Visual Arts

Arts Special is a group of different arts such as drama, guitar, keyboard, drums, vocals, visual arts and such like.  I chose visual arts because I had keen interest in learning and executing different forms of visual arts. I developed this interest during my 9th grade, when I chose Art and Design as a subject in the IGCSE. One of my goals for this activity was to perform all the tasks with enthusiasm. I chose visual arts in the 1st and 2nd year of my DP. The visual arts slot came once in 7 days.

I learned many new forms of visual arts.

Art Skill Reflection
Clay moulding I came across lots of new techniques such as slab moulding. These new techniques helped me gain further insight about how clay structures/statues are sculpted. It was difficult to mould clay at first, however I took it as a challenge and practiced harder.
Woodcut Print I found this the most interesting. It required a lot of determination and hard work to clean and polish woods and then carve using interesting tools like U-tool and V-tool and knife. It took lots of days to carve it perfectly. I carved dainty flowers and leaves on the squared wood slab. The most difficult yet fascinating part was applying ink colours on the glass slab, and attach it with the wood for printing. The whole process required rigorous practice, and I made at least 5 copies before printing the final one. It was definitely time consuming, however the output was absolutely beautiful. It was tedious yet wonderful.img_0787
Painting wood Aashna, my classmate and I founded a wooden object in the scrap and we decided to paint it using acrylic colours. It looked like a maze. We used primary colours, white and black to paint it. It was difficult to colour on the edges but that helped me polish my painting skills. The output was simplistic yet fantastic. It looked like a very confusing, beautiful puzzle. We painting little foot steps to make it more interesting.
Diary Throughout the 1st year of DP our teacher, Rahul Sir told us to maintain a dairy in which we could draw whatever we wished to. Maintaining a dairy helped me improve my imaginative and drawing skills. It was difficult to manage time for dairy in between academic submissions.img_0796 img_0791 img_0795 img_0793 img_0794 img_0792
Portrait of my choice The 2nd year of DP with VA started with making a portrait of our choice.img_0789
Skirt After making the portrait, Aashna and I decided to team co-ordinate and design a skirt, and colour the fabric using acrylic colours. It was a difficult task to do because it was new for us, and also time consuming. We decided to draw dainty flowers on the bottom of the box skirt. The colouring process took a lot of time. Our another teacher, Virendra Sir helped us with arranging the fabric and mannequin on which we would display the skirt. It was a lot of fun.photo-on-30-11-16-at-1-30-pm photo-on-30-11-16-at-1-30-pm-2

Overall, I learned something exquisite styles and techniques which I’ll definitely implement in my future.

CAS Profile

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Hi, my name is Jayani Mehta and I am doing my IBDP in Fountainhead School, Surat. The subjects that I have chosen are Biology, Psychology and Business Management as my Higher Level subjects and Mathematics, Hindi B and English Language and Literature A as my Standard Level subjects. I would like to pursue Psychology as a major in college. One of my greatest talents is singing, it’s not just because I’m good at it but I love doing it. I used to involve myself in throwing games in athletics (shot put throw and discus throw) and also Volleyball, these are also my talents but I lack interest in them. I enjoy listening to music, which I am doing right now while writing about myself. I also like to paint at times, I am not great with drawing but just trying different colors is something I have fun doing. Although, I would like to improve my drawing skills to make great masterpieces and work on my vocals and polish them further.

Irrespective of my current skills and talents, I would like to involve myself in some sort of sport maybe tennis or badminton (they’re really fun!) and also learn guitar so that I can sing and play. Adventure is one thing that I am always curious about, I have participated in a few activities but there are always more and I would definitely want to take part in those. I am scared of it but I still want to do it.

Coming to what I think about life is of being a very happy go lucky person, I tend to oversee my sadness because I know they really won’t help me. I do things that I like and not care about what other’s think.

CAS Plan

Activity Component (C/A/S) Duration (Start Date and End Date) Learning Outcomes
Plantation at Vasnda Activity and Service 18th July 2015 LO2. Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills
LO4. Show perseverance and commitment in CAS experience
LO5. Demonstrate skills and benefits of working collaboratively
LO6. Engagement with issues of global significance
Athletics Tournament Activity 12th August 2015 LO1.Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
LO2. Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills
LO4. Show perseverance and commitment in CAS experience
A day with Orphan Kids Service 19th September 2015 LO1.Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
LO2. Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills
LO7. Recognise and consider the ethics of choices and actions
FS 3/3 – Organising Committee Service 25th September 2015 LO2. Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills
LO4. Show perseverance and commitment in CAS experience
LO5. Demonstrate skills and benefits of working collaboratively
Ride with Pride Creativity and Service 6th March 2016 LO1.Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
LO2. Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills
LO3. Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience
LO4. Show perseverance and commitment in CAS experience
LO5. Demonstrate skills and benefits of working collaboratively
LO6. Engagement with issues of global significance
LO7. Recognise and consider the ethics of choices and actions
Trip to Naggar Activity and Creativity 27th December 2015 – 3rd January 2016
Preparation started from August
LO1.Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
LO2. Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills
LO3. Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience
LO4. Show perseverance and commitment in CAS experience
LO5. Demonstrate skills and benefits of working collaboratively
LO6. Engagement with issues of global significance
Global Social Entrepreneurship Summit Creativity 25th Feb 2016 – 27th Feb 2016 LO1.Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
LO2. Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills
LO4. Show perseverance and commitment in CAS experience
LO5. Demonstrate skills and benefits of working collaboratively
LO6. Engagement with issues of global significance
LO7. Recognise and consider the ethics of choices and actions
Kabaddi Tournament Activity 2nd August 2016 – 30th August 2016 LO1.Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
LO2. Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills
LO4. Show perseverance and commitment in CAS experience
Lunch for Support Staff at School Creativity and Service 25th April 2016 LO1.Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
LO2. Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills
LO4. Show perseverance and commitment in CAS experience
LO5. Demonstrate skills and benefits of working collaboratively

CAS Essay

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CAS has been one of the most amazing parts of IB, it was like a stress buster. The fact that IB promotes extracurricular activities with academics encouraged me to strive to work harder. The balance that it created in my life during the two years was great, I could enjoy both extracurriculars and academics both. I have frequently heard my friends from other schools complain about the workload at school, but I feel happy to have CAS which made the most important two years of school memorable.

Speaking of CAS, the first activity that comes to my mind is our CAS project. It was an event me and 2 of my friends organised. Although, it looked like any other event in town but the hard work and energy that it took is unforgettable. It is one experience which in which we had to do jobs like getting the government permission, editing the hoarding, etc. It marked our transition to adulthood in our society. CAS has given us such opportunities that has made us a better person. This event has made me realise the fact that things might look simple, but in the end you’d know that ‘it ain’t what I thought it was’.

I have been taught the IB learner profiles since I was in the 4th grade, but I never really cared about them until now. The learner profiles have moulded me into a better individual, CAS has opened the plethora of learnings in my life. I have learnt to become sensitive by caring for people who are less than me, I have fought my shyness by becoming a communicator and speaking my heart out. Suddenly, I could see that I have become principled after the activities, because even though they are extremely simple they teach us a lot.

During the past year while doing CAS, I’ve learnt a lot about me. Earlier, I thought that I am a very rigid person who is not very open to changes, however, in the process of completing the learning outcomes, I met so many people which helped me in adapting to changes quickly. One thing I learnt about others is, that they are equally struggling to achieve what I am and that I should respect them as much as what I want to be respected as.

These activities clearly helped me understand others better and know myself. There were times when it was difficult to manage CAS and academics but eventually it helped me manage my time in an efficient way and that’s a huge change that I see in myself. In particular, the learning outcome (LO 3) about initiating and planning was a little difficult to meet because it is pretty easy to tag along with friends and participate but to organise it yourself it a task.

I will take this experience forward and help others make this world a better place, it’s not only the huge problems but even the small ones are of true importance and my goal from now in life is to contribute as much as I can and participate in activities that make me a better person and also improve our world.

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Kabaddi Tournament

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A few of my friends organised a Kabaddi Tournament in school, they followed the usual protocol by having the auctions for making the teams, etc. I participated in the tournament as Kabaddi seemed to be a very interesting game, also the Kabaddi World Cup endorsed frequently and it just made me feel like that I should participate. Fortunately, this opportunity helped me in achieve various learning outcomes for CAS.

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I am not a very sporty person but somehow Kabaddi seemed fun, as it included using power and agility. I feel my strengths was my power and ability to catch hold of people, but, I wasn’t very quick, because of which it was difficult to raid. These things helped me focus on the first learning outcome. Similarly, during the activity I faced a few challenges, like working together as a team, or getting blamed for someone else’s mistakes but ultimately it was a learning process. Towards the end of the tournament, I tried to learn tricks to raid, which allowed me to score points for our team.

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There were times during the matches, when it got extremely tiresome. However, I kept the spirit going on and always helped my team score points. This proved my commitments towards the activity, irrespective of disinterest in physical work, I continued to play which motivated me to involve in various other games.

Kabaddi is a group game and it is very important to play it as a team, to consider every player’s weaknesses and strengths. I always took steps which benefitted the entire team. There were times when I had to do things which other players asked me to do but that was for the greater good. This shows the significance of teamwork, the team can cover up for the weaknesses of one player and show it’s best. Kabaddi taught me a lot about working collaboratively.

I had a fun time playing the game and will definitely participate again if I get the opportunity too.

 

Global Social Entrepreneurship Summit

Global Social Entrepreneurship Summit is a platform for students to come up with sustainable ideas to fight common problems in the country and the world. Students from different schools not only from India come together to produce ideas. The basic concept was that random students share ideas and form a group and the rules are that not more than one person from a school can be in the same group.
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My friends and I attended the summit, and we were all part of different groups, I was in a group with three guys from Jordan and a girl from Turkey.  

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The TEAM

This summit helped me in cover various learning outcomes for CAS, and the learning outcomes achieved were:

Learning Outcomes 1 and 2 were achieved by involving in an activity which was very new to me. Working with people with entirely new ways of thinking and coming to conclusions. During the activity I realised that I was great with leadership skills, as I brought together the entire group. However, I think that I should improve my communication skills, because I used to keep ideas to myself and not putting it across. Speaking about the challenges faced during the activity, was to come up with an idea which was suitable. Also, before we formed groups, we were taken to Dharavi which is the biggest slum in India, I found myself a little uncomfortable by being there due to the extreme smells and dirt, however, towards the end we learnt a lot and also started to adapt with the place. One of the greatest skills I learnt was to make new friends, I am shy otherwise but it was fun meeting new people and learning things about their life and culture.

Learning Outcome 4, the activity required a lot of commitment, we were supposed to not only design a digital model but also make one in real. For a very long time we did not have an idea about what exactly should we do but we continued to brainstorm ideas to persevere our goal. Towards the end we were given an award for the most innovative project, the hard work which was put into the entire activity proved to be of great help.

img_9218Learning Outcome 5, this was very important as we were working in a group, all of use were from different countries and because we had to select one problem, it was difficult as everyone had different ideas because of the geographical differences. Once, we finalised on the idea, we split the work. This was extremely beneficial as work was done efficiently. Few of us were making the presentation and the others were helping with the model. Our project was called “Mai Mumbai”, mai in Arabic is water, we made a solar still to provide clean water.
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The entire activity was based on providing clean water to the slums of Mumbai which lacked access to portable water, for which we designed a solar still, which is a very economical model. This helped me in achieving the 6th Learning Outcome, as we looked at sanitation and health as a issue of global significance. The model we made is as shown in the image below.

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The activity required us to take ethical considerations, the model we made was supposed to not only economically sustainable but also environmentally. By considering the environment we ethically make a decision which just doesn’t look at profits. Another consideration was, when we went to Dharavi, we had to behave sensitively with people living there by not judging or passing comments about their lifestyle.

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Make a difference! Spend a day with special kids! – CAS Project

My friend and I conducted a CAS project where we gave a platform to students where they spent a day with kids with special abilities. We organized an event where students from different schools came and spent a day with special kids.

“All Kids need is a little help, a little hope and somebody who believes in them”- Magic johnson

When I heard the term CAS project, I always wanted to do something new, out of the box and to do something that I have never done before. Well at first I had the same common ideas that almost everyone had when that got to know about CAS project which were organizing a sports event or an arts event. However I wanted to do something new and I wanted to do something which was out of my comfort zone which benefit me as well as to something for the society. Meanwhile when I was figuring out about what type of a CAS project I should do, I came across an article from a newspaper which talked about the difficulties that “special kids” face in today’s world. After reading the article a thought came to my mind that- I didn’t know the problems that these kids face in today’s time until I read the article, so I thought that how many people know about disabled kids and their lives and that is where an idea can to me– “how would it be if my school mates spend a day with these special kids?”

After deciding the idea, my friend and I started to find schools which are for this kind of kids. However this was one of the hardest part of our project as it was very hard for us to find this kind of school because the city that we live in(Surat) doesn’t have that many schools for these kids. After two weeks we found a school called Sree Nandan School, this was a newly opened school which had 30 students with special abilities. We then spent a few weeks planning a half-day activity which included art and crafts, sports, games, learning activities. We regularly worked collaboratively with the teachers of the school, with consistency, and constantly kept updating our participants to ensure that we understood every process correctly as there was a certain way that we had to behave with the kids. We prepared the schedules, and separated the 30 special kids ( ages 5-18 ) in groups according to their intellectual levels.  This planning was a new challenge for us, as neither me nor my friend had organized an event before, and more importantly, an activity of this scale regarding special kids and mental health. One important ethical consideration that we did was to make consent forms for the parents of the special kids, which we sent to them 3 days prior to the event.screenshot-1

After finalising the school we started to advertise our event on social media and in our school. Our school had a very good response towards the event and we had around 30 students just for which had a very good response, as we had almost 30 students how were interested in participating in this event. The activities that we finalized were Puzzle making, Musical Chairs, Cricket, Friendship bracelet making, Poster making and different outdoor games.

Everything was going smoothly, all our activities were planned, we had gotten all the resources, we went to the school 2 days before the event and helped to set up everything, but that same day, our school announced that there was an important compulsory meeting on the same day as our event. We really got Scared as all our participants would be going to this meeting, and we wouldn’t have any participants at all. To find a solution we called the principle of that school to ask if we could postpone our event, however the teacher said that she had already informed the parents so we could not postpone the event. Getting 30 new participants in 24 hours was a big challenge for us, We didn’t know who we would convince, how we would explain everything to them so quickly, however with collaborative work of our volunteers we somehow managed to get a few participants.

The day came where the event was going to happen, we were very anxious about our event, however we were ready as we reached early and with the help of the teachers and volunteers, we were able to quickly prepare everything and set everything up. Before the event started we also held a session where we with the help of the teachers educated the participants about how to behave with the kids, which activities to perform with them and how to help them if they needed it. We sorted the participants in groups as well and told them the work they would be required to do as a team.

Throughout the day we engaged in various activities with the kids. We rotated the groups so that everyone would have a chance to interact with kids of all intellectual levels. Everyone worked collaboratively, whether it was making the acts indulge in craft activities, or whether playing outdoor sports with them. Because of the learning of our school policies, everyone was also very careful not to waste the resources they had like- paper, paints, colors etc. Through efforts together, the entire event went smoothly.

After all the activities were over, we spent some time just talking to the kids and dancing with them. One of the best feedback we got was that one special child who hadn’t talked in 3 weeks had spoken because of the efforts of one of our participants. After the kids went home we held a feedback session for the participants. The response was great as they spoke how this experience had created a difference in their mind about mental health and special kids, what they had liked and what they thought could’ve been done better.

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After conducting this event I got to learn many things like- Consistency as throughout the planning of the activities, we had to be consistent with our meetings with the school so as to ensure proper execution of the event, getting to know these kids life, improving my quick thinking skills as we had to get new participants for the event just before two day left for the event. Ethical concerns  as we had to prepare consent forms for the parents of the special kids and also inform our participants about what was expected of them. We also had to be careful that we did not waste the resources and how to behave with the kids. Having patients is also what I learnt from this event as we had to be a bit patient while we were conducting the activities. Due to this event my collaboration skills has improved massively as we had to trust each other in certain time like- Getting new participants and during the event.

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There were also some areas where I could work upon like- we should always have backup help, and resources, for eg – that day we did not have enough activities and materials to play games with so we could have pre planned accordingly and we also had to get some new participants at the end moment due to the meeting in our school that every student should attend. In these kinds of events, I realized that it is important to take decisions rationally and take the charge, which is something I’d want to work on which would help me in future.

 

The Feedback that we received

The Feedback that we received

 

Our Event was featured in a newspaper

Our Event was featured in a newspaper

La cuisine française!!

I took part in a french cooking event where we had to cook a french dish from scratch in groups. This was an event which was organized by students who took French to promote the french culture, who ever wanted to take part in this event had to be in one of the french student’s group and we had to cook a french dish(the dish was decided by the french student) from scratch without any help of our teachers. When I got to know about this event I was one of the first people who wanted to volunteer for the event. Because I want to pursue Hospitality as my career, so taking part in this event gave me some new exposure about cooking(without an expert’s help) and working in a actual kitchen. I also wanted to learn about new cuisines that I have never learnt before. Before the event started I was very excited as I was going to be learning something new in my life and I was going to be cooking with my friends.

As the event started first we collaboratively decided who will do what so that there is less time wastage. We divided the roles equally so that every member in the group would have the same amount of work and no one would feel left out. My role was to cut all the vegetables and cook them. Everything was going smoothly everyone were doing their job perfectly, but after half an hour we found out that the person who bought and brought the ingredients(the french student) forgot to get the main item for the dish! Everyone started panicking as there was just 45 minutes left and without that ingredient we couldn’t finish our dish. Meanwhile we were thinking about what to do and how to finish this dish, then my friend and I came up with a dish which did not include that ingredient and was a french. When the group members heard about the dish everyone sparkled up and started working on it. We completed our dish just in time and everybody loved it. We as a group were very proud of ourselves because we worked organized and quick, as we know each other as a group we functioned nicely as we knew each other’s strengths and weakness. We also tried to save and not waste the resources that we had and that we got from the school for example- the ingredients, water, vessels etc.

I learnt many new thing from this event. I learnt how to cook in a group as I have never done that before, I also learnt how to cook at a proper kitchen. I also developed quick thinking skills- when we found out that the original dish would not be completed everyone started panicking but my friend and I didn’t panic and started to think of a different dish that we could cook. I think that this event gave me an exposure of how to work collaborate in a big real kitchen, this would help me in future as I want to pursue hospitality. To end it was a fun event overall.

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Trip to Naggar (December 2015)

img_0568Every year we go for a 7-10 day trip from school during winters, this time we planned to go to Naggar, which is a town near Manali, Himachal Pradesh. Usually these trips are planned by the school however, this a few of my friends and I planned the trip with the help of one of the adventure tourism agency in India. During the trip we did a lot of activities such as skiing, trekking, yoga, etc.

This trip was not like the other trips because this trip did not start from the day we boarded the train but 2 months before that, since the time we started planning for the destination. The process was full of arguments and disagreements, however, the trip turned out to be one of the greatest, it not only was full of enjoyment but also helped me fulfill most of the CAS learning outcomes:

Learning Outcome 1 and 2, all the trips that we have taken from school have trekking, although, this one had a lot of steep and long uphill routes, which was very exhausting, this allowed me to develop my trekking skills. I have helped in organising a few events earlier, however, while we were planning for the trip a lot of disagreements were raised which lead to some problems however, because I had been a part of organising committees before, I knew how to deal with a few people, but an entire class was a huge task. So we looked for a few solutions and resolved the problem.

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Learning Outcome 3, as we initiated the activity by taking up the task to plan the trip for our entire grade, which included, deciding on a place, booking the tickets and hotels, etc. However, this process was made easier for us as an adventure organisation “Connect with Himalaya’s” supported us.

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Learning Outcome 4, this was one trip which required a lot of commitment throughout, even though people opposed with what we proposed, we did not stop working at new ideas. We tried to find balance and to give the best idea. Even during the trip, trekking for long distances or steep hills was difficult but I continued towards achieving my goal and completing the activity.

Learning Outcome 5, this was one of the most difficult part of the trip, the fact that everyone has a personal stand, and yet to come to the same decision is a task. So we were going for a morning walk, there were 2 ways that we could take, however, even though it was such a simple task people argued to go either left or right. Similarly, while planning the schedule for the entire trip there were conflicts but at the end we learned to compromise as that is the only thing that is going to help us all work efficiently. After, all the yays and nays, we finally came to a perfect conclusion and could enjoy our winter trip.

Learning Outcome 6, the trip was to a place which wasn’t a touristy place, so there were places which were only used by the locals. However, Connect with Himalayas took us to those places which weren’t open to the tourists like a nearby village. During these trips we were strictly asked to not litter and not insult/comment about the way people live. People in India are known for littering, littering is a very important global issue in India. By keeping in mind not to litter we added to making India clean.

Gym!

In March I was determined that I have to achieve an aim of mine which I had set months imgago; which was to workout in a gym for 5-6 months continuously. Before the month of March I was very lethargic and not committed to my workout schedule in the gym, but after I noticed that I was becoming unfit, I made up my mind that I will have to work out in the gym every day no matter what.

The biggest challenge I faced in this activity was ‘fighting with my laziness’. According to my schedule, I need to go to the gym at 6:30 pm, which exactly 45 minutes after I reach home to school. Well, usually after I come home I am completely exhausted and just lie around on my bed for about an hour. But now because I need to go to the gym at about 6:30, I need to freshen up, eat some snacks and pack my gym bag after I come from school. Gyming has not only helped me getting fit but also helped me release all my stress and frustration in form of physical workout. I was able to utilize my time in something better (such as getting fit) rather than wasting it in watching movies and TV shows.

There were many such instances that my trainer was busy with his other clients, but he used to instruct me the work pattern for the day; it was in my ethical considerations that I didn’t cheat or lie to my trainer about completing a task that I hadn’t done. I also made a few new friends who helped and motivated me in completing my workout, which encouraged a teamwork between us as we used to communicate and help each other whenever required. This activity thought me how to be extremely committed to your work no matter what costs it involves and also helped me enhance my teamwork skills.

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