What are your CAS activities

[Ice Cream is really yummy]

I don't really remember all the CAS I've done until now because it's so much and I'm still in IB1... :|

C - Piano practice, music composition, improvisation

A - Football, International Forums, Swimming, Concerts, MUN

S - Transport Ambulance Crew Member, School Ambassador, Helping at school events, Christmas help at an institution, Student council

I am sure that it is incomplete. I still have to have more thoughts about what I've done until now...

but that's the most important part of my CAS

^ Piano practice counts? I put in something like "to practice classical songs which are above my level and master them so that I can play them at a hospice." It hasn't quite happened yet

[Guest JimmyK]

I don't really remember all the CAS I've done until now because it's so much and I'm still in IB1... :|

C - Piano practice, music composition, improvisation

A - Football, International Forums, Swimming, Concerts, MUN

S - Transport Ambulance Crew Member, School Ambassador, Helping at school events, Christmas help at an institution, Student council

I am sure that it is incomplete. I still have to have more thoughts about what I've done until now...

but that's the most important part of my CAS

^ Piano practice counts? I put in something like "to practice classical songs which are above my level and master them so that I can play them at a hospice." It hasn't quite happened yet

yupp lol anything counts ahahah

[Xu_0035]

Hey guys, I want to ask something. My CAS coordinator told us that we have to write blogs for each CAS activity on this website our school paid for, and that the IB examiners / moderators will visit our blog website and check up on the regularity of our blogging and stuff. Is this for real? Will CAS be externally moderated? No right?

[dessskris]

I use ManageBac too, if that is what you are talking about

It is said that CAS is externally moderated. Your school will have to submit some CAS record samples to the regional office.

So your school may show them the link to your blog or something. It may be true.

Check this out

[Ice Cream is really yummy]

I do know that we do interviews with our CAS coordinator. We did one at the very beginning of IB1, and we're doing another one soon. This is really to help show how we've grown as a person. For example, in the first interview, I said that I had not done anything which implicated very many people, or that was very fulfilling. Now, I can say that I've done "(this, and this, and this, and this....)" and all this has helped shape me into a better person. I am more confident now and I am more determined to have my voice heard because I know I can help change the world for the better, one activity at a time

Your school needs to keep track of how well you are doing with your CAS activities. IB is all about having a BALANCED life. Here is a list of their IB learner profile:

IB learners strive to be:

* inquirers

* knowledgeable

* thinkers

* communicators

* principled

* open-minded

* caring

* risk-takers

* balanced

* reflective.

(Taken from: http://www.ibo.org/programmes/profile/ , check it out )

Remember, to earn your IB diploma, you NEED these 3 things:

- Your Extended Essay

- Theory of Knowledge (Essay)

- Creativity, Action, Service

If you do not pass ANY of these, you will not get your diploma. Enough said. I don't think that your IB coordinator, CAS coordinator, or I can stress how much these three things are important to your overall IB experience. CAS is NOT that bad as others claim it to be. It is SO wonderful and the enjoyment you give to others reciprocates back to you. It's like the "Law of Service". That might not be the exact wording of it, but you will not regret it. Don't make it a drag.

One more tip for CAS:

- Cater CAS to work for YOU. Find something you enjoy, or are already participating in, and make it CAS related! It's not tha difficult!

If you ever need help with trying to make this tip happen in your own life, don't hesitate to ask us! We're here to help (Sorry I'm not a Moderator, but I do know that this is true!) You can also PM me and I can see what I can come up with!! One more thing, don't forget to look at old threads regarding past CAS activities. You'll be surprised at what you can find

[A_JYG]

:Dthis is my first post

My school is really really weird. They are too stirct on the rules + they have restircted the maximum CAS hours we can get for one activity to 25 hours-_-. So, even if I do a lot, I can only get 25 hours for one activity.

and Yes, I do feel hard for expats to finish the CAS work in foreign country. I don't know how it can be overcame but I seriously do feel a LOT harder. I don't have connections to contact to orphanages or house of old ages(but since I can't speak that well, it's futile to go there where I'll have to talk to them especially old people).

Under the strict rules activities that were allowed in the other IB schools were rejected and here are the surviving ones:

Creativity: making banners for creating awareness of world issues on the school bulletin board, joining grade play (as actors or publicity), learning a new language and so on.

Action: Joining Walkathon or runathon, learn new sports or teach sports(e.g. cheerleading), anti-litter campaign(simply trash picking)

Service: taking care of the kids from orphanages during the school festivals, going to orphanage and teach math and english to them.

anyways, I wish my school banned that 'one activity - 25 hours max' policy. T^T

[Xu_0035]

I use ManageBac too, if that is what you are talking about

It is said that CAS is externally moderated. Your school will have to submit some CAS record samples to the regional office.

So your school may show them the link to your blog or something. It may be true.

Check this out

Ah I see

Well, I guess I have to update them! hahahaha. thx!

[ninety]

Some of my CAS activities:

- Helping out at the school library over 8 months

- Japanese lesson every Friday

- Senior Choir over one term

- Helping out at the school's Christmas fair

- Helping at two charities

- Helping out at a primary school fair

- Helping out with the Year 13s' parents' evening

- Two-day camps x 3

- School trip to Malaysia for 1 week (SCUBA diving)

I've already met the CAS requirements and all the learning outcomes, so I don't have any particular plans for CAS next year. I'm just going to continue with my Japanese, because I like it and have been taking lessons for years. Oh, and also, I'm going SCUBA diving again next year.

If you're struggling to earn creativity points/find a long-term activity, you could think about taking lessons outside of school for your second IB language. I know some people (some who have already finished IB, and others from school) who have tutoring/take lessons outside of school for their second IB language, and they recorded the lessons under creativity.

[Ice Cream is really yummy]

Some of my CAS activities:

- Helping out at the school library over 8 months

- Japanese lesson every Friday

- Senior Choir over one term

- Helping out at the school's Christmas fair

- Helping at two charities

- Helping out at a primary school fair

- Helping out with the Year 13s' parents' evening

- Two-day camps x 3

- School trip to Malaysia for 1 week (SCUBA diving)

I've already met the CAS requirements and all the learning outcomes, so I don't have any particular plans for CAS next year. I'm just going to continue with my Japanese, because I like it and have been taking lessons for years. Oh, and also, I'm going SCUBA diving again next year.

If you're struggling to earn creativity points/find a long-term activity, you could think about taking lessons outside of school for your second IB language. I know some people (some who have already finished IB, and others from school) who have tutoring/take lessons outside of school for their second IB language, and they recorded the lessons under creativity.

These are great Good job!!

My only comment would be that you need to do CAS regularly. They changed it a little bit now and you need to "ALWAYS" be working on something. You can't like, for example, get your +150 hours done in Summer and not do anyting during school for the two years. IB is about being Balanced. They want you to develop "IB characteristics" found in the "Student learner's profile". They don't want IB students to be so caught up with their studies, be book smart, and not be able to "function" in the "real world", so to speak. You should be working towards an average of 3-4 hours of CAS each week (And I think you got that), but what I'm trying to get at is that it's not supposed to be like "I gotta get my +150 hours done as soon as possible so that I can get it over with". No. That's how it's supposed to go. That's what many students were doing, and IBO caught on, so they changed the system a little bit.

But that dosen't mean that you can't take a break once in a while! I once did +40 hours of CAS during a period of 2 weeks. Of course, I was able to "afford" to take a break a little bit to catch up with everything. CAS is just a way to help IB students to stay balanced, and to be exposed to "real life issues" which will help us become better people.

[KzFloyd]

Creativity: Art/Fashion Club, Film class (not IB), Theater class (not IB)

Action: airband, travel photography (WIP), dance (WIP), swimming (WIP)

Service: running the Green Club, Film Club, the library Advisory Board, volunteering at the library, public/community fashion show

[kasandude]

Hmm... you all seem to take it so seriously. I did guitar practice and physical conditioning for all 5 terms as creativity and action, and then stuck in two volunteer trips at the last two terms. Easiest thing ever. All i had to do was play for our music teacher once a while to prove that I have been practicing, and our P.E. teacher knows I work out, so that was fine. Hardest thing was the essays, though, because it gets hard to reword "So I practiced guitar and did push-ups this term" after about two tries.

[Munsif]

Here are mine:

Guitar practice (over 4 months)

Learning squash and swimming

Creative writing

Helping out patients at a hospital x2

Organising school events

just over 60 hours though. My CAS record's all scattered.

Does anyone know if doing some course or undertaking some work in the summer entitle me to CAS hours, as long as I can provide evidence??

I switched schools after 6 odd months so I'm running short on time to cover CAS hours upto an acceptable level before year 2 begins.

[Ice Cream is really yummy]

Here are mine:

Guitar practice (over 4 months)

Learning squash and swimming

Creative writing

Helping out patients at a hospital x2

Organising school events

just over 60 hours though. My CAS record's all scattered.

Does anyone know if doing some course or undertaking some work in the summer entitle me to CAS hours, as long as I can provide evidence??

I switched schools after 6 odd months so I'm running short on time to cover CAS hours upto an acceptable level before year 2 begins.

You need to make sure that whatever you do in summer, you aren't getting paid for it. If you are, then you'd probably want to put it towards a fundraiser (make 2 CAS activities here) and send it off to an organisation, with more funds (and you can make it "ethical" here...) Summer is a great way to get those extra CAS hours You have the "extra" time, so to speak Make the most out of it. Find where you need some improvement on (a learning outcome) and focus on getting those ManageBac bars filled

And remember to always provide evidence, and get a supervisor ahead of time

[Rigel]

We do the following:

We help at an abandoned girls Institute (Homeless/Jobless girls with no parents)

And,

We go to a sort of lodge for children where we help them do their homework/help the administration doing tasks, the chores, etc.

That's for IB1, i'm not so sure about IB2. I really enjoy CAS!

[Ice Cream is really yummy]

We do the following:

We help at an abandoned girls Institute (Homeless/Jobless girls with no parents)

And,

We go to a sort of lodge for children where we help them do their homework/help the administration doing tasks, the chores, etc.

That's for IB1, i'm not so sure about IB2. I really enjoy CAS!

"we"... as in your whole IB1 class? Good for you!! How did you find this organisation?

[Rigel]

We do the following:

We help at an abandoned girls Institute (Homeless/Jobless girls with no parents)

And,

We go to a sort of lodge for children where we help them do their homework/help the administration doing tasks, the chores, etc.

That's for IB1, i'm not so sure about IB2. I really enjoy CAS!

"we"... as in your whole IB1 class? Good for you!! How did you find this organisation?

Yepp our whole IB1 class! It's real fun.

Oh, and our school found out about these organisations, and told us if they were okay to work with, and we accepted!

I'm doing a CAS activity tomorrow by the way.

Edited May 18, 2011 by Ipos Manger

[kkay]

Oh my god, all you guys are doing so much more than me :|

C : MUN, Student Council

A : Football/Soccer Team

S: Abu Dhabi Film Festival, Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, Racing Event in Yas Marina

I've finished my 150 hours though.

Should I be doing more activities?

[Jaymi]

woow!! you guys do such interesting things! makes me want to re-do my hours! haha..

i just finished my hours and handed all my CAS info in but this is what i did:

Creativity - MUN, Choir, Modelling, Pottery, Working at an Arts festival called HIFA (total hours: 256)

Action - Cricket, Indoor Hockey, Outdoor Hockey, Squash, Diving, Gym..then a bunch of us in our class did bunjee jumping, skydiving and white water rafting just to give our action a bit of flair..haha (total hours: 173)

Service - Training lions, helping out SPCA, cleaning cages and help to dress wounds at the veterinary clinic, teaching extra maths at the orphanage to children who are in grade school and visiting old age homes (total hours: 205)

Our school did a 25 hour project. Did any of you guys have to do a 25 hour project as well?? im very curious :/

[Ice Cream is really yummy]

Oh my god, all you guys are doing so much more than me :|

C : MUN, Student Council

A : Football/Soccer Team

S: Abu Dhabi Film Festival, Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, Racing Event in Yas Marina

I've finished my 150 hours though.

Should I be doing more activities?

It's not only about completing your +150 hours, it about becoming a better person. Those student profile-things that you need to develop should be used during your CAS hours, and you should strive to do activities which will give you learning outcomes. You should have at least one bar for each "objectif" or "outcome" (I think those are the words used on ManageBac). If you are second guessing your work, ask your CAS coordinator, or your IB coordinator about it. I know that you should always be working on something (guidline).

Also, this is your time to better yourself. Perhaps even gain more experience and build up your profile. This is the time to do it, you have these two years for yourself... why let it go to waste?

Make the most out of your CAS experience

[jess1ca]

Creativity- performing music at hospital, retirement home; playing piano; painting; model UN

Action- swimming, skiing (winter), running, working out at a gym

Service- lots of random stuff (food bank, homeless shelters, fundraising events) the most regular thing is tutoring. In the summer I'm going to volunteer at a camp