Hello Students and Parents of YIS,

You may have been sent a link to this page because you (or your son or daughter) is behind in CAS work for the IBDP. At this point in the year we still have time for you to document your CAS work but time is running out so make sure you do not delay. Please don't hesitate to contact me at clarka @ yis.ac.jp if you have any questions because this is very important to see to immediately.

                                                                                                         - A. Clark

(Parents if you are unsure what this is all about, have your child show you their CAS wiki. At this point in the program you should see 3 or more activities documented with journal like reflections that support their growth across several, if not more, the 8 CAS Criteria. Many of the students have more written but if your son or daughter does not, they are behind with CAS and should make sincere efforts toward remedying this between now and the end of May. )

Below: Timeframe   -   How Much Time   -  Documentation, the Criteria, and the Diploma   -   Reflection Suggestions

Timeframe:

As explained at several points this year, CAS should occur over the two years of the IBDP so you should be making regular efforts to complete projects and to reflect on your learning and growth as a person. If you haven't updated your wiki pages to reflect your participation, you have unnecessarily put your whole IB Diploma in jeopardy. You need to have documented participation in CAS over the 2 years. (Documentation includes wiki page reflections and signed CAS Completion Form for each project)

How Much Time:

Even though the IBO has removed much of the "hours" language and requirement from the assessment criteria you are still expected to participate in numerous projects across the 3 areas of CAS (Creative, Action, and Service). Keep in mind that you are expected to participate in a significant way in your CAS activities and it can be helpful to note that 50 hours in each area is a rough guideline the IBO still recommends for CAS coordinators. Based on past experience, there are some projects that are very demanding time wise and others that are less so. Please ask me for input regarding your activities and I will let you know if they involve acceptable time investments. Typically students are able to complete their CAS requirement through participation in 1-3 activities in each CAS area.

Documentation, The Criteria, and the Diploma:

There are three key things that you need to monitor for CAS. The first is that you are involved in significant and meaningful projects (see above). The second is that your projects give you the opportunity to grow in each of the three CAS domains. Some projects may be both service and creative in nature for instance and it is fine for you to reflect on them in that manner. The third is that somewhere in your projects you are able to address and document your growth in each of the 8 assessment criteria (Click for a pdf or see embedded form below). Do not allow yourself to get to the end of next year with one of those criteria unaddressed. That will prevent you from graduating with an IB Diploma and it is easily preventable at this stage.

Completion Forms: As you complete projects fill out the Completion Form and have your supervisor sign it then submit it to Mr. Clark and it will go into your file. By the end of the day May 22, everyone should have at least 3 completing forms with finished wikis to support them on file with Mr. Clark.

CAS Individual Completion Form

Suggestions on Ways to Reflect

• Journal Entries with Photos - General Example from a Creative Project
• Complete Some Stem Sentences - List of Stem Sentences to help you reflect
• Interview another CAS student and post your responses either in writing or with an MP3 file. (hint - you can upload mp3 files directly to your wiki under images and files.)
• Other Media - If your CAS work has received any media coverage either through the school website or in other ways link to the online articles, podcasts, etc.
• Use embeddable technology to give your page depth like youtube, vimeo, animoto, slide, scribd, flickr, etc.
• Consider posting a table like this to document which of the criteria you fulfilled in a particular activity. 

What criteria this activity helped me fulfill...