International Evening 2012

Again, another year has passed and we decided to prepare for another dance this year. As this was our last year, there were more people that were going to be involved in the dance. As we did not have as much time as last year, our practice times decreased a lot, and we could not prepare for the dance as much as we did last year. We did want to make the dance as memorable as possible. As the dance involved new members, this was a new challenge for us. Moreover, the new dance was a challenge for us aswell. This year, we decided to mix an english song and a korean song.
In order to practice for the dance, each of the member needed to take time in looking at the dance moves, and learning them. Moreover, we fitted the dance moves together with the members as frequently as possible.

As with last year, there were rehearsals that ran through on Friday as well as on the morning of the night. We practicised alot on the stage. After much rehearsal, we finally performed on stage with the audience watching us.

REFLECTION

L1: I was aware of the areas that I needed to improve on. Weaknesses included weak movements (not clear and powerful). Through this, I was able to improve upon making my movement more powerful and clearer.
L3: We had to plan on what dance to do and the practice times. These practice times were initiated by all of the members in the team.
L4: As the dance was going to be carried out in a group, this definitely needed cooperation with other members.
L5: I was committed in the dance practices during Tuesday morning and Friday afterschool. I also was commited to the rehearsals that were held by the IE team.

Overall, as there was not as much time as last year, I was able to use a shorter time scale to prepare for the event. As we had a shorter time to prepare for the dance, I feel there was less sense of achievement after the event.

International Evening - Sales & Marketing

As I was involved in the IE for many years, this year, I decided to sign up for a member in the IE team. I took an interview for the sales and marketing team and was accepted! 

In our first meeting of the sales and marketing team, we discussed what events we could hold to fund raise for the charity "changing young lives foundation". I had the idea of celebrating the events of various cultures as this allowed meaning behind each event. As Korea's "Pocky Day/Peppero Day" was coming up soon, I suggested celebrating this event first and we started to plan for the day. Moreover, as the day was on "Atheletics finals", this would allow more people to be exposed when selling the pockys. However, before this event, we also thought of celebrating Diwali night first, as it came just before Korea's event. For this, we decided to make cupcakes. Some of the students stayed after school to make the cake and left it in the refrigerator for selling. We then distributed the cupcakes and sold them individually around school. Through this, we were able to make money. 

On pocky day, me and another member bought the pocky (different flavours) and sold them during Atheletics finals. It wasn't long till we sold all the pocky. Again, through this, we were able to make money. 

The next event which we decided to fund raise for was the Chinese New Year. To celebrate this, we sold fortune cookies around the school. Through these activities, we were able to make money through linking the events with the IE, allowing meaning to be created.
Finally, Valentines day was coming up. Valentines day is always a extremely popular event every year. Therefore, careful planning needed to be made. We planned on how to sell the roses, how to send them around school for the day. On the day before, we had to pack all the roses and chocolate to prepare for the event. During the day, we delivered the roses and chocolates around the school.

Last but not least, we sold the tickets around the school for people to come for the day. 

REFLECTION

L2: It was my first time to take part as a sales and marketing team member, and the things I had to carry out were new for me. These included organizing events for selling items.

L3: All of the activities (pocky, fortune cookies, roses, tickets) needed to be planned with our team members and were initiated. 

L4: Communication was essential in the team, as each and everyone of us needed to take part in the activity. Through communicating (e.g. email), we were able to assign each person with a certain job allowing effective distribution. 

L5: I was committed to the jobs that I was assigned and went to the meetings that I needed to. 

L6: Poverty is a big issue around the world. In order to help the "changing young lives" foundation, we were raising funds for the charity, which reflected on being engaged in an issue of global importance

L8: - Communication
- Organization

Overall, I was able to take part in raising funds for a charity. Moreover, I was involved in a group, and therefore, developed skills of communication. I also developed skills in organizing the events for the team.

Vocal Academy/Chamber Choir

I have always had an interest in singing and the opportunity to try an activity involving singing, came along. My friend was a pianist in the chamber choir team and introduced me to the activity. She asked me whether I would join the team last year but I did not. It was my last year, so I wanted to try the team. I was already quite late to apply, but I sent an email to the teacher.

An audition date was finalized and I took the audition (Oct 11). I passed it, and was in the vocal academy aswell. This activity required commitment, as I had to attend during 8:00 to 10:00 during Tuesday mornings, as well as lunchtime during Thursday.

October
First day.
I remember the first time I entered the room. I felt nervous and excited as I was doing the activity by myself. I would usually have other friends doing the activity with me, but this was something I tried alone. I guess in this sense, it was a challenge to me. We started off warming up by stretching and singing scales. Then, we moved on to specific pieces. As I was an alto, it was difficult for me to try to interpret the notes, as the altos do not have melody lines.
During October, we prepared for the Christmas concert, which was coming up. I was starting to settle into the team.

November
We practiced the pieces for the Christmas concert and continued to get our notes and pieces correct. We had to memorize the words for the pieces (chamber). For the vocal academy, we continued getting our pieces correct aswell. We were busy for the upcoming Christmas concert. We were also going to have rehearsals on Saturday, as well as on the day of the concert. There were many things to go through, and to perfect, but it was quite exciting for me (:

December
We were going to be having a Saturday rehearsal, as well as a Monday rehearsal for the Christmas concert. We had 3 songs prepared for the Vocal Academy, and 2 songs prepared for the Chamber Choir.

Saturday rehearasl
Today, we had a rehearsal from 9 to 1 in the hall in order to try out the pieces with the orchestra. We practices our pieces (vocal academy - one small child, Various themes on Falala, Christmas day, chamber choir - away in a manger, carol for advent) from 9 to 11 with just the choir. As the rehearsal was in the hall, we sounded a lot quieter compared to our other practices before. Moreover, there were still a few things that needed to be improved. After the rehearsal, the orchestra members came, and we tried singing some of the carols as well as the "Christmas Day" piece. As this was the first time collaborating with the orchestra, there were many areas that we repeated in order to sound polished for the day.

12.12.11
We just finished the Christmas concert!

Morning rehearsal
Today's rehearsal was for the whole day from 8:00 to 4:00. As the halls were being used for exams, we practiced in the music rooms. We first practiced as a choir, repeating the areas that needed to be improved. Then, after break time, we collaborated with the orchestra. This time, it sounded a lot more controlled compared to Saturday's rehearsals. After the rehearsal with the orchestra, we had a lunch break, and then met in front of the school gate to go to the Cathedral. We arrived in the Cathedral and tried a run-through of the program. It was very tiring to repeat certain sections and pieces over and over again. After ending the rehearsal, we had time to grab some dinner and rest.

One of the pieces I sang during the Christmas concert

At last, the time arrived and we were all dressed, ready to sing. During the performance, I was very nervous, but tried to enjoy the performance as much as possible while controlling my breathing. The performance turned out smoothly and ended well! It felt rewarding to have finally performed the songs after continuous rehearsals.

Reflection
After finishing the performance, I felt proud to have entered the choir, as I was able to carry on rehearsals as well as meet new people. Although it has only been a few months since joining the choir, I am proud to have joined the team in my final year. Moreover, through the experience, I have been able to face challenges such as settling into the team and building up upon singing skills and group work. Through the experience until now, I feel quite regretful to have not joined the choir earlier, but on the other hand, I feel that if I joined the choir earlier on, I may have found the experience less exciting and special. Spring concert is approaching and I am excited to face the challenges from the new pieces. I hope it goes well aswell!

REFLECTION

L2: I have never taken part in the Chamber Choir/Vocal academy before. Therefore, this was a new challenge for me.
L4: In the Vocal Academy and Chamber Choir, we all had to do our parts to work together as a team.
It was important to work collaboratively with each other, as we all contributed to the song while singing. Each individual part added to the harmony.
L5: I have and will continue to attend the activity every week. I will try not to be late, and will practice the music in my own time aswell.
I have not been late to the classes, and practiced the music at home in my own time for the Christmas concert. 
L8: I have developed skills in singing, as well as in warming up.
As well as the above, I have developed skills in cooperating with others by working in a big team. Moreover, we have also been able to cooperate with the chamber orchestra team for the winter concert.

Overall, I have been able to improve on my singing skills and have been able to understand some of the basics of warming up before singing. I have also been able to perform these skills in the winter concert and have worked collaboratively with other teams.

Innovation

For the innovation, I decided to do a job of an Usher. This meant escorting people to their seats to make sure there were no conflicts between people, and to make sure the event was run smoothly. When we arrived in the hall, we first set up the seats, and discussed the chair colours, as it represented different tickets. We also discussed how we would escort the people to the seats.
When the event started, we had to keep the different ticket people in different areas and escort them at different times. During this, there was a lot of problems with communication, as we could not contact the Lizzie, who was the organizer, and we had difficulty in deciding when to escort the people upstairs to the hall. Moreover, when we escorted the people upstairs, we had difficulty in making sure everyone had a seat of their ticket. However, in the end, we were able to seat everyone according to their tickets.
When the event started, everyone was seated, and the event ran smoothly. After the end of the event, we had to clean up the cups and rubbish in the hall. The good thing was that we all had the opportunity of getting some of the leftovers of the VIP gift bags.
Overall, although there was some difficulty in seating everyone, we eventually did it, and was able to enjoy the show as well.

Waiting to be called to escort the audience

Reflection:
L2: It was my first time to try the job of an usher, and I was able to learn how to seat people in a more efficient manner after trying it.
L3: Although there was some difficulty in communicating during the event, while seating people, we planned and discussed how we would carry it out.
L4: We had to work collaboratively with all the other helping members when laying out the seat, as well as when seating the audience. In addition, the final clean up in the end also required team work.
L5: We were all aware of the different people, and helped people at all times. We also stayed after the event to help with the final clean up.

Overall, I was able to stay on task as an usher, and provide the people any help that was needed. Moreover, I was able to seat the audience with the collaboration with other ushers.

Beach Clean Up

Date started: 2010
Place: Deep Water Bay
CAS Type: Project

In order to decide on a CAS project, me and my friend brainstormed possible things to do. Ideas ranged from student led afterschool activities to others. As me and my partner was in charge of the environmental monitor in our form, we decided to create a project that could reflect upon our responsibility.


The project was "The Beach Clean Up". This beach clean up was going to be organized by us, and we were planning run this project with our class members being involved.
Firstly, as we needed to contact the government about the beach, we searched the government website to find the contact number. Then, we contacted the number and after several calls, we were able to reach someone who could help with the beach clean up. At first, we were planning to go to Repulse bay, but the person who was helping us, suggested us to go to Deep water bay, as repulse bay was already very clean. In Deep water bay, there was an issue with pebbles on the sand, and we decided to help with moving the pebbles out of the way. As there were many difficulties with arranging a date on when to go, this made us take time in going to the actual clean up. 
As the our helper (Mr.Pang) wanted us to send a fax on how many people were coming and at what time, we wrote a letter and faxed it to him. 

Finally, after several months... we chose the date MAY 20TH. 


PEBBLE clean up
On the day, we arrived on the beach at 3:12. Earlier than when we were suppose to meet.  Yes, we were early and that reflects our punctuality :D We were a little lost in finding the office, but in the end, we met someone who showed us where the pebbles were. 
As the weather was very hot, we had to put on shoes. In addition, we had to wear sun cream to prevent ourselves from burning. 

Putting pebbles in bucket

Getting ready

Picking up pebbles

  
 In the area, we had to pick up the pebbles and put it in a big red bucket. Every time the bucket was quite full, we moved the pebbles in an area where they were supposed to be put in. The continuous picking up of pebbles was very intense, leading us to sit down to pick the pebbles up. After two hours, we were very hungry... So we decided to ride a minibus to Repulse bay and had pizza together. Although it was a very short pebble clean up, it turned out as a satisfactory day. Next time, we shall call more people, and also do other activities such as volley ball or swimming (:

As it was time consuming to arrange the beach clean up frequently, me and my partner decided to extend the project to a online website. Thus, we opened a website. The purpose of the website was to show the public our work, and to raise awareness about the environmental issues in Hong Kong.

BEACH CLEAN UP REFLECTION 

Although this has only been one beach clean up, we will be continuing this on during year 13 to help make a better environment in Deep water bay for people to enjoy the beach. 

L2: I have undertaken a new challenge, as I have organised this with a friend through websites, calls and fax. In addition, it was my first time to be involved in a beach clean up. The idea that me and my friend was able to be the organiser allowed us to build up responsibility and managerial skills.
L3: We had to plan the dates, and discuss this with the people from the government on the phone. Although it took a long time, we were able to do the clean up in the end. Moreover, we initiated the activity.
L4: During the clean up, we had to work together to move the red bucket when it was heavy, as well as collect the pebbles with efficiency. This allowed the group to work as a team. 
L5: It was a very hot day, and we were all exhausted during the end. However, we carried on doing the pebble clean up until 2 hours was up. Thus, we endured the hard time and this reflected upon the perseverance and commitment.
L6: As the environment needed help, we decided to help remove the pebbles from the beach which caused distractions to the people who were using it. In addition, there were small glass parts as well which could have caused cuts, leading to an unsafe beach.
L8: I developed a new skill of cleaning up pebbles. In addition, while organising this event, I was able to develop skills of communicating with people from outside of school. 


Overall, it was a good start to the project, and we intend to clean up the pebbles for more people to use that area of the beach.  

OVERALL REFLECTION 

I feel that we had a great start in the beginning of the project, but felt that we started to lack the commitment during the latter part of the project. 

L2: I have undertaken a new challenge by starting a new project with a partner. Furthermore, it was my first time to carry out a beach clean up and initiate a website.
L3: For the beach clean up, me and my partner planned for the day thoroughly. Moreover, we initiated the clean up. We also planned to make the website.
L4: For the project I needed to work collaboratively with my partner, and during the clean up, we needed to work together as a group.
L5: During the beach clean up, we were committed in cleaning up the pebbles. However, during the project, our commitment to the project started to fall.
L6: Raising awareness on the environmental issues and cleaning the beach reflected upon us being involved in global issues. As pollution is a big issue in Hong Kong, and around the world, this project clearly reflected this learning objective.
L8: There were many skills developed during the project. Firstly, collaborating skills was one skill which I was able to develop. Furthermore, I was able to develop skills of cleaning up during the beach clean up.

Overall, I feel that the beach/pebble clean up was a very successful event, but more frequent visits to beaches would make this project better. However, the website created helped in extending the project into a different medium, and also helped raise awareness of global issues (environmental)
 

DECA

Date started: 2010.09.07
Place: South Island School, 2/F, Room C22
Time: Tuesday 3:20~4:30
CAS Type: Creativity, Service


Deca is an activity which involves many skills such as marketing, designing, ——. Our first “project” was to design a room for the Kely Support, where young teenage girls would gather together and talk about their problems with each other, while enhancing their self-esteem.

August
This month, we just started getting to know each other and learned about kely support and deca. I decided to join the marketing team, where we would need to talk about market strategies for advertising and helping “sell” the room. We also played games where we would have to sit in front of the room and act as if doing an interview. When doing the interview, the person would not be allowed to use words such as “um” or “like”, and this helped build confidence.

October
To make sure that we were on task, Virginia Morris (from Kely support) and some other people came to school once every two weeks or so, to discuss with us what we were going to be doing. We told her the types of plans we had to “sell” the product. These included:
- Facebook page
- Posters
- Hosting a show to promote Kely Support
- Making a video to promote
We also talked about how we were some of these would work and the types of things we would need to do to get ready for them. We also made a logo for the room, and the logo for it was called “talk to me”. The logo included a the name “talk to me” in red, in a shape of a mouth and a ear at the side. This was to show that if you talked to the people in the room, we would listen.

Discussing issues with Virginia Morris

 November
This month, we were getting ready for two things; the booth for a fair and a Christmas concert. There was going to be a fair, where we had the chance to have our own booth to promote Kely support. Therefore, we planned out what we were going to have in the fair. In the end, we decided to have donation box, leaflet, wrist bands. The leaflet helped sell our products and the wrist bands were products which we were going to sell to ge money for donation.
The Christmas concert which we were going to hold was going to be on December 10th, and held in our school. There were auditions to make sure there were performers, and we had helped stick up posters around the school. We also had the task to sell the ticket.

December
At last, the day for the Christmas concert came, and it turned out as a success. Refreshments were laid out and we were in the front of the hall to sell tickets for any late-comers. We sold about 10 more tickets on the day (; Although the concert was not very big, it was a small and entertaining one. We stayed up in the balcony to enjoy the show. Then, after the show finished, we thanked the Kely support group for coming.

January
After the Chinese New Year holiday, we were back together and discussed about the upcoming meeting that we were going to have with other schools aswell. This was going to be an event where schools would gather together and be given different scenarios. Then, we would have to come up with innovative ideas to solve the problems. In the DECA session we were also introduced to the new online register which we would need to do every time we come into DECA.

February
Feb 8th – Today, Virginia Morris came in and talked to us about the skills of leadership and management. At first she introduced herself, and then gave a brief talk on leadership. Afterwards, we were given small tasks to do such as writing down the skills of our own role models, thus, writing down the skills needed to be a leader. Then, Virginia Morris gave us a sheet with two columns, and we had to identify the difference between a leader and a manager. For example, one column was “Align people with a direction” and “Organize and staff”. Leaders would align people with a direction unlike a manager who would organize the whole group. After the activity, we had the chance to ask questions, and someone asked “Do you think leaders are born as leaders??”. Virginia Morris said that in her opinion, leaders can be made through learning various skills. Therefore, this was good news for all of us Moreover, through this, I was able to be aware of some elements of leadership that I had.


DECA Conference  (February 26th)
Today, was a special day, as we were having the deca conference with CDNIS. This involved getting a case study and preparing a plan for 20 minutes. Then, we had to present our “plan” in front of the judges, for 10 minutes (showing off your innovative ideas combined with economic concepts). The day was going split up into 3 planning and presentation, which meant 3 different case studies and presentations.
I came into the conference during the 1st presentation, and therefore, participated from the 2nd one. The conference involved all of us wearing formal clothing and having separate desks with the case study and some blank sheets of paper. While listening to people presenting their ideas in small groups (to make sure the conference does not take up too much time), I did feel quite nervous, as presenting for 10 minutes while preparing for 20 minutes was not something which I have come across before.
After all the people presented their ideas, there was a 10 minute break and the 2nd section started. This case study asked us to propose a plan for a company which wanted to increase their sales costs. We were given 20 minutes to prepare as for the first one, and I was the first one up. I presented my ideas but was quite nervous, making me stutter ): . In addition, my presentation was quite short, and I lost confidence, making me say things which did not make sense. The judge asked me a few question and helped me with leading in the right direction which I found quite supportive. Afterwards, I felt a urge to make a better presentation for the 3rd section (although I was actually not planning to stay until the third one).
Then, after the 2nd section finished, we ate lunch (pizza(:), and went back to the 3rd session. For this one, we only had 15 minutes to prepare and 7 minutes to present as Virginia Morris was going to be coming in for a small speech. In addition, we had the choice between choosing 2 case studies. One case study was going to be similar to what we did (1st, 2nd section), and the other one was a different one. In the end, I chose the different one, as I wanted to try a new case study and improve in a different area.
Finally, the 3rd section started, and for this one, I was more focused as I understood the process. This case study was about the brand name and brand mark. When preparing for the proposal, I stood up and presented my ideas and answered the questions. I felt satisfied in the presentation which I presented and felt that I had learned a lot during the process. In the end, we had a small speech from Virginia Morris on leadership and her company, Bamboo difference. Then, we presented the winners of the conference, and thanked Virginia Morris for all the hard work she put into our group. 

REFLECTION
At first, I did not have a lot of motivation in attending this conference and felt more of a fear and unwillingness to attend to the conference, as I could not imagine saying a 10 minute speech with 20 minutes preparation. However, after achieving a satisfactory presentation, I felt more confident in presenting, and enjoyed this process through the experience. Although I may not be the best presenter, I feel that I have stepped up a level in facing my weaknesses, rather than hiding away from them. (:


L1: I was aware of my communicative skills, but I was able to build up upon it during the DECA conference, as well as improve in cooperating with each other in the marketing team.
L2: It was my first time to work as a team in a marketing group which was a new challenge for me, as marketing was something new. It also helped me understand how real life marketing teams may be like when working as a group. In addition, presenting in the DECA conference was a new challenge, as I never presented in front of judges with such limited preparation time. This experience would help me build up the skills for doing my english IOC :D
L3: We planned the DECA Christmas concert which helped fund for the KELY support room. This was quite successful. In addition, we also had to plan the ESF booth for KELY. 
L4: Again, as we were working in a marketing team, this meant we had to work collaboratively with each other. Moreover, we also had to work collaboratively with other groups such as the design team. 
L5: I attended to most of the DECA sessions including the conference. In addition, I tried to gain help during these sessions and also tried listening for advice from Virginia morris.
L6: KELY support is a non-profit charity which works to support low-self esteemed teenagers. Therefore, by helping the KELY support team, we have helped raised awareness of the issue of teenagers which is a global issue of importance.
L7: This team has made an ethical implication of action by helping the charity team for raised awareness, as well as building a room for people to come along. 
L8: As said before, I have developed new skills in planning during a limited time, and presenting, in the DECA conference. 

Overall, I feel that I have been able to gain a lot of skills through this experience in DECA. These involved a lot of leadership skills and cooperation skills that was very useful. Furthermore, through the DECA conference, I managed to go through a unique experience that boosted my presentation skill. This experience has helped me develop myself as a learner and has allowed me to gain many skills.

Library

Date started: 2010.09.08
Place: South Island School, 1/F, Library

Time: Wednesday 10:00~10:30, Tuesday (2:10~3:10)

CAS Type: Creative, Service

2010. 09
During the first few sessions, we learned how to loan, return books, as well as how to use the octopus system to collect money for overdue books. We also learned how to use the online library sessions, as well as how the books were arranged in the library. The first few sessions were about getting to the “backstage” of the library and understanding where things were, and getting some knowledge in the workplace in which we were working in. We also understood that the library was not a place where we only returned and borrowed books in the counter, but also helping out with small events such as Christmas, Readathon, and more. In addition to this, the librarian (Ms. Ow) helped us expand our knowledge in how to get in hand with various types of resources, as she wanted us to use this experience as a librarian as a very helpful one.


2010. 11
As well as helping out the counter, we also helped in organizing the Readathon; an event which the school held every year, to encourage students to read a lot of books (year 7). In contributing to this, we helped cut out the coupons for the event, and also designed a poster outside the library, to allow the students to be motivated and aware of the event. I was proud of the final poster which we created, as I thought it was attractive and informative at the same time (: . It was also quite interesting to have the boards displayed by us, as from year 7, I remember seeing various posters and commenting on them, and now, I (and a few other students (: ) was the one displaying this board.

Final Readathon Poster!!

  
2010. 12
Christmas was finally here, and it was time for us to decorate the library with a Christmas atmosphere. Me and some other friends (librarians) decorated a Christmas tree with the STAR (:. It was my first time to ever decorate a Christmas tree and it was a exciting experience. We had many decorating items, and therefore, we had to choose wisely on what styles would fit with the Christmas tree. After decorating it, we took a photo to celebrate the final Christmas tree (:.

2011.01
This month (and December), we focused on online databases, which were online resources which we could use to help aid our study throughout the IB course. The librarian told us how we could navigate to various types of databases, and we got a chance to go home and explore the websites. Soon, our Extended Essays were coming up, and this was one of the main reasons on why we got to know the databases. As we (mini-librarians) understood how to navigate the web pages, and as we were assigned our EE topics, we were to make a short presentation based on how to use different databases for different subjects. This allowed us to help others, as well as being able to familiarize the resources.

2011.02
For the few sessions, we planned to create an evaluation session based on the online databases, in order to choose which database to carry on using (as the school needed to pay), and which to stop, or even introduce. Therefore, a student created a template questionnaire, which we all edited to make sure the questionnaire was more specific and helpful.

2011.03
During this time, we had a meeting to discuss upon the data bases. This was to reflect upon the results from the questionnaire. We sat around a large table at lunch time and discussed the negative and positive points of various databases. We also voted for our favourite ones in order to get an idea of which databases to put forward, and which to remove. This meeting helped develop our school resources for researching various materials for students.

2011.04
As it was an exam period for our year group, there was not a lot of things done during this month. However, we started on a project which was going to be handled by a group of students including me. This small project was a poster which was going to raise awareness to students on the several databases which we chose beforehand.

2011.05
We continued on the small project on the database. In our meetings during our free time, we discussed what things were going to be put on it, and the specialised task for each person. Me and two other friends were in charge of the design, and the other people had the responsibility to write a brief description about the database. Then, we would use these information on the poster.
After gathering all the information, we cut out various different coloured papers and arranged them around the poster. We had 3 different databases which were gale, questia and discovery channel. When we agreed with the arrangements, we used a stapler to keep the parts up. We ended this month with a reflection on our posters from different librarians. We also made changes to the poster from the comments from other people.

2011.06
 This was the last month of being a librarian. The main aim for this month was to do a reflection and an evaluation with the school librarian, on our performance throughout the year. When doing the evaluation session, I also needed to make a small poster based on one database - The Economist.

Individual poster on 'The Economist'

When carrying out the evaluation session, we discussed various things from my attendance to how the small project turned out in the end. My attendance for this year started off well, but as the term went, my attendance fell. This was because I kept on forgetting the session. I could have improved this by writing down the date in a diary or the computer. I also could have asked my friend to remind me as I was forgetful. When discussing the small project, we talked about how well we collaborated with other people and how well we were organized. There were some things which we could have improved such as starting the design earlier while the other teams were working on their research on the database.

Organizing books

Working at the counter

Reflection

L2: I took various new challenges such as loaning and returning books, being aware of where different books were and laminating book covers. 

L3: Our small project involved planning and initiating activities as we had to plan different deadlines for researching and designing. In addition, we initiated the activities for putting the poster together as we were a part of the design team.

L4: While being a part of a school librarian, I worked collaboratively with other people. When doing my duty of loaning and returning books, I had to work with a partner. In addition, when doing the small group project, I had to work with a group of librarians who were doing the same job as me. Moreover, when doing my duty, I had to communicate with the school librarian to update on the various tasks which were carried out.
L8: I developed various skills from being a librarian. One of the most important skills which I developed was on using various different resources. As I had to take part in making posters on many databases, this allowed me to get insight on how to use these resources. I was also able to apply this skill when doing my extended essay as I needed reliable resources.

Overall, I think working as a librarian allowed me to learn new skills and also help develop various new skills which I could apply for my work. In addition, I was able learn how to use the library more effectively as well as the school library website.