Creativity strand

I have always been passionate about literature and poetry. So, when I was provided the opportunity to co-anchor for the sixth edition of Monsoon Musings, titled Safarnama, I was excited for the upcoming preparations and challenges. Monsoon Musings is an annual event where people, teachers and students, can come together to share their own literary works on a few standard themes.

LO – 1: Identify your own strengths and develop areas for personal growth.

As I have always been interested in writing, writing the script for the event felt natural to me, at first. However, I soon learned that writing a script for a real audience for a literature event was quite different, compared to writing an essay or story. I worked closely with the supervisors and language teachers for this script as they helped me point out areas of potential growth in my script. I also had to learn to work on my pace and voice modulation when working on presentation. At first, my speech was a little monotonous but after identifying where I was going wrong, I quickly learned to add more interesting elements to enhance my script.

LO 4 – Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences.

The preparation for Monsoon Musings began a few weeks before the event. To avoid missing out on learning during school slots, my co-anchor and I came to school early everyday for this duration to work on the script. Not only that, but we also held video calls over the weekend to continue preparing.

LO 5 – Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively.

Since we were co-anchoring, I had to work closely with the partner to script the event and ensure the flow goes smoothly. We divided the participants’ poem entries and read them all to understand the essence of the performance so we could write accordingly. We also practiced our lines together and gave each other feedback. Lastly, we had to learn to be open-minded to each other’s opinions and accept them.

Monsoon Musings, in all, was a great event to express passion for literature and writing. It was more than just anchoring, but rather working for weeks, learning to collaborate, and writing a speech that could capture the essence of Safarnama and each participant’s work.