PERSONAL PROJECT ESSAY PREPOn a separate sheet, please respond to the following questions. Be sure to follow the guidelines for your responses (as in meet at least the number of sentences in the parentheses)!

InvestigatingExplain the goal of your project. What made it challenging for you? (5+sentences)

How did you choose this as your Personal Project? (3+ sentences)

What is your global context? Why/How did you select this global context? (4+ sentences)

What did you know about your topic before beginning? (4+ sentences)

What do you know now? (5+ sentences)

PlanningIf you were to grade yourself on having completed this project, what grade do you think you deserve? (1 sentence)

What makes it that grade? (4+ sentences)

How could it have been better? (4+ sentences)

Explain the step-by-step process and timeline you worked to complete your project. (5+ sentences)

How did you manage your time and resources? (If you struggled with this, explain!) (5+ sentences)

What obstacles did you face? (4+ sentences)

PERSONAL PROJECT ESSAY PREPThe GoalWhat I set out to do in this personal project was ______________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________.

I chose this as my personal project because __________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________.

This was challenging because ______________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________.

My Global Context is _____________________________________________________________________.

I selected this Global Context because ______________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________.

What I knew about the topic of my personal project before I stared it was _______________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________.

What I didn’t know about the topic of my personal project before I stared it was __________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________.

What I know now about the topic of my personal project is _____________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________.

PlanningThis is what really happened, not necessarily what you planned to do.

This is what I did in order to make/organize/design/create my product…Step 1 What I did:

My reason for doing this was:

Step 2 What I did:

My reason for doing this was:

Step 3 What I did:

My reason for doing this was:

Step 4 What I did:

My reason for doing this was:

Step 5 What I did:

My reason for doing this was:

This was the best way to create my product because:

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

PlanningIf I were to give myself a grade on my personal project today, that grade would be ______________.

I deserve this grade because_______________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________.

I could have done better if _________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________.

I had a few obstacles during the process of completing my personal project. Those obstacles were:

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________.

I managed my time by making sure I ________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

I was able to get a hold of the resources I needed by __________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________.

In order to complete my personal project I needed to research _________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Title of your Project

Student name

School name

Year

Word Count:

Table of Contents

Investigating.........................................................................................................................................................

Planning...............................................................................................................................................................

Taking Action......................................................................................................................................................

Reflecting.............................................................................................................................................................

Bibliography........................................................................................................................................................

CRITERION A: INVESTIGATINGGOAL STATEMENT & PROJECT OVERVIEW

Start by stating your goal and providing a brief overview of the project. This is the 1st thing that a moderator will read so make sure they can get a good idea of what you explored, how you explored it and how you intend to show what you’ve learned–the product. Please feel free to add more that what is provided here. This is only a guide.

The topic of my personal project was __________________________________________________

and the goal was____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I selected this topic because __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I explored this topic by researching __________________________________________________________and I plan to present my findings ____________________________________________________________PROJECT CONTEXTIn this section you will need to explain the context of your project–what inspired it and how it is connected you to further develop your personal interest and learning.

CONNECTION TO PERSONAL INTEREST & INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITYI first became interested in this project because

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________It relates to my (family, friends, school, society) because _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________It connects to my (academic interests, personal interests, hobbies) because ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I feel that this project (how do you feel about this topic/project?) ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________This project (is your project connected to something larger and meaningful that you believe in?) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

CONNECTING TO A GLOBAL CONTEXTMy Global Context is ______________________________________ this applies to my

personal project because ___________________________________________________________________________What I would like to achieve through my personal project is ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Through my work, I would like for others to understand ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (your Global Context) Enriched my project because ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________CONNECTING & CHALLENGING PRIOR SUBJECT-SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS

Before starting my project I knew I would have to know about (prior Knowledge)_________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________Luckily, I knew about this because _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________This knowledge helped me with my project because ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In order to complete my personal project I would also have to know (list specific skills) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________This project helped me to develop my knowledge (with this new skill(s) _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________These skills were essential to the completion of my project because _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My personal project was connected to (name a subject area) ____________________________. My project connected to (subject area) ____________________________________ because in order to complete it I needed to have knowledge (content or skill) ______________________________________________________This project helped me to be more knowledgeable about (subject) ________________________________because __________________________________________________________________________________It was challenging for me to develop my existing knowledge and skills because ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________At the same time I was also challenged to learn about (what new skills did you learn?) ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

OVERVIEW OF RESEARCHIn this section you should write about and evaluate the sources you used for your personal project. Every piece of your research must be reviewed and included in your report! You must have at least 5 sources representing 3 formats (academic journal, blog, interview, handbook, websites, video recording, magazine article, book, audio recording, etc.) They should come from different places and they must all be reliable and relevant. All of your sources may be virtual (from the internet), but they should not all be websites. Wikipedia may be useful, but it is not acceptable for this paper. Be wary of blogs as well.

For my topic there were a large number of resources available. Among those, I found three types to be the most useful: (books, journals, interviews, websites, video recordings, audio recordings, magazine articles, blogs, etc.) _________________________________________________________________________________________.For (your selected source) _____________________________________ I explored (this format) ______________________________________________________________. The author of this source is ___________________ _________________________. It was written in ___________________. This source informed me about(what is this source about?) _________________________________________________________________________ It was created in order to ___________________________________________________________________The strengths of this resource are _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The weaknesses of this resource are _________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________This source was useful because ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________This source relates directly to my topic because ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I was able to use this source __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

For my second source, I decided to go with (your selected source) _____________________________ I explored (this format) ____________________________. The author of this source is ___________________ _________________________. It was written in ___________________. This source informed me about(what is this source about?) _________________________________________________________________________ It was created in order to ___________________________________________________________________The strengths of this resource are _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The weaknesses of this resource are ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________This source was useful because ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________This source relates directly to my topic because ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I was able to use this source __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

For my third source, I decided to go with (your selected source) _____________________________ I explored (this format) ____________________________. The author of this source is ___________________ _________________________. It was written in ___________________. This source informed me about(what is this source about?) _________________________________________________________________________ It was created in order to ___________________________________________________________________The strengths of this resource are _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The weaknesses of this resource are ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________This source was useful because ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________This source relates directly to my topic because _______________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________I was able to use this source __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

CRITERION B: PLANNINGHere you must explain how you will report your findings. What is your final product? How did you get to the point of finishing your product?

PRODUCT OUTCOME SPECIFICATIONS (should be in present tense)To report my findings I decided to make a product that will

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PERSONAL CHALLENGE (should be in present tense)The part of my project that challenged me the most

was__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The research portion of my personal project is/isn’t challenging because _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________There is one part of my personal project that I really need to work hard on and that is _____________________________________________________________________________________________________I need to work on _________________________________________________________________________Because _________________________________________________________________________________The new things I have to learn in order to complete my project are/are not a challenge because __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Managing my time is/is not a struggle for me because __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

DETAILED AND ACCURATE PLAN (should be in present tense)In order to research and produce my product I have developed a (Give a number for how

many steps you think you needed to take) ____________ stage plan. For the first stage I will _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________For the second stage I will ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________For the third stage I will __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________For the fourth stage I will _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________For the fifth stage I will ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Space has been provided for 5 stages. If you went about it in 10 stages than write that on a separate piece of paper. Make sure you break it down and include deadlines-weekly, monthly, etc. Throughout this process I plan to use the following tools to help me manage my progress and time

(calendar’s, To Do lists, managebac, reminders, peer groups, supervisor meetings, interviews, etc.)________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I am holding myself accountable by _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

RECORDING THE PROCESS (should be in present tense)I will record my progress in my process journal (weekly, daily, after I complete a step/stage, etc)

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________in order to track my progress. I will write notes from my meetings with my supervisor ______________________________________________________________________________________________________Every time I meet or miss a deadline, complete or not complete a stage/step in my project I will_________________________________________________________________________________________In order to track my progress I will write down every time I _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I will be keeping my process journals in (Managebac/diary/journal/other format) __________________

EVALUATION OF SELF-MANAGEMENT SKILLS (should be in past tense)In completing my project, I learned that some tasks are not as easy to complete as

they seem. No matter how much time I am given, somehow, things always catch up to me. I learned that _________________________________________________________________________________________Through out the process I think I did a good job of ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I think I did a poor job of ___________________________________________________________________What really worked was when I ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________What did not work was when I _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I knew I was on track when _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When I fell behind I __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I encountered some unexpected obstacles along the way. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

CRITERION C: TAKING ACTION

Here you need to explain what happened as you took action t complete your project. Focus on the major successes and obstacles you faced when trying to complete the project.

As I began to take action _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I used the knowledge I had about ___________________________________________________________in order to _______________________________________________________________________________I still needed to research information about ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________As I continued along with my project (experiences that influences or changed your thinking or direction) __________________________________________________________________________________________________________When I (a major success and why is was so successful) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________One obstacle I faced during the process of creating the product for my personal project was ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I overcame this obstacle by ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I had to adapt my original plan for the product of my personal project because _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________I was originally going to ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I ended up _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

CRITERION D: REFLECTINGEVLUATION OF THE QUALITY OF PRODUCT

Here you consider the quality of your outcome/product.My original goal was

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My specifications for this project were (what did you expect your final product to look like? How would you grade yourself? ) __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________After meeting with my supervisor _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I think my outcome/product was of (high, satisfactory, limited, very limited) quality. This was because___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

REFLECTION ON LEARNINGThis will be your longest section in the report. This section should be a well-developed reflection providing detailed evidence of critical thinking and self-awareness. This section must reflect how you have extended your knowledge and understanding of the topic and global context and demonstrate how you have developed as a learner. Should be in first person “I”. Remember you’re telling a story and the climax of your story is when you actually finished your product. It’s okay to admit that you made mistakes along the way. Admit your mistakes and show how you overcame them.

TOPIC: In this section discuss what you learned. (what ideas, facts and information you gained)Here are some guiding questions to help you:

When I began my personal project ____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Then, ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My topic ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I learned that _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I understood ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

GLOBAL CONTEXT: ● What Global Context did you select? ● How did this help you focus your project?● How did this information you gained make you think/feel about ● How has your focus in this personal project helped you to understand your Global

context more?● If you can change a part of your personal project to better reflect this Global

context, what would you change and why● If your project met the Global Context, what do you think you can do to further

expand on your project or your understanding of the Global Context?I chose _______________________________________________________________ for my

Global Context. (Define what your Global Context is/means) _______________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________This is important because ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I thought I could make a difference or contribute to society through this Global Context because ___

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________In the beginning of my personal project I _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I learned that _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________If I had to change a part of my personal project in order for it to focus more on my Global Context I would ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The parts of my personal project that did focus more on my Global Context were ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________I learned that _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

REFELCTION ON HOW YOU THINK YOU DEVELOPED AS A LEARNER OVERALLThe key here is to think about what you gained from this experience and what you would do differently if you had to do it again. Be

sure to explain your thoughts with lots of detail. Here are some questions to consider as you write this part:• What did you learn about how you learn?• What did you learn about how to research? Selecting the right sources, approaching

someone for an interview, conducting an interview, taking useful notes. Did you make mistakes in your research—things that you would do differently if you had to do it again?

• Did you make good use of your process journal? In what ways did it help you—or hold you back?

• What did you learn about time management? • Setting realistic goals? • Picking a manageable topic and product? • What did you learn about yourself emotionally? • Did you need support and ask for it? Did you visit your supervisor when you needed?

Did you use other resources like the librarian and writing center? If not, would you next time? Why?

• Did you meet your goal? What might you change if you had to do it over? • How might you use what you learned here in the DP next year? In college? • Did this process inspire you in any way?

I learned that the way that I learn __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Researching and investigating __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The mistakes I mad along the way were ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________If I had to do something different I would have _______________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________Process Journals ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Managing my time ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Whenever I got stuck or felt like I needed help I _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ In terms of the goals that I set for myself _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Working on my Personal Project prepared me for DP/Junior year because ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My final product ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Bibliography

PERSONAL PROJECT ESSAY PREP Part IIIf you haven’t already, you will need some sort of research in order to complete the report for your personal project. If you haven’t begun your research, think about the types of sources you want to use and write about those and about the information you will need/needed in order to complete your project and this report. You need at least 5 different sources representing 3 different formats. They must all be relevant and reliable.

I chose the following formats in terms of resources for research on my personal project:

books journals interviews websites video recordings

audio recordings

magazine articles

blogs texts encyclopedias

Other:

The first source that I researched was (format & title) _________________________________________I selected this source because _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The purpose of this resource is to (what information can someone get from this resource? Why would anyone use this resource?)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________This resource relates to my personal project because ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The second source that I researched was (format & title) _____________________________________I selected this source because _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The purpose of this resource is to (what information can someone get from this resource? Why would anyone use this resource?)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________This resource relates to my personal project because _________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________The third source that I researched was (format & title) ________________________________________I selected this source because _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The purpose of this resource is to (what information can someone get from this resource? Why would anyone use this resource?)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________This resource relates to my personal project because ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The fourth source that I researched was (format & title) _______________________________________I selected this source because _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The purpose of this resource is to (what information can someone get from this resource? Why would anyone use this resource?)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________This resource relates to my personal project because ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The fifth source that I researched was (format & title) _________________________________________I selected this source because _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The purpose of this resource is to (what information can someone get from this resource? Why would anyone use this resource?)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________This resource relates to my personal project because __________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________If you find yourself reading through this entire sheet and you say to yourself “I haven’t done any research.” “I don’t know what to write here.” “I know what I have to do but I don’t have a computer right now.” Just remember…you don’t need a computer for this. You are being asked to THINK about what you need/needed to know more about in order to complete the project that is on managebac right now. If you looked at youtube, that is a video recording and that is research. What did you learn from watching the video? If you read a book or blog or journal online, what did you need to read it for? If a teacher or supervisor helped you pick your project for whatever reason, what do/did you need to figure out in order to try to complete it? What was your inquiry question? What information would you need to answer it? The point is to try your best to finish this sheet without asking someone how to fill it out. THINK! Try to figure this out on your own. Even though you haven’t actually done the research yet, you can think about the things you need to look up. Just take a minute, think about it and write it all down here.

CRITERION A: INVESTIGATINGGOAL STATEMENT & PROJECT OVERVIEWStart by stating your goal and providing a brief overview of the project. Remember that this is the first thing the moderator will read. They should have a general idea of what you will explore, how you will explore it and how you intend to show what you’ve learned—the product. Keep this section somewhat brief, as you will go into great detail later. It is recommended that you use no more than 3-5 longer sentences. This will, of course, depend on your writing expertise.

PROJECT CONTEXTCONNECTION TO PERSONAL INTERESTS & INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY

Here you need to clearly connect your protect to your personal interests and intellectual curiosity—that which inspires, motivates or moves you personally in some way. The length of this section varies from person to person. It should be at least 4- 5 longer sentences. It may be useful to think about these areas when writing this part:

• Social. How does it relate to family, friends, school, society? • Intellectual. How is it connected to your intellectual pursuits? Academic interests, personal interests, hobbies (things that

make you think). • Emotional. How do you feel about the topic/project? Be sure to use feeling words—enthusiastic, saddened, excited,

deeply concerned, etc. • Spiritual. Is your project connected to something larger and meaningful that you believe in?

Here are some sentence starters:• “The goal of this project is to explore the question ‘___________.’ Specifically, I will ...” • “This project seeks to understand how ___________. Specifically, I will ...”

NEED WITHIN THE COMMUNITY & GLOBAL CONTEXTHere you need to explain how your project is connected to one of the Global Contexts. Your explanation should be well thought out and specific. Some questions you may want to consider when thinking about this:

• How will this project fulfill that need? • What do you want to achieve through my personal project? • What do I want others to understand through my work?

Here are the different Global Contexts.

Identities and relationships Scientific and technical innovation

Orientation in space and time Globalization and sustainability

Personal and cultural expression Fairness and development

• Sentence Starters: “This project seeks to explore/discover (general statement).... I choose this project because...” “I first became interested _________ when _______.

CONNECTION TO PRIOR KNOWELDGE & SKILLSIn this subsection, you need to explain how this project builds on a wide range of prior knowledge and skills, including subject-specific knowledge—and how it will significantly challenge you to develop them. Start this section by explaining upon which areas of knowledge and which skills you already possess you will builds. Consider these questions:

What prior knowledge does the project build upon? What is this knowledge and how did you learn it? How will your project use this knowledge?

Which specific prior skills does the project build upon? What are these skills and how did you learn them? How will your project use this skill?

Which subject area is your projected connected to? What knowledge and which skills in this subject area does the project build upon? How will it build upon them? Now explain how this project will challenge you to develop your existing knowledge and skills and possibly learn new ones. Consider these questions:

What knowledge will you develop and acquire from completing this project? What skills will you develop and acquire from completing this project? In what ways specifically will this project challenge you in these areas?

Sentence starters:• This project builds on my prior learning in the Individuals and Societies course in grade 9. During this course we

explored... and developed the skills in.... • This project will develop my understanding of ____by____. • This project will develop my skills in ____ by ____. • This will be challenging for me because it will challenge my understanding of ____. • This will be challenging for me because it will challenge my ability to ____.

OVERVIEW OF RESEARCHIn this section, you should write about and evaluate the sources you used for your Personal Project. Remember: Every piece of your research must be reviewed and included in your report! The Personal Project Guide stipulates the following about this section:

• You must use at least five (5) different sources representing three (3) different formats (academic journal, blog, interview, handbook, text, etc.).

• They should come from different places (not from the same book or website) • They all must be relevant and reliable • They should represent at least three different types of sources (interview, book, journal article, website, magazine article,

video recording, audio recording) • Access to all of your sources may be virtual (from the internet), but they should not all be websites.

Some students find it useful to write this section as a chronological narrative that tells a story of how they discovered and selected their sources from the beginning to the end. Explain why you apply the C.R.A.A.P test to each one where you evaluate the source’s currency, reliability/relevance, authority and purpose/point of view. You can write about each source using the following strategy:

Summarize: What is the source about? What is its purpose? Where does it come from? How recent is it? Who wrote it?

(Summarize it in 3-4 sentences.)Evaluate: How reliable is the source—that is, what are its strengths and weaknesses? How reliable is the source? Did you find useful? Did this source lead you to other sources? (2-5 sentences) Relevancy: How does it relate to your project specifically? (2-3 sentences)

Sentence Starters:

For my selection of sources, I began by... Then I ....

For my topic, there were a large number of resources available. Among those, I found three types to be the most useful: books, journal articles, and interviews. For books, I located four that provided me with the background information I needed. The first book, John Harris’ How to Create iMovies the Easy Way, provides a basic introduction.... This book relates directly to my topic because... I was able to use this book to...The second book, .

CRITERION B: PLANNING

PRODUCT OUTCOME SPECIFICATIONS (should be in present tense)Here you must explain how you will report your findings. You will need to explain your product thoroughly here, being as detailed as possible. You may write the specific details as a paragraph or a bulleted list. Remember that you product specifications must be specific and measurable. Sentence Starters:

“To report my findings, I will... Specifically, my product will...” “To report my findings, I decided to make a product consisting of two parts. The first part... The second part...”

PERSONAL CHALLENGE (should be in present tense)Here you must explain specifically how you think this project will challenge you personally throughout the entire process. You should start by identifying specific areas and then explain how each area will challenge you and why you consider this a personal challenge. Some questions you may want to consider as you write this part include: • Which areas of the project will challenges you the most? • Will the research challenge you? How? Why? • Finding a solution to a particular aspect of the project? How? Why? • Acquiring new knowledge? How? Why? • Managing your time? How? Why?

DETAILED AND ACCURATE PLAN (should be in present tense)

For this part, you will need to do two things: (1) Describe the step-by step plan you made to complete your project and. You can use an outline with brief descriptions, a graphic timeline, mindmap or some other graphic organizer. Whichever you choose, make sure you break your project into stages or steps and include deadlines—weekly, monthly, etc.

Sentence starters:To research and produce my product, I have developed a five-stage plan. For the first stage I will...For the second stage, I will...

(2) Discuss or list the strategies you will use to help manage your process and time management. Here are some questions you might want to consider when thinking about this:

• How will you manage your time? • How will you track your progress? • How will you hold yourself accountable? • Will you use any tools to help you manage your time—calendar reminders,‘To Do’ lists? • Will you schedule regular appointments with your supervisor to keep yourself on track?

Sentence starter: “Throughout this process I plan to use the following tools to help me manage my progress andtime:____”

RECORDING THE PROCESS (should be in present tense)You are expected to keep a process journal documenting the completion of your project. Here you will need to explain how you plan to add entries to your process journal. Here are some questions you should consider as you write this statement:• How often will you enter information into your journal? Will you set aside time every Friday to reflect on your progress? • Will you enter information as arises? • Will you enter information about meetings with your supervisor? • Will you reflect on your progress as you meet deadlines? • What kind of information do you intend to track? • How will you track it? Diary entries? Narrative paragraphs? Drawings? Photographs? Sentences starters:

“I will record my progress through the stages of my plan in a detailed process journal...” “I will set aside time each week to reflect on my progress...”“I will reflect on my process through daily diary entries and weekly progress reports...”

EVALUATION OF SELF-MANAGEMENT SKILLS (write this part in past tense)In this part, you will need to evaluate your self-management skills by discussing the process of trying to follow your plan. Be sure to evaluate your overall plan, your use of management tools and the recording process. As you discuss these items, make sure you reference specific entries in your process journal. Do not include the journal entries in here; instead, include them in an appendix. Every entry you reference should be included in an appendix section titled “Process Journal Extracts.” Make sure you label each extract—for example, “(see extract six in Appendix B Process Journal Extracts).” You do not need to discuss every problem you experienced when completing the project. Instead, you should focus on the major challenges. Consider the following questions to help evaluate your self-management skills:• What worked? Why? • What didn't work? Why? • What did you do to adjust your plan when it didn't work or when you met some unexpected obstacles?

Sentence starter: “In completing my project, I encountered three major obstacles in managing my time. The first obstacles was...”

CREITERION C: TAKING ACTIONIn this section, you need to explain what happened as you took action to complete your project. This should be written in narrative form—with a beginning, middle and end. Due to word limit restrictions, you cannot explain everything that happened as you tried to complete your project. Instead, you need to focus on the major successes and obstacles you faced when trying to complete the project. Think through your experience and highlight 2-4 experiences in the beginning, middle and end of completing your project that you think are worth discussing.As you discuss your experience, be sure to consider explain:• How you transferred and applied specific pieces of knowledge and information • How a specific experience influenced or changed your thinking or direction • What made the major successes so successful • Which obstacles you faced and how you overcame them • Anything that altered (changed) your goal Remember that this is not about evaluating your sources. This is about what

happened as you applied the knowledge and information you gained from your sources. Here are two excerpts illustrating how you might write this section:

• As I began to take action, I found that most of the information I had gathered especially useful. I was able to begin constructing my model replica of Tianjin with relative ease. The directions for cutting the miniature wood panels and the plastic windows on ModelingMinutres.com allowed me to quickly create all of the materials I would need to construct the main buildings of the model. When I started to put the wood panels together, however, I realized that I didn't have enough information to properly construct them. As a result, I was forced to seek additional help. I had learned through my preliminary research that one of the local staff members at IST, Mr. Lu, had a lot of experience constructing models. I was able to ask Mr. Lu for help and he showed my how to properly combine the panels to form a four wall building.

• My application of the information I gathered from Talking About Dynamics of Thermo-Nuclear Fission ended up not being useful. As a result, I was forced to seek out other support. I decided to seek support from the science teacher. He suggested that I incorporate a graph into my video to show the impact combining...

Possible sentence starters: • I began my project • After experimenting with....I came to understand that... • My next step was to... • I developed this idea further by... • I experienced a problem when I...but I overcame this by...

CRITERION D: REFLECTINGEVALUATION OF THE QUALITY OF PRODUCT

This section of your report should be between 250 and 400 words. When writing this section, you must be careful to consider not only the quality of your outcome/product, but also how closely it met your specifications. You should also explain how you and your Personal Project Supervisor decided on your mark on this section.One way to write this section is to:• Restate your goal (remind the reader what your goal was); • Choose 3 or 4 specifications and evaluate if your goal met these specifications; • Write a couple sentences about your meeting with your Supervisor to discuss your final product and specifications. Look

carefully at your specifications before you begin writing this part. The MYP Personal project guide states that a 4 requires “the outcome/product is of high quality and meets most or all of the specifications.” As with other sections of your report, be honest. Don’t say that your outcome/product was of high quality if it wasn’t. On the other hand, don’t say that it didn’t meet any of the specifications if it did. Remember that you are evaluating your outcome/product in relation to your specifications. You could have an excellent product, but if it doesn’t meet any of your specifications, you need to write about that.

Possible sentence starters: • “My original goal was....” • “I changed my original specifications because...” • “I didn’t need to change my original specifications because...” • “My outcome/product met (few, some of, many, most, all) of the specifications. For example, “insert one of your

specifications here”... • “I think that my outcome/product was of (high, satisfactory, limited, very limited) quality. This is because...” • “When my supervisor and I met, we decided to give this section a (1, 2, 3, 4) because...”

REFLECTION ON LEARNINGThis section of your report will be the longest. You should aim for writing 600-800 words for this part. A well-developed reflection will provide detailed evidence of critical thinking and self-awareness.This section must reflect on how completing the project has:• extended your knowledge and understanding of the topic and global context • demonstrate how you have developed as a learner. Note that “knowledge” and “understanding” are two separate things.

Knowledge means ability to grasp meaning, to perceive and explain the meaning or the nature of something. Understanding is usually what happens as you apply something---the actual hands on experience.

General Tips • Use first person “I”. • Tell a Remember that you’re telling a story. The climax of the story is when you actually finished your product. Let the

reader take the journey of learning with you by providing details about your challenges and victories. The resolution (lesson learned, theme) is how you developed as a learner—part 3.0 below.

• It’s okay to admit that you made mistakes along the way. In fact, the reader expects this. It’s all part of the learning process. Admit your mistakes and show how you overcame them.

• Consider all of the areas of self that may have been affected by this process – intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual. • Use emotion words “I was frustrated when...” I was excited by...” “I thought I was doomed when...”

Organization To ensure you are discussing all of the three bullet points above and doing so with right amount of detail, you may want to consider using those points to organize this section. You may even want to consider creating subheadings. For example, you might use this structure:

Topic1.1. Extended knowledge (what ideas, facts and information you gained) 1.2. Extended understanding

Global Context2.1. Extended knowledge2.2. Extended understanding

Reflection on how you think you developed as a learner overall. The key here is to think about what you gained from this experience and what you would do differently if you had to do it again. Be sure to explain your thoughts with lots of detail.

Here are some questions to consider as you write this part:• What did you learn about how you learn?• What did you learn about how to research? Selecting the right sources, approaching someone for an interview,

conducting an interview, taking useful notes. Did you make mistakes in your research—things that you would do differently if you had to do it again?

• Did you make good use of your process journal? In what ways did it help you—or hold you back? • What did you learn about time management? • Setting realistic goals? • Picking a manageable topic and product? • What did you learn about yourself emotionally? • Did you need support and ask for it? Did you visit your supervisor when you needed? Did you use other resources like the

librarian and writing center? If not, would you next time? Why? • Did you meet your goal? What might you change if you had to do it over? • How might you use what you learned here in the DP next year? In college? • Did this process inspire you in any way?

Personal Project Report Samples by Criterion (Only A, C, & D)

CRITERION A: INVESTIGATING

GOAL STATEMENT& PROJECT OVERVIEWSample statement:“The topic for my personal project is currency design and the goal is to investigate and learn about the currency designs of different countries and how they reflect cultural values and reinforce national identities. I will explore this topic by researching currency designs from five different countries. I will then explore the historical and cultural connections informing each design and then draw some comparisons among them. I plan to present my findings in the form of an

automated PowerPoint presentation that will be played on the television in the student lounge during lunch for one week.”

OVERVIEW OF RESEARCHSample One:My research process was a combination of drawing on theoretical information and examining real-life events and examples. I started off by reading the picture book Love Is by Kim Casali, with which I explored different methods to express a complex idea in a simplistic and eye- appealing manner, specifically drawings. My project was fueled by inspiration from two books: Generation FIX: Young Ideas for a Better World and It's Our World, Too!: Young People Who Are Making a Difference (and How They're Doing It) which gave me a variety of real-life examples of teenagers acting to make a difference and a variety of inspirational quotes, one directly relating the ‘butterfly effect’ theory of change which became the main concept of my video. Since they were addressed to teenagers, the language in the books gave me a general indication of the language I had to use for my video script.A blog run by a man named John Foo gave theoretical information on how an individual could create change in the world through contributing to the greater cause, with those individual contributions amassing in size to become global change. Although it was heavily informal and personal, the general concept was a widely recognized one that was essential for the development of my product.

After getting stimulated by some general research on concepts and evidence backing-up my claims, I move on to looking at the technical skills required for creating the whiteboard animation. Several articles written by professionals of various expertise from a recognized whiteboard animating company ‘Ydraw’ covered some of the basic techniques in filming a whiteboard animation, including “Video Scribing Process” which shows how professional whiteboard animators produce their animated films through a design cycle and diagram. It helped me get a general understanding of the steps required to finish up with the final product.It assisted me to put an emphasis on music and narration. “Script Writing 101: Know Your Audience” explained the basic requirements to write a good script or storyboard for your video, and although the article leaned towards commercial whiteboard animation, there were many ideas that I was able to develop with the tips taken from this piece of information. “How toMake a Whiteboard Animation” cross-references with “Script Writing 101 : Know Your Audience” and helped me clarify how to set up a work-table for whiteboard animating.

Independent Dutch whiteboard-animator Candide Van Der Hout’s A Practical Guide on How to Make a Whiteboard Animation Part 1: The Setup cross-referenced and validated the articles from Ydraw. A non-commercial vantage point was appreciated and detailed equipment lists and instructions elaborated different possibilities of creating a desk workstation.

Sample Two: Selecting sources that would allow me to investigate my topic was difficult as there is not much information published about currency designs. Although I found some print sources, the majority of my sources came from three different types of websites: national bank websites, UNESCO World Heritage and country’s national tourism websites.

As my topic was very unique, I had many difficulties finding relevant sources. I started by searching school library trying to get some relevant books. I also bought few books that were considered to be helpful, but later they turned out to be not very helpful. Most of the information I found focused on history and functions of currencies, and did not explain about certain features or how they show a nation’s cultural value.

After searching for printed sources, I extended my research to the Internet. Through a painstaking researching process, I successfully found some useful sources that contributed to my learning and the creation of my final product. One of the most useful sources I found was a report called Money-Branding, by Richard Zeid from Columbia College of Chicago. Zeid presents a very interesting idea that currency designs are used as a way of each nation branding their country and showing their values. The idea suited my topic of how currency designs are used to show cultural values and it also contained some useful information about design features. It discussed design features in a categorized manner including figures, art and culture, flora and fauna and technology. Each category was discussed in detail with some examples from different countries. I could eventually use those categories to select countries with currency designs that showed various features from different categories.

After selecting the nations to investigate the currency designs on, which were China, England and Egypt, I continued my research by visiting national bank websites of those counties. All of the bank websites had at least some information about designs features like figures, places and anti-counterfeiting features. Compared to other bank websites, The National Bank of England provided the information about the features the most. The People’s Bank of China website only provided basic information about the design features and how currency designs changes over time and The National Bank of Egypt website was not much different.

Although those websites provided some information and helped me to identify specific design features, it was quite disappointing to see how none of them discussed reasons behind selecting each design feature. The websites became my starting point and I extended my research afterwards by using historical databases and websites to do further research.

The database that helped me to do further research on figures was ABC-CLIO, which provided sufficient background information about the figures I was investigating. ABC-CLIO is a historical database and it was especially useful because the articles it provided dealt with accomplishments and work of the figure rather than giving plain biographies and dates. However, ABC-CLIO was not fully sufficient for my research because it didn’t provide much information about their current reputation and influence. I had to know how people from that country think about the figures on their country’s currencies. I need to know about their reputations, influence and significance and whether if they have significant impact until these days or not. These factors would have helped me to know why each figure is on the currency with greater depth and whether if they are influencing people’s view and belief even in these days.

In addition to sources listed above, there were also few websites that helped me to investigate about places on the currency. They were national tourism websites of each nation and the UNESCO World Heritage website. National tourism websites like China’s provided detailed explanation about each place and sometimes about its significance. The UNESCO World Heritage website was very useful when the places were registered as one of UNESCO world heritage and the website would give not only background history but also the significance and cultural values of the place.

CRITERION C: TAKING ACTIONAs I began to take action, I found that most of the information I had gathered especially useful. I was able to begin constructing my model replica of Tianjin with relative ease. The directions for cutting the miniature wood panels and the plastic windows on ModelingMinutres.com allowed me to quickly create all of the materials I would need to construct the main buildings of the model. When I started to put the wood panels together, however, I realized that I didn't have enough information to properly construct them. As a result, I was forced to seek additional help. I had learned through my preliminary research that one of the local staff members at IST, Mr. Lu, had a lot of experience constructing models. I was able to ask Mr. Lu for help and he showed my how to properly combine the panels to form a four wall building.

My application of the information I gathered from Talking About Dynamics of Thermo-Nuclear Fission ended up not being useful. As a result, I was forced to seek out other support. I decided to seek support from the science teacher. He suggested that I incorporate a graph into my video to show the impact combining...

CRITERION D: REFLECTINGSample #1My goal was to ‘to show students that it doesn’t take something special to make a difference in the world and why it matters through an interesting whiteboard animation’. A survey conducted after screening it to grade level 6 to 10 MYP students (refer to Appendix 1) ratified my success, with the majority of students replying they had decided to believe the importance of their own contributions in the global community... The video was reasonable in length, being 5 minutes long excluding the credits, keeping to my original specification. Also, through trial and error I had achieved one of my sub-goals for this project – to complete a whiteboard-animated video by myself without receiving any kind of professional assistance... The supervisor meeting generated similar conclusions. The videos had reached their goals, which were apparent with the survey results, and it had met all design specifications, so the supervisor awarded my product a 4.

Sample #2By assessing my product according to the specifications given in ‘Define the Goal’ section, I found that my product met all the specifications, which was enough to get 4 out of 4 in criterion E. the specifications stated about the difficulty of the language, number of currencies for each selected country and content it had to contain. The product had to contain explanations about steps that one has to take to analyze the currency designs oneself, a chart or a diagram that compare and contrast the designs, background information about the design features, reason why I chose certain nation’s currency and why looking at the currency design and learning about it can be useful and important. The product also had to address the topic and show how each currency designs are used to reflect and reinforce cultural values.

My supervisor and I gave 4 for the final product because it met all the specifications and I am satisfied with my product. I think it fully addresses the topic and extensive research I have done. This final product highlights each design feature by only giving background.

Sample #1Through this long project, I got to learn more about myself and develop as a learner. As a learner, I could

improve my time-management skills, research skills and organizational skills. Moreover, I realized that researching and investigating is not only about gathering relevant information, but also about critical thinking and analysis. As a learner, I got to know my tendency of pushing the tasks to last minute. As this was an independent project, there was no one else but me to keep myself organized and I had to learn how to keep myself working even when I was frustrated with research and didn’t want to continue working. It was very hard for me to keep up with all the other studies as well as working on the project. I kept school studies as my top priority because I thought personal project should not hinder but enhance my learning. Because the amount if school work and other studies was overwhelming, it was difficult for me to work on the project. However, I learned that it’s always possible to make time to work on the project by working during the weekends and reducing wasted time. To reduce the time I waste, I made schedules for the weekends that had jobs for every hour. By doing this, I was always aware of how I should spend my time and what I was doing. Working independently and according to the deadlines made me to realize the importance and necessity of time management skills. I could improve my time management skills by trying to establish a habit of writing down all the tasks I have to accomplish each week and making a daily plan on what I am going to work on each day. Because my project was all about extensive research and investigation, I got to improve my research skills using various databases, search engines and websites and learn how to research more effectively by planning the research. Planning the research involved thinking about where to start my research and where I could get the reliable and detailed information. I also had to think how I can make the research more focused. Because I gat o gather so much information from many different place on internet, I also learned how to keep all the sources organized so that I can always go back and access the information whenever I need it and make complete bibliography without missing any sources I have used. Another major thing I learned is that research and investigation is not just about finding relevant information and sources but a more complex process that involves critical thinking analysis. As a result, I got chance to improve my analytical skills by finding connections of design features, cultural values and national identities and drawing conclusions based on all the information I gather throughout the research. An example of using critical thinking and analytical skills can be when I was researching about the figures and wanting to know why each figure are on the note. To know this, I had to research about the life of each figure, his/her work and significance and sometime the importance wouldn’t be stated directly, so I had to do some critical thinking looking back at the life of the figure and his/her work. To know the significance of the figure, I also had to research about the influence, which mostly came from accomplishments and important changes the figure has made. I also had to think about whether of the figure posses any traits that country might want to reinforce to figure out whether if there are any further intentions. There were multiple of aspects that had to be considered to know why each currency features are part of the design and how it shows the cultural values and/or reinforce the national identity. By considering those aspects, I learned that human creation, which is born from the Human Ingenuity, is a complex process and nothing is decided simply without reasons. I learned how human creations can have layers of meaning just like how money was not only created as medium for exchange and a standardized measurement of value but to be used like propaganda and a way of branding a country. The countries were showing what they want to show, putting what they want their people to value and what their people actually value.

In conclusion, working on this project was a value time learning about something I wondered from the past. I could extend my knowledge about currency designs, their features, and intentions behind each feature, how they reflect cultural values and how countries use it to reinforce their identities. I got understanding of what researching really means and I could also further improved and develop my research skills and organizational skills as well as getting to myself better. On the whole it was a meaningful project that eventually allowed me to prove my assumption, which started the whole project, that the currency designs reflect cultural values through research and analysis.

Sample #2When I started the personal project, I was intimidated by the pure time-span of it. Never in my life have I needed to work through a project that nearly lasted throughout the whole school year. Seniors and teachers alike warned me that organization was the sole key to the successful completion in the project – and not being organized, of course, meaning the evident difficulties you would face through the project. So, at the start of the school year, I promised myself that I would not let organization get in the way of the completion of my personal project. However, throughout the project, I experienced the complications of organizing a video production first hand. Although the planning of the production was similar to that of the IB Design Cycle and the planning itself did not cause problems, things did not go always as planned. For example, the setting up the workstation took much longer than the one day I had set for myself, as it was more difficult than expected to find the perfect lighting for the workstation. Also, it took much longer than a week to finish filming the whiteboard animation thanks to my imperfect art-skills and the uncomfortable position in which I had to draw, and tediously longer to edit the video as unexpected errors disrupted my one week editing plan. However, as I battled through these obstructions I realized that I could have given myself a little more room so I could have more flexibility – I was too strict with myself and had planned what would be a ‘perfect’ production plan, but had not taken into account that it was near impossible for a student without the professional capabilities of a whiteboard animator to be able to follow my own plan. Eventually I came to a valuable

conclusion – whenever planning for a long-term activity, you have to ensure that the goals you have set yourself are plausible. The personal project acted as a valuable lesson in which I gained this knowledge by experiencing it first hand.

I chose Community and Service as my IB Area of Interaction for my personal project. Community and Service is all about helping and assisting other people, but many people feel satisfied only when they physically see their help changing something. Without that physical visibility of change, or when the change is too small for them to recognize, they become less enthusiastic about other people because they feel as if they are not making a difference. Although visible positive change through your action is a stimulating incentive to continue to help and assist, the personal project has shown me that the end result should not be the tool to determine the importance of your actions; rather, you must emphasize on the act of helping others that must be made important.

In the beginning of this Personal Project, I started off with a personal question, “How can I, a student, make a difference in the world as a student?” Theoretically, it is possible to change the world as individuals. The theory claims that a butterfly can flap to make the Earth move out of orbit and a settling dust can make the Earth weigh more than its original weight even if even if that change is too small to sense or measure it. But as these changes are not ‘visible’ to us, we eventually come to believe that they are too insignificant to matter – the only way to create visible, global change is through the hands of other organizations and governments. Interestingly, the theory points out that these global changes are the result of many individual, invisible changes, and without those individual and invisible changes we cannot have any form of visible global change. Of course, a theory is nothing without evidence, and the books provided examples accompanied with quotes and interviews from teenagers who had made a large impact in their society, and stories of how they at first had to start off individually before they gained more and more supporters who were just as keen to assist them as they were intent on changing society, with their end result being a large visible change in their local community. As a result, I was assured by my research to believe that little changes can have a large impact in our society. Of course this wasn’t the only lesson learnt through the course of my personal project experience.

We humans have always developed different methods to present our minds – from babbling to spoken language, from pictures to writing. As we advanced further in our communicative methods, human ingenuity gave birth to motion pictures – videos. Videos are also a type of media in which the creator can plant a message s/he wishes to convey to an audience, and there are different types of videos you can use. For example, there is the stop-motion technique, which is a series of photos, or drawings that are displayed with a time-gap of less than a second to capture movement – there’s also sand-animation, which is drawing pictures on sand and recording the process while telling a story. A whiteboard animation is also one of these video types – and as I had never tried a whiteboard animation nor had the chance to do so, the personal project has allowed me to explore it by experiencing in first hand. Not only did I discover different steps in creating a successful whiteboard animation, I also realized whiteboard animations are heavily dependent on audio, although the emphasis seem to be directed toward the actual animation that is occurring at the same time – of course, this information was acquired purely out of trial and error, but for a student who had always admired whiteboard animations, this knowledge was much more valuable than it seems. It was interesting to know how to set up a workstation for whiteboard animation filming, as it was a much more complicated and important stage of the preparation process where variables such as the visibility of the whiteboard, limiting shadows and preparing camera views were controlled.

Communicating and cooperating overseas was a new skill I had earned exclusively through this project. In order to have music solely devoted for my video, I had to continuously contact a South Korean high-school student who showed phenomenal skills in composing. Although there were complications regarding time and geological differences, we managed to pull off a piece of song that suited perfectly for my video, and through this my communication skills in persuading, explaining and executing plans as a team became much more confident.

The personal project was a formidable project, but a fruitful one nonetheless. It didn’t just help me become a much more prepared academic learner with polished organization and execution skills – it transformed me as a person, allowing me to explore and understand ideas and techniques both in the field of human ingenuity and community and service, and that is no small achievement.