Personal Project

As students work at completing their products, managing their time and understanding the criteria in order to write draft sections of the Personal Project report, there is justifiably some anxiety from students, supervisors and parents. At this time, I would like to emphasize a couple of ideas around the Personal Project.

• The personal project is the culmination of learning of the MYP. This is where they put all the skills they learned in classes and in extra-curricular activities from Grade 6 to Grade 10 into practice. The personal project is really all about the ATL skills. (The approaches to learning skills.) These are really life skills and these are the skills 21st century corporations are looking for. There are 5 categories which are broken up into clusters and then indicators. The categories are Communication skills, Research skills, Social skills, Thinking skills and Self-management skills. Personal Project students are working to improve in all these skills and to reflect on them in their reports.
• The personal project is an independent project. That means that although students have supervisors and parents, students are responsible for driving the project themselves. It’s their passion, their work. They are responsible for seeking out help and making appointments with their supervisors. They are responsible for writing in their process journal, and keeping to deadlines. That said, of course we are keeping an eye on them and trying to encourage whenever possible. Parents can help too by reading what their child has written and offering advice.
• The Personal Project process is what’s important. The product while often admirable, is not as important as the process. This leads us back to the ATL skills.
• The Personal Project prepares students for the rigour of the DP. By focusing on the ATL skills students learn how cope with real life pressures and to be their best selves.