep track of their CAS portfolios. Thus, I am persuaded that enjoying activities that are related to CAS has a very positive effect and actually choosing such forms of fulfilling the programme gives an extremely positive influence and brings about the general development of an individual.

●      Five years from now, what will you remember most about your CAS programme?

I guess the thing I will remember most about my CAS programme was the fact of cooperating with my coordinator as well as my classmates during the programme. I think that the hours spent on planning the different forms of events and activities were a quite exciting and very developing time. To put it simply, not only did the meetings allow me to learn a few new things but also gave the possibility to spend some quality time and strengthen the bonds that hopefully will be kept for years on.