What is a CAS reflection?

Over your 18 months of CAS, you’ll be expected to produce reflections. These are thoughtful, honest
accounts of what you’ve gained by completing CAS experiences. A big part of CAS is how your
experiences and projects lead to personal development. The IBO states that students should “identify
goals, develop strategies and determine further actions for personal growth”. So, analysing your goals,
decisions, successes, problems, and ways of overcoming challenges are a few suggestions of what should
be included in CAS reflections. Here are the IBO’s top things to consider when producing your reflections:

 Describe what happened: retell memorable moments, identifying what was important or
influential, what went well or was difficult, obstacles and successes.
 Express feelings: articulate emotional responses to your experiences.
 Generate ideas: rethink or re-examine choices and actions, as this increases awareness about self
and situations.
 Ask questions: question processes or issues to prompt further thinking and ongoing inquiry

Other good questions to consider when producing your reflections include:

 Why did I make this particular choice?

 How did this experience reflect my personal ideas and values?
 In what ways am I being challenged to think differently about myself and others?
 How did I feel about the challenges?
 What happened that prompted particular feelings?
 What choices might have resulted in different feelings and outcomes?

Recording Reflections
After completing a CAS experience or part of a CAS project, You had better write down the date, activity
and a few thoughts about what you did and how you had found things. Also use the seven learning
outcomes as guidance for what to write. By making notes (however brief!) in your CAS diary, this then
make your life much easier when it comes to produce your detailed reflections. It can really save you time
in the long run! But a good thing to remember is that purposeful reflection is about quality, not
quantity. You are not expected to write detailed reflections after every single one of your CAS
experiences (thank goodness!). Rather, you should simply identify moments worthy of reflection, such as:

 When a moment of discovery is happening

 When a skill is mastered
 When a challenge is confronted
 When emotions are provoked
 When achievement deserves celebration

Methods of Reflection
Whilst most of my CAS reflections were written paragraphs, this doesn’t have to be the case. Find forms
of expression that suit you and your various CAS experiences. Other methods of reflection could include:

 a dialogue
 a poem
 a song
 a comic strip
 a dramatic performance
 a letter
 a photograph
  a video diary
 a dance

How to write CAS reflections?

Students

 should reflect on their experiences, particularly those that provide the most challenge
 should always reflect when something of importance happens – successes or failures
 can upload photos, web links, presentations, photographs etc…using Google Drive, making
their material accessible to anyone with the link
Points to remember:

 language is unimportant, any style is fine

 purposeful reflection is about quality rather than quantity
 students should include reflections in their CAS portfolio that give evidence of achieving each
of the seven CAS learning outcomes
 Students' CAS profiles and thus reflections may be accessed by their Supervisors (for their
experiences only), their CAS Advisor, the CAS Coordinator and their Tutor. The latter will find
the reflections and comments useful for writing the student's university reference. At the end
of Grade 12 the student will be sent a PDF copy of their CAS portfolio if they request it. The
portfolios will be archived by the College.
Minimum requirements for reflection
Students must write a minimum of four detailed reflections.

 for their local service

 for their Project Week (using the CAS 5 stages)
 for one Creative experience
 for one Active experience
For all the other experiences, students must write summative reflections. A summative reflection
must include at least these three parts

 a brief description of the experience and the goals the students hope to achieve by doing it
 mid-way through the experience, a brief reflection of how the experience is going
 at the end of the experience, the students should explain if they have achieved their goals or
not, why and what they would do differently
How to write reflections?
A reflection usually involves:

 looking back at an event, i.e. something that happened

 analysing the event - thinking in depth and from different perspectives, and trying to explain
what that analysis produced
 thinking carefully about what the event means for you and your on-going progress as a
learner
Whichever approach to reflection you use, you must bear in mind the following four key points:

 reflection is an exploration and an explanation of events – not just a description of them.

  genuinely reflective writing often involves ‘revealing’ anxieties, errors and weaknesses, as well
as strengths and successes. This is fine (in fact it’s often essential!), as long as you have some
understanding of the possible causes, and explain how you plan to improve.
 it is normally necessary to select just the most significant parts of the event on which you are
reflecting. If you try to ‘tell the whole story’ you are likely to describe rather than interpret.
 it is often useful to ‘reflect forward’ to the future as well as ‘reflecting back’ on the past.
The list below contains some things students should think about when writing reflections:

 name three things that stuck in your mind about the experience
 describe some of my interactions
 what are/were my goals?
 what did I actually do?
 what were the outcomes, for me, the team I was working with, and others?
Other questions to ask could be:

 How successful was I in achieving my goals? What difficulties did I encounter and how did I
overcome them?
 What did I learn about others and myself through this experience/project? What abilities,
attitudes and values have I developed?
 Did anyone help me to think about my learning during this experience/project? If so, who
helped and how did they help?
 How did this experience/project benefit others?
 Did I maintain full attendance? How many sessions have I missed? Was I punctual? How
would I summarize my effort and commitment?
 What might I do differently next time to improve?
 How can I apply what I have learned in other life situations?
 What have I learned about development issues that are evident in our local community? How
do I feel about this? What are my views on these issues? What have I done to address these
issues?

Ask yourself these questions as you consider what to include as you reflect on your CAS
activities.
• What did I learn?
• Was I successful in completing the activity the way I envisioned it?
• What challenges did I encounter, and how did I deal with them?
• What did I learn about myself?
• What did I learn about other people?
• What abilities, attitudes, and values have I developed?
• Who were my helpers and/or team mates?
• How did this activity benefit other people or institutions?
• What would I change if I were to do this again?
• How can I apply what I have learned to other situations?
• How did I grow creatively?
• Did I gain physical fitness?
• Did I make contacts valuable for future job or academic connections?
• How do I feel about my CAS experience?
Examples of reflection
“The last thing that I think should always be kept in mind is who is serving whom through the service.
When sessions are properly organized, the boys from the center can benefit greatly, from our
facilities and our knowledge when we express enthusiasm. On the other hand, they are doing a great
service to us by providing us with an aspect of service and giving us a platform to examine alternative
forms of education. That said, for service to work it’s crucial that the people involved show
enthusiasm to indicate that it is not merely a compulsory obligation or a way of stacking a university
application. This service was a struggle at times, and it’s because of this that service was such a
valuable experience for me. Particularly the experience of working with kids is one that I hadn’t had
before, and I think a lot of
what I’ve learned will be very applicable to other facets of life, as it already has been.”

“This service has made me realize that previously I was quite a selfish person who was unaware of
many of the problems in society. Being in Singapore we are living in a bubble where everything
appears as perfection but there are things that we are not exposed to. Being part of HIV patient care
has opened my eyes to those who are suffering. Initially I was uncomfortable because this was a new
experience but I have overcome that and when I go and feel wanted and useful it makes me feel
good as well as the patients. The experience is something that I believe all young people should be
exposed to in order to realize there is a lot beyond our knowledge and education that needs to be
taught.”

“Having returned to the sport of rugby after a two-year long break, it has been highly demanding,
both physically and mentally. As I have learned through the numerous training sessions and
competitive games against other very good teams, this sport requires constant, tactical thinking as
well as a high level of fitness - both qualities which I know I still need to develop further. As the rugby
season progresses I know I will make a conscious effort to improve my game.”

“I have always wanted to join a debating as I believe we learn a lot of valuable skills for the future.
Debating helps us argue persuasively and make our point without becoming aggressive and one of
the career options I'm looking at is law, and debate will definitely help my oral and critical thinking
skills in this profession. Debate club in the first term was a critical experience because it gave me
regained confidence to speak well in public and I discovered that the debate skills learnt in the
workshops on weekends helped me in other subjects too, for example, in history we had a class
debate and my performance was much better than I expected due mainly to the new skills learnt.”

“I think that I would really like to improve my singing abilities in Cantabile. I am surrounded by
absolutely fantastic singers, so perhaps I could pick up some things regarding singing technique from
them. They are willing to teach, and so I should be open to learning new things about my voice and
how to sing. Also, we are constantly being pushed, in terms of breathing time, range, vocal abilities,
and so on. For the Beethoven 9th Symphony that we're doing with the Singers, the highest note is a
high B, and there is numerous high as, which is at the absolute top of my range, which causes me
some discomfort. However, we do extensive warm-ups to get to it and I know that if I persist at it, my
range will increase. Also for some of the motets that we do, because of the slow tempo and lengthy
Latin phrases, breathing is scarce and therefore that trains my diaphragm and also increases my
breathing efficiency. So these are just ways in which I hope to improve in Cantabile over the coming
year.”

CAS: Cross Country

Activity Description: I was a 5k runner on my high school’s cross country team from sophomore to
senior year (3 years). I have accumulated well over 30 hours through practices and meets. The sport
requires daily commitment. Running is one of the most strenuous physical activities that involves
both cardio and strength. For self-improvement and personal health goals, I have consistently run 3
miles a day, at least five days a week, for ten weeks over a period of three years, totaling 450 miles
run in MHS XC alone (doesn’t count track or middle school running). Although cross-country is an
individual sport, it involves team effort and a strategy known as pack running in order to beat the
other team.
Personal Reflection
My personal involvement in this activity was to contribute to the team as a runner. The main task
besides effort was consistent participation. I was expected to be prompt and on time to practice
every day. This helped me with punctuality issues I’ve always struggled with: oftentimes I leave the
house when I’m already supposed to be somewhere. However, cross-country made me realize that
there is no excuse for lateness and everything I do should be on time. Besides gaining the skill of
promptness, I also gained a great deal of physical strength, stamina, speed, and endurance and was
able to gain muscle and run faster times with each passing season. Running is both frustrating and
joyful, but the most apparent feeling I get from running is one of power. I feel in control of my legs
and my abilities whenever I finish a race with a personal best time and have successfully pushed
myself and prevented myself from walking any part of the course. My perspective of running has
changed since beginning to run. Specifically this season, I gained insight by realizing that running is
more mental than physical. Why run if it’s not significant to you? This is not an appropriate activity to
fulfill an extra-curricular requirement with. It is extremely painstaking, and if your heart’s not in it, it
will be a miserable experience. This is why I believed I loved running so much. I was completely
dedicated to self-improvement. I didn’t do it because my friends were doing it, or because I wanted
to fill up my resume. I did it because I enjoyed the burn in my legs. I know I want to continue running
in college, perhaps not as competitively (varsity), but for enjoyment and personal improvement (such
as intramural cross-country). I believe I was very successful in personal improvement through this
activity and gained a lot more self-confidence by staying in shape.
One particular setback that stands out to me is “the bowl” at Holmdel Park. Even when I was
extremely determined and pushed myself as hard as possible to run up this 200-meter steep incline,
sometimes my legs and my lungs weren’t up for it and I involuntarily would start walking. Whenever
this happened, I would console myself by saying that I must do the best I can do and that sometimes
there will be bad days. During this activity, I noticed the grass and passing roots: one must be
extremely aware of one’s surroundings when running on an uneven course. This is what makes cross-
country so much more difficult than track. In track, you can “zone out” and let your feet do all the
work. Before you know it, your sprint is done. With cross-country, you must be aware of your
surroundings. All. Three. Miles. I’ve learned this lesson the hard way by witnessing other people
sprained knees and experiencing a twisted ankle firsthand. Before meets, I used to feel nervous. That
is another way I have changed since completion of this activity: confidence. I used to worry about not
doing well. But then one day I realized that no matter my performance, as long as I did my best that
day, that was all the team could ask of me. At subsequent meets my heart wouldn’t pound and I
wouldn’t be dizzy anymore. Gaining confidence likely improved my performance further! After
meets, I know I’ve done things right if I feel absolutely exhausted. I need to feel mentally and
physically drained or I’m unsatisfied with my performance. The last 200 meters need to be an all-out
sprint of all the energy I’ve got left. Once I cross that finish line, cue heavy breathing, reddening face,
tired legs. Despite my exhaustion, I always stick around to cheer on the rest of my teammates, friends
or not. This activity impacted me in that I gained physical abilities I could never dream of having. I
learned a lot about the difference between passion and getting it over with. I believe I can apply what
I’ve learned in cross-country to other life situations because whatever I do, I want it to be as
enjoyable as possible and put my best effort into it in order to get the best results possible. If I were
to run cross-country for another year, I wouldn’t change anything about my effort. I ran my absolute
best and I’m satisfied with it. The only thing I might change is that I shouldn’t have run ten minutes
after spraining an ankle. That probably threw off my recovery time a bit. Still worth it! But now my
ankle is all ouch. Still. It was an amazing experience and I’m proud to call myself a cross-country
runner and a repeated conqueror of Holmdel Park.

http://marvin-mycasjournal.blogspot.com/
Summer camp in the city of Millau

CAS element: Action

Time: 28 hours

I went to a week winter camp in the Aples in Argentiere. I snowboard and I went practically everyday
skiing with other teenagers. We would leave in the morning with each our packed lunch in our bag.
The skiing slopes were great as there were plenty of snow and almost all everyday had been sunny. It
was quit cold but I had a good coat so that was not a problem. It was fun to ski with other teenagers.
We helped each other and some showed off to us tricks we could try. When we were hungry, we
would find a nice place off the slopes in the snow to eat our sandwiches. On the last two days, I was
tired however I still enjoyed snowboarding and tried new tricks. I fell many times during the week,
but fortunately I did not get hurt thanks to my helmet. Personally I think the week went by wait too
fast, as most things do when you have fun. We left our place as soon as the slopes opened and stayed
until they closed in the evening. I knew that a week would pass by extremely quickly and I wanted to
enjoy it as much as possible. At night after a well-deserved dinner, my friends and I would play all
kind of games until late in the night. Keeping this rhythm for a week was a real challenge. When I got
back home my all the muscles in my body were sore and ached from the many bruises. I was
exhausted and had to sleep two straight days to recover, however I did not regret any bit of it and I
cannot wait for next winter to do the same.
Candy Grams Project
CAS element: Service
Time: 14 hours
This year the recycling group wants to make this school project international. We want our program
to have a positive effect beyond the school campus. We wish this project could be part of a global
movement toward sustainability. Right now we are in contact with a charitable association in India,
the Lion's Club. We want to collect money within the school premises and donate it to this
association. In return, it has promised to plant trees with our donations, to counter the deforestation
in some areas of India. As a group we, therefore, decided to organize a candy gram event in the
school before the Christmas Holidays.
For the past two weeks the recycling group and I have been work hard daily to print the different
cards and sell them. We have decided to make two kind of cards, black and white ones for one euro
and colored ones for two euros. If you buy a colored candy gram you will send your friends a bigger
bag of candy with a Ferrero Rocher. Everyday throughout the week, we went around the different
homerooms in school to inform and sell as much candy grams as possible. At first only the
elementary school bought significant amounts, whereas the middle and high school seemed more
reserved to chip in a euro or two. On the first Thursday, we decided to start packing some of the
candy grams. We adopted a chain like production and where able to make them quickly, that is what
we thought at the time. The next week, we continued on selling and this time much more students in
the middle and high school seemed to be willing to contribute. We actually reached selling records
and quickly ran out of cards to sell. On the next Thursday, we continued to pack the candy grams and
rapidly realized that we will have to increase our production by at least three, compared to last week,
so that we can finish to pack the about 600 candy grams that we sold and distribute then the next
day. Fortunately, we had many volunteers that offered their help and enable us to finish everything
although late in the evening. The next day our last task was to go in each homeroom and distribute
the candy grams. I very much enjoyed this part because as you can inside the room all the eyes were
on you, waiting impatiently to overhear their name. Especially with the younger ones, the expression
of pure joy on their face when they were given their price was worth all the effort that this project
required. To sum up, the recycling team was able to collect about 650 euros of donation for the Lion's
Club association in India.
Wood Construction: Tea Box
CAS element: Creativity
Time: 2 hours
During this school break, I wanted to make again a wood construction, since I learned a lot and very
much enjoy making my first construction, the bird house. However, since I am only going to spend
less than a week at my house in the country side, I can only make a simple construction. I decided,
then, to construct a tea box that will be used to store and sort out all my tea bags. After I have made
the plan, selected the wood needed to make each piece of the box. I had to make the right
measurements and cut out the pieces. However, the hardest part was to polish each piece with
sandpapers of different fineness because the wood I used was quite old and rough. The other
challenge was to assemble the polished pieces. I had some trouble screwing all the screws correctly.
Later with some perseverance and the help of a screwdriver I found in the garage, I finally got he
structure to hold together. The next part, which is the part I like the most, is the painting. The paint
makes each vein of the wood stand up and adds a very warm color touch to it. The next morning, I
was extremely pleased to see my tea box right in the middle of the table filled with tea bags, while I
was taking my breakfast. Although this new wood construction was not as hard as the first one, it is a
more useful creation that I will make use of daily.
Sailing Across Costarica
CAS element: Action
Time: 2 hours(41hrs)
This year's summer camp takes place in an enormous 25 meters’ catamaran. With the companionship
of 20 other teenagers, we sailed all around Corsica in a period of two weeks. The main occupation
was sailing this beautiful ship with all the different shores that had to be done to do so around the
coasts of Corsica lost in the Mediterranean Sea. It is not simple to sail a boat of this size over such
distances. A lot of workforce is required to perform all the different tasks. Fortunately, that was not a
problem since all of us were very motivated and willing to help. On top of that we were under the
instruction of two very competent skippers, who continuously showed us what we had to do. I
learned how to pull up the sails, use the different equipment on board to keep the right bearing like
the electronic compass, the GPS, the radar and the wind angle. I also learned how to make different
knots and fold long ropes neatly, as well as, casting or weighing anchor. We would sail almost every
day and on average 3-4 hours a day, usually in the afternoon. Every morning before the breakfast, I
would go swimming for an hour, since it is such a great pleasure to swim in turquoise blue water and
observe the many fishes that inhabit this paradise. On top of that, I would go windsurfing around the
Catamaran when the wind allowed me to. These two weeks sailing allowed me to discover the
pleasure of sailing while discovering a mind-blowing landscape from a different angle; the sea...

CAS Reflection Samples

Badminton –
Badminton is one sport that I love with all my heart. It probably comes second to music in things that
I love doing. I started badminton my freshman year. This would be my fourth year on the team. The
reason why I love playing badminton is because it really brings joy to me. It is one sport you do not
have to be good at to enjoy, and this is another reason whey I love it. As long as you are able to hit
the shuttle cock (or birdie as we call it) then you are perfectly fine. I am always encouraging others to
play and join it. I played doubles my freshman year and did not make it to junior varsity or varisty.
That made me a little sad but at the same time I did not really care. I just wanted to get on the courts
and have fun. Sophomore year I decided to play singles. I wanted to challenge myself. The first time
I played singles I felt like quitting because everything seemed impossible for me. The court was too
big for me to cover, I was not good at serving long serves and I was really out of shape. I could not
run at all. All of this did not stop me though; it just pushed me to become better. My goal was to
make junior varsity at least, and I did. This year I want to make it to varsity.
This sport is very meaningful to me, because it is here that I met some of the most amazing people in
my life. I made new friends and with every win that our school made, the bonds between us became
stronger. I learned to trust others and I learned to rely on others. When you play a doubles game
you must trust that your partner has your back all the time and when they miss a shot, they rely on
you to get it. That is what makes teamwork. The feeling you get when you win a match literally lifts
the spirits of the entire team, because you are not just playing to win for yourself, but for the team.
This puts a lot of pressure on those who are on Varsity because their scores are what matters, but it is
the battle and the win that makes it all worth it in the end. Badminton is the highlight of my day
(when the season starts) because I learn and gain so much from it. The teamwork that I use in here
and the liveliness of everything encourages me to keep striving for the best. Each year I have
improved and to me that means a lot. I am replacing old skills with new ones and adding strength to
my abilities. You gain confidence and belief and those are very good qualities to have.
Mission Trip to Kentucky -
During the summer of 2008 my church’s youth group went on a mission trip to rural Kentucky. This
trip opened my eyes to the poverty in the United States and I realized by the end of the trip how
much impact one small group of people can have on the lives of those in need. I think that this
activity was a growing experience, both my spirituality and my maturity was impacted in a very
profound way. This activity meant a lot to me as a person because I could see the help I was giving,
doing construction has much more impact on you as a person because you can see the good
unfolding beneath your hands. Going to Kentucky on this mission trip taught me that every little bit
counts and I will apply this later in life when I continue in my volunteering tradition.
Camp Counselor –
Volunteering as a camp counselor at the Saint Paul Conservatory of Music has introduced me to a
wide variety of skills, and has helped me fine tune these skills to be applied throughout my life. The
whole experience was full of learning, and from this experience, I obtained tools which will help me
shape my life.
The main skill that volunteering at this camp taught me was the valuable skill of leadership.
Throughout the camp, I had to be a role model for these children who looked up to me. Not only did
I have to simply set a good example, I had to teach them piano, guitar composition and music theory.
I also had to set up games, explain the rules of the games, and (always the most difficult) enforce the
rules of the games. I had to be constantly on watch for a child in distress, or a child who may not be
having a good time, so I could go cheer them up. However, the most difficult part of leadership that I
learned from this camp was learning how to say no. Coming into camp, I wanted all the children to
like me. I basically wanted to be the “fun” counselor. However, this camp helped me realize that it’s
quite hard to the “fun” counselor while maintaining a level of respect from the campers. After the
first few days, I began to learn how to allow the campers to have fun, while not bending the rules of
the camp whenever the children wanted. Most importantly, I learned how to be the fun counselor,
while still being respected by the campers. This new knowledge allowed me to teach my classes and
set up games with much more ease, for I was now a leader in the minds of the children, and I knew
how to act like one.
Volunteering at this camp as a counselor has been a staple of my summer ever since eighth grade,
and every year I look forward to it with great anticipation. This is because being a counselor at this
camp gives me a sense of community. It makes me feel like a part of a community, not simply as a
follower, but as an active leader. During the two weeks the camp runs, I am able to be a big apart of
the camp process, by helping run the camp in multiple ways. This activity gives me a valuable
opportunity to explore my music interests through teaching, which also benefits the children who
learn from me. It has not only aided me in my exploring of my music interests, but this camp has also
aided me in an employment endeavor, as my experience teaching at the music camp led to a job as a
piano teacher.
Overall, the community feeling, the leadership skills and the music involvement that this camp gives
me have made this volunteer counselor job perfect for me, and I will continue to serve as a counselor
this coming summer to experience the community, and further enhance my leadership skills and
music teaching abilities.