Debate: 30th of Sept. '13

Today's debate club meeting was quite interesting because we had another debate competition however this time we had no time to prepare for it. We didn't even know that we will have a debate competition today. The motion was “This house would arm teachers.” It was Kak Karin and Kak Zara against the whole debate club members. Kak Karin started the debate by defining "armed" as having weapons while defining "teachers" as certified adults who are teaching at a school. She justified her proposal with the United State's second amendment which protects the right for individuals to keep and bear arms. The way Kak Karin spoke was really organized and clear. She was really confident and so she intimidated the opponents, which is a good thing. After that she chose Na Young to speak for the opposition team. Na Young delivered her rebuttals and arguments in a quite organized manner, even though at some points I didn't really understand what she was saying but I guess that was because of her accent. From Na Young's speech I learned that projecting your voice clearly really affects how people including the adjudicator understand what you're saying. When the adjudicator doesn't understand what you're saying, what you say doesn't matter because the adjudicator will not be able to grade the content of your speech anyway. After Na Young spoke, Kak Zarra delivered her rebuttals and arguments. What I learned from Kak Zarra's speech was that she sign posted, which was why people or at least I could follow what she was saying easily. Her rebuttals and arguments were clear. She responded to what Na Young said and reinforced what her team's first speaker, Kak Karin said. In overall, I think today's debate club meeting was really beneficial because after trying to learn from experience, I think it is good to try to learn by watching because sometimes people do learn better when they watch.

Batik: 28th of Sept. '13

Since this Wednesday I had Youth Camp, I could not do my Batik lesson on Wednesday. Instead, I had it on Saturday.

What I did today:

- Drew the patterns I want to use on a piece of paper

- Traced the patterns on a tracing paper 

- Transferred the patterns to the cloth to make a handkerchief 

What I feel about today's activity:
Looking at different Batik patterns made me feel really proud of Indonesia's rich culture. 

What I perceive and think about the activity: 
Now I perceive Indonesia's culture highly and so I believe it needs to be preserved. I think that this activity is really beneficial because it teaches me step-by-step on how to make Batik, an important culture of Indonesia. It shows me how complex and rigorous the process is. Today's activity taught me the beginning of Batik making process so I believe that this week's activity is very crucial. In the end, I feel confident in taking Batik lesson as my CAS activity for Creativity because it widens and changes my point of view about Batik and Indonesia's culture in general, it passes on to me a hereditary culture, and also it widens my range of skills.

Batik: 18th of Sept. '13

The pictures above are some of the papers I got from today's meeting.

What I did today:
- Learned about the theories of Batik Art

What I felt and feel about the activity:
The first lesson I went through was very interesting. It made me want to know more about Batik. I learned many new information. 

What I learned and how this learning affects me:
I learned that Batik Art is defined as an art form that uses canting and malam to create it. Canting is the tool that Batik artists use to scoop the malam (special wax) from the stove and transfer it to the cloth. The front part of the canting where the malam is stored is made out of copper because it is cheap, thin, a good heat conductor to keep the malam as liquid longer and copper can also withstand high temperature that the malam will be in. Malam itself is made out of mata kucing, paraffin, resina colophonium and oil. All the components used are natural, nothing is artificial, even the cloth, which has to be made out of 100% cotton to be classified as authentic Batik. Knowing about these new facts made me realize how special Batik is. I develop a sense of pride and respect towards Indonesia's culture now that I understand why Batik is unique. Batik holds Indonesia's historical, artistic, cultural, economic and educational values. Because of the big importance Batik Art holds in Indonesia, I as an Indonesian citizen believe that it is very important for me to learn about Batik and how to make it. Through this CAS activity, I will bring with me a culture of my own country. I will not just bring pride to my country but also be benefitted by enriching my knowledge about the uniqueness of an art form that is Batik Art.

Batik: Creativity Proposal

Please comment on how this activity will help you to achieve the Learning Outcomes as IB CAS requirement?

            I would like to take Batik lesson for my creativity activity because not only will it improve my art skills, but it will also help me understand my country’s culture better. I will understand the many different types of patterns, the right way to hold and use a canting, etc. I will no longer be an outsider of Batik Art but an insider, a person who make the Batik Art itself.

Learning outcomes:

• Increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth
• Through this activity, I will be able to develop my art skills and knowledge, focusing on Batik Art. I will be able to learn and grow with new knowledge and art techniques, like knowledge on different provinces’ traditional patterns, and art techniques such as how to hold a canting and how to color the Batik with different colors.
• Undertaken new challenges
• Because I’ve only tried making Batik a few times before, in DT and art classes, taking Batik lesson will be a new challenge for me, especially that I know from previous trials that I can never be neat when using the canting to transfer the malam to the cloth. Thus, I will be challenged to improve.
• Shown perseverance and commitment in their activities
• Throughout the lesson, I will find new challenges (e.g. to learn and absorb something new quickly, be neater when using the canting, and more creative in developing and organizing different patterns). As I find more challenges in each meeting, my commitment to this activity will be tested. The harder it gets to improve, the tougher my commitment will be tested. 
• Engaged in issues of global importance
• Knowing that tradition and culture are getting more and more forgotten over time, I would like to prevent this flow of nature by taking Batik lesson. Not only that I will increase awareness about Indonesian culture to my friends, I will be a living embodiment of Indonesian culture.
• Developed new skills
• By learning deeper about Batik Art and how to create it, I will be able to understand how to use canting properly, how to hold the cloth when putting wax on it, how to communicate using Batik terminologies correctly, etc.

Debate: 16th of Sept. '13

In today's activity, I did a debate under the motion “THBT capital punishment is justifiable to the degree of crime committed." My team was Sherni and Anna. Sherni was the first speaker, I was the second and reply speaker, and Anna was the third speaker. Today was my first debate in years. I think I did pretty well for my first debate in years. I had a lot of good points. My rebuttals and arguments were quite strong. However, I wasn't aggressive enough. What I really have to improve is the way I convey my thoughts. I often jump around an idea and this hindered the adjudicators who were Miss Debbie, Kak Karin and Kak Simran from understanding what I wanted to say. I was quite confused in answering the POIs (point of informations) appointed to me. There were a lot of them but the adjudicators said that those kinds of POIs aren't allowed. I myself was quite confused in asking POIs to my opposing team. The POIs intimidated me because I feel like I have to answer and come up with a new argument right after the opposing team asked me a POI. I also wonder if rejecting a POI will affect to my manner's score. In overall, I feel really excited but also nervous in debate because it challenges me to improve my speaking skills, which is something that I really need to improve. I look forward to my second debate.

Debate: 9th of Sept. '13

Today is my first debate club meeting. I learned about the technical aspects of debate, including its terminologies and how much time each speaker gets. At the end of the meeting, I had to prepare for next week's debate with the proposed motion "Capital Punishment is Justifiable According to the Degree of Crime Committed." In my first meeting I have learned a lot of things. I learned that case building is when both teams formulate what they're going to say. I learned that there are two sides in a debate, government and opposition in which the government is the one that proposes and defends the motion while the opposition is the one that counters and opposes the motion. Each team has three speakers and each speaker talks one time except either the first or second speaker who will have to deliver a reply speech, which is a biased summary of the whole debate. I learned that the speaker's manners during the debate also affects his or her score. Each speaker has to give some arguments and rebuttals if necessary. Rebuttals counter the arguments that the opposite team has mentioned. It is also expected that each speaker uses the sign-post technique in which the speaker should state how many main points he/she will deliver his/her rebuttals and arguments in. After today's meeting, I look forward on joining the next debate club meeting. I am interested in learning more about debate because after today's meeting, I realized that I know nothing about debate. All the things I learned today are new to me. I look forward to use the new knowledge I learned and will learn about debate to improve my debate and speaking skills.

Debate: Creativity Proposal

Please comment on how this activity will help you to achieve the Learning Outcomes as IB CAS requirement?
           I would like to take debate as my creativity activity because I realized that communicating and public speaking are not my best skills. When I talk, I often circle around the subject and not say things directly to the point. Speaking clearly is one of the crucial skills required in the IB course, especially in Group one in which there are many presentations to be done. Thus by taking debate as my creativity activity, I am hoping to improve my communicating and public speaking skills.

I am also hoping to improve my critical thinking skill through this debate activity. By joining the debate club, I will be practiced to be well informed about the events that happened and are happening in the world; but not only that, I will be forced to think critically on how those events relate to a specific subject and how they can be used to support an idea. Critical thinking is another important skill needed in the IB course; thus, I think taking debate as my creativity activity is a wise choice for me.

Learning Outcomes:

• I will increase my awareness of my strengths and areas for growth
• By taking debate as my creativity activity, I will be more aware of my skills in speaking. I will be able to know where I am, my strengths and weaknesses. I will then be able to think and find out ways to improve those weaknesses. 

• Undertaken new challenges
• Since I have never joined a debate club before, this activity will be a new experience for me. I have tried debating during English class twice before, in grade 6 and 11, but I have never learned deeply about the theories of debate (e.g. the mechanism and the terminologies). Thus, taking debate as my creativity activity will be a new challenge for me. 

• Planned and initiated activities
• Last year’s grade 11 students joined a debate competition and won first place. As their junior, I feel obligated to continue what they have done. Now that a debate club is available in school, I can continue what they have done by being one of the ambassadors in debate club in school. 

• Worked collaboratively with others
• Since in debate nothing is done individually, working collaboratively with others is definitely one of the learning outcomes that will be achieved through this activity. In debate, we have to work together with our team. When case building, we have to make sure that everyone in the team understands the motion. We have to make sure that everyone understands what the other person in the team is saying so that there will not be any miscommunication during the debate procession. When the debate is ongoing, the team members have to be able to work together to help make perfect all of the group members’ presentations. 

• Shown perseverance and commitment in their activities
• As the debate club meeting is on Monday, attending it will need perseverance, because Monday will always be a tiring day for everyone including me and also because I have to persevere to complete my school tasks that are due on that day and the next day. 

• Considered the ethical implications of their actions
• Like any other teams, the debate teams will go through a time when there is a clash between its members. It will be our, the students’, responsibility to reconcile and make the situation better. Thus, through this activity, I will be practiced on developing my ethics toward others and also be practiced to think ethically first before doing an action. 

• Develop new skills
• Since I have never learned deeply about debate, I am hoping to learn about new knowledge and skills regarding debate (debate terminologies, mechanism, intimidating tone, fast paced talking, etc.) through this activity.