Heather Gager
In your 2nd year of the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (MYP)—(A.K.A. your sophomore year)—you must complete a Personal Project, which involves picking a topic, learning about it, creating a product in order to prove that you’ve learned, and writing a 3,500-word (minimum) essay about your experience. It is a lot of work and takes place during a great chunk of your year, but before you even THINK about starting it, you have to know what your topic will be!
Step #1: Pick a Global Context
Unlike the Extended Essay (EE) that you must complete during your Diploma Programme (DP—a.k.a junior and senior year), your Personal Project does not necessarily have to connect to a class you are currently taking. However, it MUST fall under one of the 6 IB Global Contexts.
Global Contexts Include:
Identities and Relationships
Who we are as human beings, our beliefs, and values, human relationships, rights, and responsibilities, what it means to be human!.
Orientation in Time and Space
Personal histories, the relationships between individuals and civilizations, from local and global perspectives
Personal and Cultural Expression
How we express ourselves, feelings, nature, culture, beliefs, the way in which we extend and enjoy our creativity; our appreciation of the aesthetic
Scientific and technical innovation
How the world works, the impact of scientific and technological advances on society and on the environment
Globalization and sustainability
How we organize ourselves, the interconnectedness of human-made systems and communities, economic activities and their impact on humans & the environment
Fairness and Development
Sharing the planet, access to equal opportunities, peace and conflict resolution.
When picking a Global Context, think about something you would love learning more about; something you haven’t gotten the chance to previously, or is your current passion! Whatever it is, make sure it is something that will not bore you quickly and that you can work with.
Normally, people pick Personal and Cultural Expression because a lot of what we like to do for our hobbies fits under that category.his tip isn’t meant to scare you into thinking that the other contexts are hard—you should pick what is the best subject for you personally.
Step #2: Choose YOU!
What I mean by this is that you shouldn’t choose a topic because you think that it will make you look smart or it’s something just for college. Choose something that is inherently you: Something that will make you happy and something you are passionate about! This project is done over the span of MONTHS and if you don’t choose something you like or actually have an interest in, those months aren’t going to be nice to you.
IMPORTANT!
You need to choose a topic to research that will help you achieve a goal by creating a product.
For example: Let’s say I want to tackle awareness of domestic abuse but I also want to use photography and improve my skills. A way of creating a product to show I learned about my topics would be to create a portfolio of original photos I took depicting domestic abuse and have it displayed in public to show that domestic abuse is a societal problem that happens more often and closer than we think.
Besides this, staying true to you will only be beneficial towards your Personal Project topic choosing process.
More Tips & Tricks!
Reach out to others!
Reach out to your teachers or upperclassmen who have already been through the process. Believe me, getting advice from others really makes a difference on how you want to tackle this project.
Make sure your topic is researchable
The end result of the Personal Project is writing the report and a bibliography is a MUST-HAVE! The IB loves evidence of research, especially a variety of methods such as primary and secondary sources and whether they are electronic or on paper. This variety shows that you are truly an IB student who is able to bring different things together in order to create something bigger; it’s all about the pieces to make the puzzle.
Write things down
Another aspect of the report is your Personal Project journal! IB asks you to attach 10 journal entries to your report that serve as a way to view your thinking and planning process while researching your topic and creating your product. Make to write down your thoughts, because I guarantee they will be VERY useful when report-writing time comes around.
TIME MANAGEMENT
This is arguably the most important tip. You cannot complete this project successfully unless you use time-management skills, and don’t worry if you don’t have them right now. By the end of this process, you will have become a master of time-management. Sophomore year doesn’t get any easier, especially not with this IB workload—plus you’re adding on the project! Wild! But at the end of it all, you’ll look back and be astounded at the fact that you did THAT.
Ultimately, the way to success in the Personal Project is motivation. You HAVE to work. Do not think this is a project you can do overnight because trust me, you cannot. But in order to work, you must have the drive to pursue and accomplish. Remember, if you don’t pass the Personal Project, you don’t get your MYP certificate AND you will not be able to be in the IB Diploma Program. But that won’t be a problem because you’re an IB Lamar student and YOU’VE GOT THIS!!!
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