The six-month Personal Project experience was challenging but very worthwhile. The liberal nature of the Personal Project is an obvious reason as to why it can be so much more enjoyable and worthwhile than other school projects. Students have the freedom every step of the way: they choose a topic of their own interest, set their own unique goal, and create a product that they are passionate about. I can assuredly state that my project developed my knowledge of health and cinematography immensely. Furthermore, it has propelled my video production skills to a far higher level. Thinking back to when I was brainstorming project ideas in August, I am shocked that I was able to create such a detailed and extensive project from my initial idea. Ultimately, my goal of combining my passions for swimming and cinematography worked out very well.
As specified in the success criteria from process journal 3, my project required me to ask for the help of two experts and multiple members of the IICS school community. Process journal 9 shows how I was able to receive useful feedback and determine the quality of my project according to those specifications provided in process journal 3. From all the ways I had my product tested and critiqued–surveys, rubrics, and spoken and written feedback–it can be seen that I succeeded in every criterion. While I did do better on certain criteria more than others, being able to test my product and receive feedback was the most important aspect. With all the input from experts, students, and others, I was able to make necessary and beneficial improvements to my product.
Another opportunity I got to evaluate the quality of my product was at the Personal Project exhibition. At the exhibition I was able to measure whether my project truly encouraged a healthy lifestyle and communicated the important of healthy living. Process journal 10 shows that all of the surveyed visitors understood the goal of my project and felt motivated to become healthier.
To continue, the Personal Project vastly developed many of my "approaches to learning" and made me a far better IB learner. In each stage of the project, certain ATLs came into the forefront. During the Investigation stage, my research skills were constantly put into action, as I used a wide variety of sources and employed my research skills to identify the value and credibility of each source (entry 1, 2). Finding these useful and reliable resources and utilizing them when creating my project ultimately improved the quality of my final products (entry 6, 7, and 8). One of the best sources used throughout my project was the interview I conducted with my swim coach, Merve Senol. The most important aspect of this interview was beyond developing just research skills, as the pushed me to utilize good social and communication skills. My coach knows very little English, so I eliminated this problem by communicating with her in Turkish and doing the interview in this language to make it easier for her. When I asked for my coach’s help for feedback on my tutorial videos, I adapted once again and translated the English rubric into Turkish for her to understand (entry 9).
When I challenged myself to use excellent communication or other skills during the project, I was simultaneously able to develop other skills. For instance, my supervisor meetings with Mr. Benard resulted in a great development of self-management skills on top of my communicating skills. With the advice of Mr. Benard, I was able to make the necessary changes to my action plan to manage time better (see Appendices). Many times I did not even require the guidance of Mr. Benard to demonstrate excellent self-management. I spread my work out well on the action plan and finished each part of my products in a timely manner. Whenever I faced challenges, I made the right adjustments to my action plan and fixed them (entry 5).
Ultimately, I believe I developed my thinking skills the most during the Personal Project. During the planning stage, I used my creative thinking skills to visualize my video ideas and transform them into storyboards, scripts, and other types of plans (entry 4). These plans were extremely helpful in designing my products, and I consistently used these plans when filming and producing my videos. I also massively improved my critical thinking skills during the project by doing experimentation. In process journals 7, I showcase this critical thinking, as I discuss the tools I experimented with on the Final Cut Pro software and show how I utilized these tools to overcome issues when editing my videos and develop the quality of my videos.
Outside of developing my IB learner skills, I also became very knowledgeable about the topics of my project. I learned plenty in regards to video production and cinematography; not as much in terms of swimming. I am already know so much about swimming that the research I collected during the project in regards to stroke techniques and so on (entry 1) were nothing new to me. Doing the interview with my coach only made one difference. This time I was taking notes and fully listening to my coach instead of partly ignoring what she would say about technique during a swim training. On the contrary, my cinematography knowledge has developed immensely in the last six months. As I produced three different genres of videos, I learnt a plethora of different cinematographic skills and techniques. For example, making a documentary required me to extend my knowledge of the employment of angles. My final draft of the documentary demonstrates that I know how to effectively use angles and use them to enhance the general quality of my video . In process journal 6 I demonstrate how my use of angles is increasingly similar to the use of them in professional documentaries produced by the likes of VICE and other renown video producers.
It can be understood that my project and it's goal suitably fits the Global Context of Identities and Relationships, which allows us to explore who we are. This context concerns our identity; beliefs; values; health; relationships; and lifestyles (Fontes). My website and YouTube channel accurately address this context by discussing the importance of a healthy life, indicating ways to become healthier, and clarifying how a healthy life results in self-efficacy. Healthy living was already a subject I was relatively educated about due to the fact that I am a student-athlete; but, in this project, I further developed my understanding of a healthy lifestyles positive effects. I employed both research and my personal experience to determine whether healthy living increases our overall happiness, as well as our motivation to get things done. My conclusion was that a healthy lifestyle does have a resounding impact on our happiness and motivation. Furthermore, I learned how one can proficiently encourage healthy living. For example, I briefly delved into the subject of cooking and made a recipe book for my website containing healthy and tasty dishes to encourage healthy dieting. To inspire people to change bad habits, I made vlogs of my daily life and showed how I try to live healthily on a day-to-day basis. To encourage physical activity, I created swimming tutorials. To summarize the message and goal of my project, I am trying to convince the public that living a healthy life is very possible and not difficult. Unhealthy lifestyles have become so common in the 21st century because of constant stress and more distractions, but my research in this project taught me that most important step in reaching a healthy life is avoiding these obstacles and keeping a positive mindset.
Though Identities and Relationships was the primary Global Context of my project, my project also allowed me to briefly explore the Global Context of Personal and Cultural Expression. In this context, we explore the ways in which we express ideas; reflect, extend, and enjoy creativity; and explores our appreciation of aesthetic (Fontes). Through this project, I undoubtedly extended my knowledge of cinematography by researching and observing good sources, and this researched helped me create eight high-quality videos. Producing these videos increased my appreciation for cinematographic aesthetic, and my documentary was an effective way to showcase this appreciation, as I put great emphasis on good cinematography in the video.
To finalize, I see my Personal Project as a first step into a topic I would be vastly interested in continuing exploring. Throughout my write-up, I talk about how learning cinematography video production skills was an important aspect of my project. I felt like a huge takeaway from this project has been my huge advancement in video production skills. So, now that I have already created a YouTube channel, I do not see why I should not continue and further develop my channel by consistently posting videos in the coming months.
As specified in the success criteria from process journal 3, my project required me to ask for the help of two experts and multiple members of the IICS school community. Process journal 9 shows how I was able to receive useful feedback and determine the quality of my project according to those specifications provided in process journal 3. From all the ways I had my product tested and critiqued–surveys, rubrics, and spoken and written feedback–it can be seen that I succeeded in every criterion. While I did do better on certain criteria more than others, being able to test my product and receive feedback was the most important aspect. With all the input from experts, students, and others, I was able to make necessary and beneficial improvements to my product.
Another opportunity I got to evaluate the quality of my product was at the Personal Project exhibition. At the exhibition I was able to measure whether my project truly encouraged a healthy lifestyle and communicated the important of healthy living. Process journal 10 shows that all of the surveyed visitors understood the goal of my project and felt motivated to become healthier.
To continue, the Personal Project vastly developed many of my "approaches to learning" and made me a far better IB learner. In each stage of the project, certain ATLs came into the forefront. During the Investigation stage, my research skills were constantly put into action, as I used a wide variety of sources and employed my research skills to identify the value and credibility of each source (entry 1, 2). Finding these useful and reliable resources and utilizing them when creating my project ultimately improved the quality of my final products (entry 6, 7, and 8). One of the best sources used throughout my project was the interview I conducted with my swim coach, Merve Senol. The most important aspect of this interview was beyond developing just research skills, as the pushed me to utilize good social and communication skills. My coach knows very little English, so I eliminated this problem by communicating with her in Turkish and doing the interview in this language to make it easier for her. When I asked for my coach’s help for feedback on my tutorial videos, I adapted once again and translated the English rubric into Turkish for her to understand (entry 9).
When I challenged myself to use excellent communication or other skills during the project, I was simultaneously able to develop other skills. For instance, my supervisor meetings with Mr. Benard resulted in a great development of self-management skills on top of my communicating skills. With the advice of Mr. Benard, I was able to make the necessary changes to my action plan to manage time better (see Appendices). Many times I did not even require the guidance of Mr. Benard to demonstrate excellent self-management. I spread my work out well on the action plan and finished each part of my products in a timely manner. Whenever I faced challenges, I made the right adjustments to my action plan and fixed them (entry 5).
Ultimately, I believe I developed my thinking skills the most during the Personal Project. During the planning stage, I used my creative thinking skills to visualize my video ideas and transform them into storyboards, scripts, and other types of plans (entry 4). These plans were extremely helpful in designing my products, and I consistently used these plans when filming and producing my videos. I also massively improved my critical thinking skills during the project by doing experimentation. In process journals 7, I showcase this critical thinking, as I discuss the tools I experimented with on the Final Cut Pro software and show how I utilized these tools to overcome issues when editing my videos and develop the quality of my videos.
Outside of developing my IB learner skills, I also became very knowledgeable about the topics of my project. I learned plenty in regards to video production and cinematography; not as much in terms of swimming. I am already know so much about swimming that the research I collected during the project in regards to stroke techniques and so on (entry 1) were nothing new to me. Doing the interview with my coach only made one difference. This time I was taking notes and fully listening to my coach instead of partly ignoring what she would say about technique during a swim training. On the contrary, my cinematography knowledge has developed immensely in the last six months. As I produced three different genres of videos, I learnt a plethora of different cinematographic skills and techniques. For example, making a documentary required me to extend my knowledge of the employment of angles. My final draft of the documentary demonstrates that I know how to effectively use angles and use them to enhance the general quality of my video . In process journal 6 I demonstrate how my use of angles is increasingly similar to the use of them in professional documentaries produced by the likes of VICE and other renown video producers.
It can be understood that my project and it's goal suitably fits the Global Context of Identities and Relationships, which allows us to explore who we are. This context concerns our identity; beliefs; values; health; relationships; and lifestyles (Fontes). My website and YouTube channel accurately address this context by discussing the importance of a healthy life, indicating ways to become healthier, and clarifying how a healthy life results in self-efficacy. Healthy living was already a subject I was relatively educated about due to the fact that I am a student-athlete; but, in this project, I further developed my understanding of a healthy lifestyles positive effects. I employed both research and my personal experience to determine whether healthy living increases our overall happiness, as well as our motivation to get things done. My conclusion was that a healthy lifestyle does have a resounding impact on our happiness and motivation. Furthermore, I learned how one can proficiently encourage healthy living. For example, I briefly delved into the subject of cooking and made a recipe book for my website containing healthy and tasty dishes to encourage healthy dieting. To inspire people to change bad habits, I made vlogs of my daily life and showed how I try to live healthily on a day-to-day basis. To encourage physical activity, I created swimming tutorials. To summarize the message and goal of my project, I am trying to convince the public that living a healthy life is very possible and not difficult. Unhealthy lifestyles have become so common in the 21st century because of constant stress and more distractions, but my research in this project taught me that most important step in reaching a healthy life is avoiding these obstacles and keeping a positive mindset.
Though Identities and Relationships was the primary Global Context of my project, my project also allowed me to briefly explore the Global Context of Personal and Cultural Expression. In this context, we explore the ways in which we express ideas; reflect, extend, and enjoy creativity; and explores our appreciation of aesthetic (Fontes). Through this project, I undoubtedly extended my knowledge of cinematography by researching and observing good sources, and this researched helped me create eight high-quality videos. Producing these videos increased my appreciation for cinematographic aesthetic, and my documentary was an effective way to showcase this appreciation, as I put great emphasis on good cinematography in the video.
To finalize, I see my Personal Project as a first step into a topic I would be vastly interested in continuing exploring. Throughout my write-up, I talk about how learning cinematography video production skills was an important aspect of my project. I felt like a huge takeaway from this project has been my huge advancement in video production skills. So, now that I have already created a YouTube channel, I do not see why I should not continue and further develop my channel by consistently posting videos in the coming months.