April 14, 2020 – Jimena CAS Journal Entry

Spring Break Entries

CAS: Regarding Creativity

During this period of social distancing, I’ve decided to start reading some books from my collection. I’m currently reading five books. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Del amor y otros demonios by Gabriel García Márquez, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowley, and two other books from different sagas. Since I usually fold the page in which I left off I decided that this year I would decide to make bookmarks. Yesterday I made six bookmarks that I will use for these books that I’m reading but also for the ones we’ll eventually read in English and Spanish class when we go back to school. I really liked making these bookmarks because I haven’t really done any sort of art in the past few months and I thought this was a great idea to spark my creative flow. Also, I was able to create an object whose utility will be for something I enjoy, which is reading.

Learning Outcomes: 

• Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance: Although one could argue that this learning outcome is not that prominent in this CAS experience, I feel like it’s important to acknowledge it considering that all of us are going through a period of stress and anxiety. In my case, what I do to relieve stress and/or anxiety is to read, since I can disappear into a different world. Therefore, making something that will help contribute to this sense of stress relief is highly important, especially during this period of time.
• Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process: Art is definitely not my forte (hence why I’m in Global Politics) but I still enjoy trying to do something art-related. Art is definitely a challenge for me, but along this process, I’ve developed new skills like organization especially when working with paint because you don’t want to make a mess and ruin your art pieces.

IB Learner Profile: 

• Risk-Takers: I am not an art person neither am I an art student, but I decided to take this risk of creating something art-related even though I’m not the greatest at it. I got out of my comfort zone!
• Open-minded: Although I don’t make art for my IB classes, I would never depreciate the subject or the concept itself considering it’s so important and holds lots of significance and history. I feel like even if I don’t take it, that shouldn’t detain me from practicing this skill.