FAQs for Personal Project
What topics are students allowed to choose or restricted from doing? The only thing we tell them are avoiding topics that are controversial or can do harm to anyone or any living thing.
What does the final product look like? It depends on their project, choice and interest: it could be a product, a digital presentation, a piece of writing or some other product, but what’s most important to remember is that the product does not matter. It’s about the process. It’s about what a student learns along the way, even if the project collapses two weeks after building.Example: A student at another MYP wrote a book to explain American football for people who did not understand the game.He believed this had never been done. When he was halfway through the writing, he realized that the book was available in commercial form from several publishers. But his project was a successful one because his reflection included a meaningful discussion about the value of planning and the Design Cycle. Also, helearned more about the variety of texts that exist in the world; it expanded his sense of how much information exists and how he can best prepare himself to make use of it.
Is this a grade or a completion expectation? The Personal Project is never done in class. All work must be done independently. It is not a report-card grade but it is an MYP requirement. The students are assessed using a rubric with seven criteria.
What are the hour expectations?This depends on the project itself and is case by case. Students are expected to be doing something with it continuously from the start of the Level 5 year to the presentation night toward the end of the second semester.
The next answer will encompass answers to the following six questions:
- How long does a student have to complete it?
- Who approves a project idea?
- What’s the frequency of monitoring from the mentors?
- How independent is the narrowing of a student’s focus?
- Two-year or one-year period / How long from start finish?
- How will mentors be assigned?
Step 1: Using a form designed to facilitate students choosing a topic of their interest and meaningfully interacting with the Areas of Interaction discussed in their classes, students make proposals and turn them into MYP coordinator in the second semester of the Level 4 year. This process involves the students learning about previous projects that students have done brainstorming ideas they are passionate about. A good guiding thought is for a student to think about something she wished a teacher would let her do as a school assignment or the kind of thing that friends tell him to stop talking about. At this time, students will receive a packet that explains the process journal and all deadlines associated with the Personal Project.
Step 2: One month later, students meet one-on-one with the MYP coordinator to discuss the idea and help the student move from subject to topic to project idea.
Step 3: The MYP coordinator builds a chart that lists the project ideas without student names attached to them. The teachers sign up for topics so they have an interest invested in helping the project and are not choosing students with whom they are already familiar. This also prevents students from choosing their favorite teacher as a mentor.
Step 4: The MYP coordinator copies all project proposals for the mentors and the mentor begins learning about the mentee and his or her proposal.
Step 5: The MYP coordinator trains teachers on how to mentor students for Personal Projects
Step 6: Students begin meeting monthly with their mentors. During those meeting, the student must bring the process journals and reflections as well as pictures, research, or other evidence so the mentor can gauge progress and help the student plan next steps. Students will be prompted to discuss what is working and what is not. Each meeting has a corresponding coupon that is submitted to the MYP coordinator, who will intervene if a student is consistently missing appointments.
Step 7: Students present Personal Projects one night in April / May
How are the boundaries between helping the student and doing the project for the student defined?
The best way a parent can help is the way a mentor is trained to help: checking the student’s process journal, asking to see the student’s reflections, asking: How is it going? What is working? What is not working? Talk about the product as little as possible. Focusing on process rather than product is a huge paradigm shift for most of us. Avoid asking the following questions: Are you done? What are you making? Do we need to go to Michael’s or Wal-mart? This type of project cannot be done by going to the store a night before. Finally, help your child stay realistic, especially making sure it’s a project theywant to do, not something they feel pushed into.
Why have current sophomores had two years to work on theirs?Current Level 5s will have the least amount of time to grasp the concepts of the Middle Years Programme because they began as Level 4s. They, and the faculty at their schools, have been learning the MYP, particularly the Personal Project and its dependence on the Areas of Interaction, alongside them. So the IB Leadership Team felt that grace was warranted for this group. The additional time has been designed to offset their limited exposure to the philosophical underpinnings of the MYP.
What are the non-IB benefits of the Personal Project: For students continuing onto the Diploma Programme in 11th and 12th grades, the Personal Project is the ideal preparation for both the Extended Essay and Creativity, Action, Service requirements.
What are the non-IB benefits of the Personal Project: College-bound students often struggle with writing interesting admissions essays that could separate them from other applicants with similar grades and standardized test scores. The Personal Project is an ideal opportunity to develop something to say in those essays. Looking just at the seven choices of essays from this year’s application to U.N.C.-Chapel Hill, many personal projects would prepare a student to answer five of them:
1. People find many ways to express their inner world. Some write novels; others paint, perform, or debate; still others design elegant solutions to complex mathematical problems. How do you express your inner world, and how does the world around you respond?
3. Carolina students conduct original research and work to solve problems in almost every imaginable field. If you could spend a semester researching a specific topic or problem, what would you choose and why?
4. Tell us about a group project in which you had to collaborate with your peers. How did it go?
5. What’s the best advice you’ve ever received or given?
7. In our history various people have taken stands against injustice, or what they viewed as injustice, often at great personal risk. Have you ever taken a stand against something you considered unjust—or if you haven’t, do you have an idea of what it would take for you to take such a stand? Please explain.