CREATIVITY

ACTIVITY

SERVICE

WALNUT HIGH SCHOOL

* all information in this guide is taken or adapted from the IB publication: “Creativity,

activity, service guide for students graduating in 2017 and after” and Teacher Support

Materials on the OCC


Creativity, activity, service (CAS) is intended to be a collection of enjoyable and challenging experiences determined by you to extend your abilities.

Successful completion of CAS is a requirement for the award of the IB Diploma.

CAS enables students to enhance their personal and interpersonal development. A meaningful CASprogramme is a journey of discovery of self and others. For many, CAS is profound and life-changing. Each individual student has a different starting point and different needs and goals. A CAS programmeis,therefore, individualized according to student interests, skills, values and background.

CAS is organized around the three strands of creativity, activity and service defined as follows:

• Creativity—exploring and extending ideas leading to an original or interpretive product

orperformance. Music, theatre, film, design technology, visual arts, dance, fashion

and other experiences that involve creative thinking fall under creativity (for example,

joining a choir or engaging with fashion design).

• Activity—physical exertion contributing to a healthy lifestyle. Pursuits may involve

individual and team sports, aerobic exercise, dance, outdoor recreation, fitness

training, and any other form of physical exertion.

• Service—collaborative and reciprocal engagement with the community in response to

an authenticneed. Students engage in an unpaid and voluntary exchange that has a

learning benefit for the student. By investigating and identifying a community need,

then determining a plan of action that respects the rights, dignity and autonomy of all

involved (for example, reading to the aged or advocating for a cause), you are

performing service.

The CAS programme formally begins at the start of the Diploma Programme(the first day of school your junior year) and continues regularly, ideally on a weekly basis, for at least 18 monthswith a reasonable balance between creativity, activity, and service.

All CAS students are expected to maintain and complete a CAS portfolio as evidence of their engagementwith CAS. The CAS portfolio is a collection of evidence that showcases CAS experiences and for studentreflections. Your advisor will ask to see your portfolio regularly over the two years to ensure that you keep it up to date. You will turn in your completed portfolio to your advisor the spring of your senior year.

Completion of CAS is based on student achievement of the seven CAS learning outcomes. Through theirCAS portfolio, students provide the school with evidence demonstrating achievement of each learningoutcome.

Students engage in CAS experiences involving one or more of the three CAS strands. A CAS experience canbe a single event or may be an extended series of events.

Further, students undertake a CAS project of at least one month’s duration that challenges students toshow initiative, demonstrate perseverance, and develop skills such as collaboration, problem-solving, anddecision-making. The CAS project can address any single strand of CAS, or combine two or all three strands.

Students use the CAS stages (investigation, preparation, action, reflection and demonstration) as aframework for CAS experiences and the CAS project.

There are three formal documented interviews students must have with their CAS adviser. Thefirst interview is at the beginning of the CAS programme, the second at the end of the first year, and thethird interview is at the end of the CAS programme.

CAS emphasizes reflection which is central to building a deep and rich experience in CAS. Reflectioninforms students’ learning and growth by allowing students to explore ideas, skills, strengths, limitationsand areas for further development and consider how they may use prior learning in new contexts. For each of your CAS activities you will include a reflection in your portfolio.

CAS Learning Outcomes:

You will need to show evidence of having achieved the CAS learning outcomes during your CAS experience. Evidence of achieving the seven learning outcomes will be found in your reflections. Some learning outcomes may be addressed many times while others less frequently. You must provide the school with evidence in your portfolio that you have achieved each learning outcome at least once during your CAS experience.

Learning outcome 1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
The student:
  • is aware of own strengths and weaknesses
  • is open to improvement and growth opportunities
  • is able to propose experiences according to own interests and talents
  • is willing to participate in different experiences
  • is able to undertake a thoughtful self-evaluation
  • is able to see themselves as individuals with various abilities and skills, some more developed than others

Learning outcome 2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
The student:
  • participates in an experience that demands an appropriate personal challenge; this could be with new or familiar experiences
  • is willing to become involved in unfamiliar environments and situations
  • acquires new skills and abilities
  • increases expertise in an established area
  • shows newly acquired or developed skills or increased expertise in an established area

Learning outcome 3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience
The student:
  • is able to articulate and use the CAS stages including investigation, preparation, action, reflection (ongoing) and demonstration, moving from conceiving an idea to carrying out a plan for a CAS experience or series of CAS experiences
  • demonstrates knowledge and awareness by building on a previous CAS experience
  • shows initiative by launching a new idea or process
  • suggests creative ideas, proposals or solutions
  • integrates reflective thoughts in planning or taking initiative
  • is aware of roles and responsibilities when designing an individual or collective CAS experience
  • shows responsible attitude to CAS project planning
  • is able to develop a coherent action plan

Learning outcome 4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences
Suggested descriptors/The student:
  • demonstrates regular involvement and active engagement with CAS experiences and CAS project
  • is able to foresee potential challenges to the initial plan and consider valid alternatives and contingencies
  • demonstrates adaptability to uncertainties and changes
  • gets involved in long-term CAS experiences and CAS project

Learning outcome 5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively
Suggested descriptors/The student:
  • shares skills and knowledge
  • listens respectfully to proposals from peers
  • is willing to take on different roles within a team
  • shows respect for different points of view and ideas
  • makes valuable contributions
  • is responsible for participating in the group
  • readily assists others
  • is able to identify, demonstrate and discuss critically the benefits and challenges of collaboration gained through CAS experiences

Learning outcome 6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance
Suggested Descriptors/The student:
  • recognizes the global implications of local issues
  • is able to identify global issues in the local or national community
  • shows awareness of issues of global importance and takes concrete and appropriate actions in response to them either locally, nationally or internationally
  • gets involved in CAS projects addressing global issues in a local, national or international context
  • develops awareness and responsibility towards a shared humanity

Learning outcome 7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions
Suggested Descriptors/The student:
  • recognizes ethical issues
  • is able to explain the social influences on one’s ethical identity
  • takes into account cultural context when making a plan or ethical decision
  • identifies what is needed to know in order to make an ethical decision
  • articulates ethical principles and approaches to ethical decisions
  • shows accountability for choices and actions
  • is aware of the consequences of choices and actions regarding self, others involved and the community
  • integrates the process of reflection when facing an ethical decision
  • shows awareness of the potential and varied consequences of choices and actions in planning and carrying out CAS experiences

Choosing CAS Activities

Keep the following in mind when choosing your CAS activities. All CAS activities must meet the following four criteria.

A CAS experience must:

• fit within one or more of the CAS strands

• be based on a personal interest, skill, talent or opportunity for growth

• provide opportunities to develop the attributes of the IB learner profile

• not be used or included in the student’s Diploma course requirements

It may be helpful to ask yourself the following questions when choosing a CAS activity:

• Will the experience be enjoyable?

• Does the experience allow for development of personal interests, skills and/or talents?

• What new possibilities or challenges could the experience provide?

• What might be the possible consequences of your CAS experience for you, others and

Theenvironment?

• Which CAS learning outcomes may be addressed?

The IB suggests that students use the following 5 stage approach as a helpful

and supportive framework as they consider what they wouldlike to do in CAS, make plans, and carry out their ideas.

The five CAS stages:

1. Investigation: Students identify their interests, skills and talents to be used in

consideringopportunities for CAS experiences, as well as areas for personal growth

and development. Studentsinvestigate what they want to do and determine the

purpose for their CAS experience. In the case ofservice, students identify a need they

want to address.

2. Preparation: Students clarify roles and responsibilities, develop a plan of actions to

be taken, identifyspecified resources and timelines, and acquire any skills as needed

to engage in the CAS experience.

3. Action: Students implement their idea or plan. This often requires decision-making

andproblemsolving. Students may work individually, with partners, or in groups.

4. Reflection: Students describe what happened, express feelings, generate ideas, and

raise questions. Reflection can occur at any time during CAS to further

understanding, to assist with revising plans, tolearn from the experience, and to

make explicit connections between their growth, accomplishments,and the learning

outcomes for personal awareness. Reflection may lead to new action.

5. Demonstration: Students make explicit what and how they learned and what they

have accomplished,for example, by sharing their CAS experience through their CAS

portfolio or with others in an informalor formal manner. Through demonstration and

communication, students solidify their understandingand evoke response from

others.

CAS Ideas to get you started:

Many activities will overlap and meet 2 or more of the CAS strands

CREATIVITY

  • design and create a mural for school or the community (C/S)
  • plan and execute an art project for kids at a community day care or hospital (C/S)
  • plan and execute an art project for kids at a school that doesn’t offer art (C/S)
  • learn a new musical instrument
  • learn an especially challenging piece of music/dance routine
  • choreograph and participate in dance routine for a school or community event (C/S)
  • perform music or dance in a new or especially challenging context (public audience, large audience, competition)
  • plan a musical program and perform for hospital patients or the elderly at a retirement home (C/S)
  • design a website for a school/non-profit/charity organization (C/S)
  • design lessons for after school tutoring sessions (C/S)
  • design an awareness campaign for an environmental issue. This could include creating posters, announcements and presentations (C/S)
  • take a ceramics/art/photography class
  • write an article for the school or local community paper (C/S)
  • participate in the WHS publications, yearbook, marching band and other music groups, dance, choir, ASB (C/S)
  • write and deliver a speech for a community or school event (C/S)
  • take photography classes
  • take a dance class (C/A)
  • design and create attractive signs with an environmental message for a school or neighborhood (C/S)
  • creative writing – write and produce audiobooks for the blind (C/S)
  • record the oral histories of people living in elderly residential facilities and createfamily memoirs (C/S)
  • create a photo or art exhibition forresidents of a hospital or retirement home (C/S)
  • drama/theater
  • musical ensembles both in and out of school
  • teaching activities
  • working with pre-schoolers
  • writing club
  • cheerleading (C/A/S)
  • art workshops
  • reading to kids or creating displays for the local community library
  • film production
  • dance productions
  • Girl scouts/boy scouts (C/A/S)
  • Talent show
  • Bake gourmet cookies and deliver to a school or community group
  • Take photos for a non-profit organization
  • Creative projects that you do with your school clubs

ACTION

  • Participating in individual or team sports groups in school or in the community
  • Taking any type of sports lessons (tennis, golf, horsebackriding)
  • Participating in a school or community dance team/organization/club
  • Marching band
  • Cheerleading
  • Bowling league
  • Join a hiking/running/walking/bicycling/tennis club
  • Join a gym and keep a personal workout log or work with a personal trainer
  • Teach a sport to a community kids’ organization
  • Help coach kids in little league, softball, soccer or other sport
  • Train for and then participate in a charity 3k, 5k, or 10k run
  • Walk for diabetes
  • Relay for life
  • Organized Beach clean-ups
  • Girl scout/boy scout activities
  • Red cross training/CPR training
  • School/community beautification
  • Gymnastics
  • Marital arts
  • Summer camp
  • World Vision “30 hour famine” (Simple Faith/International Alliance) (A/S)
  • Odyssey of the Mind
  • Publications (C/A/S)
  • Prepare for and participate in Multi-cultural assembly C/A/S)
  • Academic Olympiad competition
  • Peer counseling (A/S)
  • Video Yearbook (C/A/S)
  • Red Ribbon activities (C/A/S)
  • Stage/crew work for drama
  • Debate club
  • FBLA conference and competitive events
  • CD yearbook

SERVICE (many of these will satisfy Creativity and Action as well)

  • National Honor Society
  • Key Club
  • Simple Faith
  • Red Cross Blood Drive (Girls’ League)
  • Volunteering at convalescent/retirement homes
  • Hospital volunteer
  • Toy/clothes/food drives for non-profit organizations
  • Habitat for Humanity
  • Bead for Life
  • March of Dimes
  • Big Brothers and Sisters
  • Salvation Army
  • Read Across America
  • Elijah’s Rock
  • Second Harvet
  • Childrens Miracle Network
  • Tutoring
  • Volunteering at State Parks
  • Orange County Children’s’ Home
  • LA AIDS Walk
  • Muscular Dystrophy Foundation
  • Meals on Wheels
  • Red Cross
  • House of Ruth
  • Special Olympics
  • Rose Parade Float Decorating
  • Humane Society
  • Animal Hospital volunteer
  • Animal Rescue volunteer
  • Recycling programs
  • Environmental awareness activities
  • Beach clean-up
  • S.A.D.D
  • Volunteer at the local library
  • Student government
  • Head Start program
  • United Way
  • Teacher assistant (non-credit)
  • Wildlife refuges
  • Soup kitchens
  • Helping with textbook distribution
  • Church volunteer activities

What CAS is NOT

  1. No student may include an activity or project that is already part of the Diploma Programme.
  2. No student may include an activity for which the student is rewarded financially or with some other benefit like school credit or a grade.
  3. All CAS activities must be performed as part of an existing organization and/or under the supervision of a responsible adult on site to evaluate and confirm student participation. For example, hiking alone would not be a valid activity, but hiking regularly with the Sierra Club would be a valid activity.
  4. Parents may NOT serve as a supervisor for their own child.
  5. Attending regular club meetings is not CAS. Organizing and planning events through the school clubs are.
  6. Doing simple, tedious, repetitive work is not CAS such as returning library books to the shelves.
  7. Passive visits to a museum, theater, art exhibition, concert or sporting event.
  8. Any religious activity that involves evangelism (promoting your religious beliefs)
  9. All forms of duty within your family.
  10. CAS activities should not put the student or any other person in serious danger.
  11. Fundraising with no clearly-defined goal.
  12. Work experience that only benefits the students

The CAS Project

All CAS students must complete a CAS project of at least one month’s duration. A CAS project involves collaboration between a group of students or with members of the wider community. Students work as part of a team, with all members being contributors.

A CAS project offers students theopportunity to be responsible for, or to initiate, a part of or the entire CAS project.

All CAS projects should use the CAS stages as a framework for implementation to ensure that allrequirements are met. The CAS proposal form must be submitted to the CAS advisor(s) before work begins on the project. A CAS project can address any single strand of CAS, or combine two or all three strands.

The followingexamples are provided to help generate further ideas without limiting the scope and direction of a CASproject.

• Creativity: A student group plans, designs and creates a mural.

• Activity: Students organize and participate in a sports team including training sessions

and matchesagainst other teams.

• Service: Students set up and conduct tutoring for people in need.

• Creativity and activity: Students choreograph a routine for their marching band.

• Service and activity: Students plan and participate in the planting and maintenance of

a garden withmembers of the local community.

• Service and creativity: Students identify that children at a local school need backpacks

Andsubsequently design and make the backpacks out of recycled materials.

• Creativity, activity, and service: Students rehearse and perform a dance production for

a communityretirement home.

All CAS projects are designed with a defined purpose and goals. Individual students identify one or morelearning outcomes to further guide their role and responsibilities in the CAS project.

As expected throughout CAS, students reflect on their CAS project experience. Due to the collaborativenature of the CAS project, having occasions to reflect with others can prove most informative and assiststudents in gaining insights into the process of their endeavor as well as personal growth.