C.A.S (Creativity, Activity and Service) SOCIALIZATION
- PD SESSION -
On Friday 24 August 2018, the secondary department conducted a professional development (PD) session about CAS (Creativity, Activity and Service), one of core components of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IB DP). PD sessions are offered regularly at Sekolah Global Indo-Asia (SGIA) by colleagues who are committed to share best practices, ideas and collaboration techniques in their teaching-learning activities. As the speaker for this session, Ms. Tiara Moerdani, IB DP CAS Coordinator, explained the essentials of CAS: how and why the students have to do CAS, in addition to get the firm grasp of what are the things teachers need to know about CAS.
Currently SGIA have 24 students enrolled in the IB DP programme from the Grade 11, almost triple number of last year enrolment. Due to this significant, it is necessary that all secondary teachers, especially IB DP teachers, have a sound of understanding about CAS and the role of the CAS Supervisor.
Each of IB DP students is required to complete CAS program which starts as early as the first day in Grade 11 and continues until Grade 12, for a minimum of 18 months. The CAS programme includes documented evidence of participating in various experiences/activities. The students also need to create at least one CAS project with a reasonable balance between creativity, activity and service. Creativity includes arts and other experiences that involve creative thinking – Activity is about all physical exertion contributing to a healthy lifestyle – and Service is collaborative and reciprocal engagement with the community in response to an authentic need, in the form of an unpaid and voluntary exchange that has a learning benefit for the student.
Students are expected to do three hours of CAS work per week. There are no grades for CAS other than “Pass” and “Fail” statement. A student will not be entitled an IB Diploma Award without passing CAS requirements.
At the end of this PD session, the teachers had to do a teamwork game called ‘Collaborative Drawing’ to encourage the development of creative thinking, fine-motor and cooperation skills. Sharing session and collaborative working is believed one of mediums to support all teachers to achieve school goal which is helping out students gaining positive outcome. (TM)