American Community SchoolAmerican Community Schoolat Beirutat Beirut

Creativity, Action, Service

Advisory Session

CASCASCreativity, action, service (CAS)

is at the heart of the Diploma Program

Each candidate must meet the CAS requirement in addition to the other mandatory components for the award of the diploma

Aims of CASAims of CAS

The CAS program aims to develop students who are:

reflective thinkers – they understand their own strengths and limitations, identify goals and devise strategies for personal growth

willing to accept new challenges and new rolesaware of themselves as members of

communities with responsibilities towards each other and the environment

active participants in sustained collaborative projects

balanced – they enjoy and find significance in a range of activities involving intellectual, physical, creative and emotional experiences

Creativity, Action, ServiceCreativity, Action, Service

The three strands of CAS are:Creativity: arts, and other experiences

that involve creative thinking.Action: physical exertion contributing to

a healthy lifestyle, complementing academic work elsewhere in the Diploma Program.

Service: an unpaid and voluntary exchange that has a learning benefit for the student. The rights, dignity and autonomy of all those involved are respected.

Learning OutcomesLearning Outcomes

The CAS completion decision for the school in relation to each student is, simply, “Have the eight learning outcomes been achieved?”

Outcome 1: increase your awareness of your strengths and areas for growth

Outcome 2: undertaken new challenges

Outcome 3: planned and initiated activities

Outcome 4: worked collaboratively with others.

◦At least one project must involve collaboration and integrate at least two of creativity, action and service and be of significant duration.

Learning OutcomesLearning OutcomesOutcome 5: shown perseverance and commitment on

your activities

Outcome 6: engaged with issues of global importance

◦ You are required to act on at least one issue of global significance. (for example, environmental concerns, poverty, human rights, elderly, etc).

Outcome 7: considered the ethical implications of your actions

◦ Evidence of thinking about ethical issues can be shown in various ways, including journal entries and conversations with CAS advisors.

Outcome 8: developed new skills

Learning OutcomesLearning Outcomes

All eight outcomes must be present for a student to complete the CAS requirement. Some may be demonstrated many times, in a variety of activities, but completion requires only that there is some evidence for every outcome.

Balanced CAS Program A balanced CAS program includes:

◦a reasonable balance of creative, active and service activities

◦at least one project that involves collaboration and combines two of the three areas of creativity, action and service

A non-balanced CAS program suffers from:◦Excess of action activities, no service or no

creativity◦Excess of creativity, no service◦Excess of service, no creativity or action◦No project

Range and diversity of activities

Not any activity is a CAS activity!!!For an activity to be considered CAS-

worthy, it must fulfill ALL FOUR of these requirements: 1. real, purposeful activities, with significant

outcomes2. personal challenge – tasks must extend the

student and be achievable in scope3. thoughtful consideration, such as planning,

reviewing progress, reporting4. reflection on outcomes and personal learning

Examples of Creativity Examples of Creativity activitiesactivities

In-school activities:◦ MUN◦ Debate & Forensics◦ Alef Be◦ Art workshop◦ Chess: joining the chess club and take it a step further

(organizing a tournament, inviting a skilled player to come to ACS, etc.)

◦ Film club at ACS: joining the club, organizing events, writing critiques about a film in Alef Be, etc.

◦ Contemporary Dance◦ Current Affairs Think Tank (should stretch it)◦ Technical Theater◦ First aid workshop: those interested should contact me so

that I organize it.◦ Yoga

Out of School ◦Yoga ◦Dance: oriental, Zumba (creativity

and action), Hip Hop (also C and A), etc.

◦Photography (should also organize a show for the pictures taken)

◦First aid at Red Cross, at LAU◦Learning a new instrument

Examples of Creativity Examples of Creativity activitiesactivities

Examples of Action Examples of Action activitiesactivitiesExamples of Action activities:In-school activities:

◦Joining a sport team

Out of school activities:◦Joining organized hiking trips◦Joining a Gym◦Joining a fitness dance class (Zumba,

Hip Hop)

Examples of Service Examples of Service activitiesactivitiesIn-School:

◦Sister School◦Give a child a smile◦Adopt an Orphan◦Cheerios ◦Special Olympics (can be also a project)

Out of School:◦Nasma Center◦Rifaq El-Darb (can be a project)◦Dar El Aytam (can be a project)

ACS CS hours and CASACS CS hours and CAS

IB students should get their school CS hours from their CAS service activities.

IB students should report their service hours to Ms. Shatah to be counted towards the school required service hours.

Any IB student not fulfilling their school CS hours will be not considered as having completed their CAS program.

Personal ProjectsPersonal Projects

Students should be involved in at least one project that:◦involves teamwork ◦integrates two or more of creativity,

action and service, and ◦is of significant duration

Projects are opportunities to engage “with issues of global importance” such as poverty, human rights, elderly, etc.

Examples of CAS ProjectsExamples of CAS ProjectsCoaching athletic teams at underprivileged

schools (UNRWA schools, Palestinian camps, orphanages, etc.)

Art workshops for small kids at Dar El Aytam

Painting murals in public places or in underprivileged schools

Entertaining elderly people and organizing events for them

Children Cancer club (planning committee)Sister school (only if you are part of the

planning committee)

Examples of CAS ProjectsExamples of CAS ProjectsGo Green club Global Issues Network Special Olympics Starting or training MUN clubs at

other schoolsPlanting trees in Lebanon (you

need to do all the planning and contacting organizations, recruiting students, etc.)

More on CAS projectMore on CAS projectCan be part of a school activity as

long as there is evidence that you (the group) have initiated, planned, and carried on activities:◦Sister school ◦Adopt an Orphan◦Special Olympics◦Global Issues Network◦Etc.

Final note on CAS projectsFinal note on CAS projects

Collaboration: with IB or non-IB students

Sustainability is required

Commitment is crucial especially when dealing with kids or elderly

Activities that are NOT Activities that are NOT CASCASSchool activities that are not CAS:Teddy bear clubHelping out in the carnivalRecycling at ACSUshering events at ACSAny “STAND ALONE” activity. Ex: Participating in one day CS field trip

Final note on CAS Final note on CAS activitiesactivities

Activities should not replicate other parts of the student’s Diploma Program work. ◦ This excludes routine practices performed by the IB

Music students.Activities should not be isolated, sporadic, and

should emphasize quality not quantity.Activities should not be crammed into mini-

vacations as CAS cannot be a series of short-term activities. However, all activities do not need to last 18 months.

The focus should be on showing that your CAS experience was an ongoing and significant

CAS DocumentationCAS DocumentationAll CAS documentation is done

using the software ManageBac Documentation may take many forms:

◦Journals◦Videos◦Photos◦Websites◦Etc.

Its extent should match the significance of the particular activity to the student.

ReflectionsReflectionsFor each activity, a set of outcomes, from

the eight CAS learning outcomes, should be identified.

The reflections should address the identified learning outcomes.◦Descriptive reflections that do not address the

identified learning outcomes are not appropriate.

Each reflection needs to specifically and ultimately answer these questions:◦What did I learn from the activity? ◦Which of the 8 learning outcomes did this

activity help me to accomplish and how did it help to me reach this learning goal?

Frequency of reflectionsFrequency of reflectionsDepends on the activity and varies from

one person to another. Whenever there is something interesting going on, you should reflect.

Activities that require no more than one reflection per month: ◦ routine activities like the Gym. ◦Learning a new instrument for beginners.

Sports: once every other week to reflect on development of skills. Also, before and after a tournament.

RULE: ANY ACTIVITY NOT REFLECTED UPON FOR A MONTH WILL BE CLOSED

Evidence of participationEvidence of participation

As part of CAS documentation, the students should provide evidence of participation such as: a certificate of participation in a workshop, a membership in a Gym, pictures of the event, etc.

Evidence of participation does not replace reflection and vice versa

Common problems with CAS Common problems with CAS documentationdocumentation

Not logging your activities on ManageBac: activities that are not on ManageBac are not acknowledged.

No documentation: an activity that has not been reflected upon at least once per month will be closed.

Reflections not addressing the learning outcomes: descriptive reflections are not appropriate.◦ Should reflect on the growth within you.◦ Don’t glorify yourself!◦ Learning outcomes that are ticked but not

reflected upon should be removedNot providing evidence of participation:

pictures, membership, certificate of participation, newspaper articles, etc.

Evaluation of CASEvaluation of CASThe school’s final decision on completion is

based on meeting the following CAS requirements:

Requirement one: Students must plan and complete a series of CAS activities that are: real, purposeful activities, with significant outcomes. Activities should be challenging tasks that extend the student and be achievable in scope. CAS activities should have a written plan, a progress review and a reflection on the outcome.

Requirement two: Students must exhibit that they have accomplished the 8 learning outcomes in the CAS guide during the 18-month CAS commitment.

Requirement three: Students must demonstrate a reasonable balance of creative, active, and service activities.

CAS EvaluationCAS EvaluationRequirement four: Students must

provide proof of their CAS work. They should use the CAS program “ManageBac”.

Requirement five: Students must reflect on EACH of their CAS activities using the CAS program “ManageBac”.

Requirement six: Students must complete at least one project that involves collaboration and integrates at least two of creativity, action and service, and is of significant duration.

CAS EvaluationCAS EvaluationRequirement seven: Students must

demonstrate an 18-month commitment to CAS and must show evidence that some activities were NOT stand-alone, but that some activities were significantly involved over a period of time. CAS cannot just be a series of one-time projects. CAS cannot be completed in a short time span, then not worked on at all for long spans of time.

Requirement eight: Students must meet with their CAS advisors regularly as scheduled at the beginning of the year to evaluate progress and to submit forms.

Meeting with the CAS AdvisorMeeting with the CAS Advisor

Meet with the CAS advisor periodically. All meetings are scheduled on the IB internal Calendars and reminders will be sent out.

You can always ask for a meeting to get guidance.