Final Reflection for the Year

My CAS goals at the beginning of the year were:

Creativity: One of my greatest interests and hobbies is guitar, and i seek to learn it very seriously but there is no music course offered in school so i have taken it upon myself to teach myself. I am currently learning out of Modern Method for Guitar ( http://www.berkleepress.com/catalog/product?product_id=11250) which is currently the main textbook used for the Jazz program in the Berklee Undergraduate School of Music. My goal for the following year is to cover and master all topics presented in this book. This book is however a basic level book, and after finishing I hope to move on to The Guitarist's Guide to Composing and Improvising by Jon Damian, reputed as the best very best jazz guitar tutor in the world. I hope to master the content of both these texts by the end of the two years of the IB DP.

Action: Throughout the course of the two years i would like to be active in as many sports as possible, particularly during the first as it will be impractical during the second year of the IB DP. I hope to participate in SAISA Basketball and Track and Field. I also participate in karate outside of school and will be competing in my very first tournament in November, the Western Province Tournament, in which the first 3 will qualify for the All-Island tournament, which i will try my best to obtain.

Service: I have joined the Hope For Kids activity, in which we regularly visit the Maharagama Cancer Hospital, and spend time with children suffering from cancer. We hope to organize a fund raising program for this cause as soon as possible which i hope to take part in.

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To be honest, i do not believe that i have put anywhere near the full amount of effort i should have, even though i have completed most of my goals, or at least come close, i still feel that i am lacking, particularly in the service component.
However i will not be discouraged by my shortcomings this year, and will use them as model for what no to do next year.

Currently, my only goals in mind are to score highly on my end of year exams, as they will make a large part of the grades considered when my predicted grades are decided next year, which will be put on my university applications, and in addition i am also doing a Physics AL outside school, as well as the SAT's, so i have a lot of studying on my hands.
My main method of studying for these exams will be to do past papers, because this is what has been of most use to me in the past.
I have now for the past 2 weeks begun a minimum 5 hour/ day study schedule and hope to follow through with it to the end of my exams.

All in all, CAS has been a very rewarding experience for me, and has greatly helped me become for self-aware (from all the reflection). I hope to pursue it much more diligently next year.

Youtube guitar lesson Channel

In order to fulfill my goals for both creativity and service both which i am lacking in, i have taken the initiative to create a channel on you tube to provide free video guitar lessons. This has helped me to Undertake a new challenge as i am completely new to teaching anyone anything, Developing new skills as providing lessons for other people made me be more critical about my own playing when i know that it will be under the criticism of many people. This is the link to my first lesson, on the introduction of Cliffs of Dover by Eric Johnson.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me1OBH76MpY

Long Overdue Post: SOS Kids

Recently, i joined the SOS Kids group which works with children from a local orphanage, first interacting with them through games and presentation, and then swimming with them in the school swimming pool, making sure that they are safe, as well as active and entertained. This activity allowed me to Work Collaboratively with Others through aiding other group members to converse with the children because none of the children are fluent in English and very few of the other group members can speak Sinhala, and well as engage in an activity dealing with issues of global importance. Unfortunately, i have missed many meetings with the group, but hope to consistently attend from now on. My goal is to be CAS leader next year for SOS Kids.