Above is The Action Plan I created. The action plan shows an overview of all the things I must do in order to complete my MYP personal project, its importance (high, medium or low) , its status (complete, in progress or not complete) the date started and date of completion as well as how many days I've assigned for each task.
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Above is The Criteria i created. The criteria is the expectations for my final product according to each level, 7-8 being the hardest to achieve where expectations are very high. 1-2 being the easiest to achieve and also the lowest level. I used my criteria to mark my final product, and evaluate what level I achieved according to it. My final level is 6/8.
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The book was written in a few months, there is no exact number as it was worked on in a very scattered manner. This is mainly due to other assignments and school work that came in the way, which basically postponed me working on the book.
1) BRAINSTORMING : I first started off with some brainstorming; this included writing out topics that i would like to cover in my book, what front cover designs would be appropriate and also potential websites that i could use. Brainstorming also included thinking of ideas for my personal project and for this i went through deciding if i wanted to write a book, doing something art related or a telescope. The brainstorming stages were at the beginning of my action plan, and is before the Criterion A stage. |
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2) ANNOTATING PAGES AND FRONT COVERS: Before designing my front covers I needed inspiration, so I decided to annotate front covers as well as pages from existing space and astronomy related books. I also made sure these examples were mostly suitable for my target audience. I picked a total of 6 pages to analyse, 2 of them being front covers. I tried to chose designs that varied, so I could make relevant annotations. The slide show (left) shows the annotations. From each page I concluded my annotations and chose one design; one which met the needs of my target audience. |
3) SURVEY: I conducted a survey with my peers, to review what exactly they look for in a book, and what they would like to know about space. When my results were collected, I started to understand what approach I should be taking in pleasing my target audience, what level of English I should write in, and what my target audience wants to know more about; so, I can focus writing information on those specific topics. The slide show (right) shows results of the survey. I used these results to evaluate and calculate what exactly my book should include (slide 3). I was not able to include all the survey results because there were too many questions asked (I chose 2 images to give you an idea of what questions I asked) |
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4) CREATING COVER DESIGNS:
After annotating it was time to create the covers for my final product. I had planned to make 3 designs, and then conduct a survey to see which design is preferred by my target audience (10-16 year olds). The first image on the slideshow (left) are the initial designs that I had sketched very roughly; it was just to get an idea of what I pictured. The second image shows a failed design that I created. The astronaut and other elements just didn't fit properly, they didn't make a clear relation. This is mainly because the astronaut is a cartoon while the other objects are in a realistic style. I tried using the animated astronaut to attract the younger part of my target audience, however it did not succeed. Slide 3,4 and 5 show my final 3 designs. I changed the animated astronaut from the failed design to a realistic astronaut, then added the text underneath, as a subtitle. The other 2 designs were created using the initial designs; I played around with the style and made changes until I was satisfied. I conducted a survey and sent it to my peers and others who were a part of my target audience. The results were analysed, the final design was chosen. The last slide shows the final design. |
5) WRITING AND DESIGNING THE BOOK:
Writing the book is the main part of my process as it is the longest and hardest task in my whole action plan. I designed and wrote my book using Microsoft Word. With the page layouts I tried making it as creative as possible, the slide show (right) presents the creation of one of my pages which was about 'Jupiters Galilean Moons' (example). I first created the base of the page, which was placing the title and getting started with adding images of moons and information on its side. I then added stars in the background to make it appear in space. later I added Jupiter, more moons, stars in the background and a colourful nebula to finish the page. I had no specific plan for each page, I would think of them as I went through with writing. I worked in layers (keep in mind that the information on the slideshow is not finalized, these images were to show the way I created my pages). |
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6) PUBLISHING: The last task for completing my MYP Personal Project was to publish my book. The application I used was a website called "Kindle Direct Publishing". If you publish a book on this application you are able to view the book on amazon and on your kindle. The website was very straight forward and easy to use, it guided me clearly through the steps in order to publish my book. The only difficulty I faced was uploading my cover, as it did not match the size requirements, however I used a re-sizing application in order to successfully upload my cover and content. |
Entry – July 3rd, 2020
Today I finished brainstorming and planning the beginning stages of my MYP personal project. A few days ago, I had picked out my final topic which was to write an informative book about space. The idea really excited me, so I already started planning what I want to write inside the book. It’s only a few topics, which I definitely need to expand on as the book probably needs to be longer than 30 pages. I also submitted by brainstormed ideas onto Managebac; I created a mind map initially and then converted into a circle inquiry map, and I also had previously created a “potential ideas” page. It’s quite messy, but its only intended for me and I can understand it so that’s fine. I need to start thinking about my final product as it is a book and requires a lot of time and effort to complete.
ATL skills:
Today I finished brainstorming and planning the beginning stages of my MYP personal project. A few days ago, I had picked out my final topic which was to write an informative book about space. The idea really excited me, so I already started planning what I want to write inside the book. It’s only a few topics, which I definitely need to expand on as the book probably needs to be longer than 30 pages. I also submitted by brainstormed ideas onto Managebac; I created a mind map initially and then converted into a circle inquiry map, and I also had previously created a “potential ideas” page. It’s quite messy, but its only intended for me and I can understand it so that’s fine. I need to start thinking about my final product as it is a book and requires a lot of time and effort to complete.
ATL skills:
- Thinking – I thought about my final product, and its importance. I also brainstormed ideas about ideas for my final product, the chosen products specifics linking to me and school and some contents of the contents in the book.
- Self-management – I planned the contents of the book.
Entry – September 1st, 2020
Today I had to do some planning for my report and for my book itself. I had a fear that I wouldn’t be able to fill my requirements on my criteria to get a 6 or 7, in terms of content and amount of information. To combat this issue, I decided to make a list of all the possible topics I could think of, to incorporate into my book. At first I wrote a messy list, and then condensed it into sections and pages. It is still not enough to score a high grade in my criteria, so I will have to think of more when I finalize my contents. I am not able to plan my main part of my report yet, but I can plan my appendices. I wanted to get most of the appendices done before starting my book. I used the sample report as a guide and added some of my own elements so I could show my process better and make it more personalized. I was also able to submit my action plan and my criteria 7 days early, with the help of my summer plan, where I gave myself break days and sufficient time to complete both tasks. I was also able to plan how many journal entries I must complete every month to have the total of 30 by the end of the personal project. I’m still having difficulty to start my book, as I don’t exactly know where to start. To give myself that extra push I need to finalize my contents for the book, so I know what to write for each page.
ATL skills:
Today I had to do some planning for my report and for my book itself. I had a fear that I wouldn’t be able to fill my requirements on my criteria to get a 6 or 7, in terms of content and amount of information. To combat this issue, I decided to make a list of all the possible topics I could think of, to incorporate into my book. At first I wrote a messy list, and then condensed it into sections and pages. It is still not enough to score a high grade in my criteria, so I will have to think of more when I finalize my contents. I am not able to plan my main part of my report yet, but I can plan my appendices. I wanted to get most of the appendices done before starting my book. I used the sample report as a guide and added some of my own elements so I could show my process better and make it more personalized. I was also able to submit my action plan and my criteria 7 days early, with the help of my summer plan, where I gave myself break days and sufficient time to complete both tasks. I was also able to plan how many journal entries I must complete every month to have the total of 30 by the end of the personal project. I’m still having difficulty to start my book, as I don’t exactly know where to start. To give myself that extra push I need to finalize my contents for the book, so I know what to write for each page.
ATL skills:
- Self-management – I have planned my topics/draft of contents, I planned my appendices and was able to submit my tasks early thanks to my summer plan.
- Thinking – I thought about ways to help me start my book.
Entry – October 26th, 2020
Today I worked on my appendices and requested for feedback for my criterion A draft of the report. The appendices I’m working on right now is appendix is appendix B, which is annotations of front covers and pages from other astronomy books. I’ve made the annotations quite detailed, and the examples are images and vary because of their layout and target audience. In the annotations, I have compared them and mentioned which of the layouts I will be using as a guide/template for my own book. I have a total of 6 examples, 2 for front covers and 4 for the inside pages. So far, I have only finished 2 because of the amount of detail being put into it.
I must get feedback for my criterion A draft, and as mentioned before my criterion A needs to be modified since it goes over the recommended word limit. I have sent a message to my supervisor so she can take a look at it. I’m not sure where exactly I need to improve other than the word limit, so before submitting the final I need to see what I need to edit.
ATL Skills
Today I worked on my appendices and requested for feedback for my criterion A draft of the report. The appendices I’m working on right now is appendix is appendix B, which is annotations of front covers and pages from other astronomy books. I’ve made the annotations quite detailed, and the examples are images and vary because of their layout and target audience. In the annotations, I have compared them and mentioned which of the layouts I will be using as a guide/template for my own book. I have a total of 6 examples, 2 for front covers and 4 for the inside pages. So far, I have only finished 2 because of the amount of detail being put into it.
I must get feedback for my criterion A draft, and as mentioned before my criterion A needs to be modified since it goes over the recommended word limit. I have sent a message to my supervisor so she can take a look at it. I’m not sure where exactly I need to improve other than the word limit, so before submitting the final I need to see what I need to edit.
ATL Skills
- Thinking - I thought and annotated examples of front covers and pages.
- Communication – I affectively communicated with my supervisor regarding my Criterion A feedback
Entry – February 16th, 2021
I finally finished my 3 front cover designs which I had started yesterday. I’m pretty proud of them and had it took quite a lot of inspiration and references to make them. It was very hard to choose between the three so I had made a survey, and sent it to my peers and others who are part of my target audience (10-16 year olds). The survey showed great results, and I expected the last two designs to be liked most by the audience. I asked to rate the designs by stars, and at the end the second design won by a 0.8 value compared to the last design. I also liked this design the best out of all the others. This is because its unique and is not found on other children’s space book covers. The second one also uses a range of colours and is definitely eye catching. The first design was good, however its not as appealing as the others. The title is not big enough and doesn’t look like a proper informative book cover; basically, it didn’t look professional enough. Finally, the last design is very ordinary, it was good but it’s so common to see planets aligned on the front of a cover. Additionally, I asked at the end of the survey for some personal feedback. Not to mention I had sketched out some design ideas before actually creating them, these design ideas were slightly used, but not entirely. For example, the second design sketch was used but just in a different layout on final design 3.
ATL skills:
I finally finished my 3 front cover designs which I had started yesterday. I’m pretty proud of them and had it took quite a lot of inspiration and references to make them. It was very hard to choose between the three so I had made a survey, and sent it to my peers and others who are part of my target audience (10-16 year olds). The survey showed great results, and I expected the last two designs to be liked most by the audience. I asked to rate the designs by stars, and at the end the second design won by a 0.8 value compared to the last design. I also liked this design the best out of all the others. This is because its unique and is not found on other children’s space book covers. The second one also uses a range of colours and is definitely eye catching. The first design was good, however its not as appealing as the others. The title is not big enough and doesn’t look like a proper informative book cover; basically, it didn’t look professional enough. Finally, the last design is very ordinary, it was good but it’s so common to see planets aligned on the front of a cover. Additionally, I asked at the end of the survey for some personal feedback. Not to mention I had sketched out some design ideas before actually creating them, these design ideas were slightly used, but not entirely. For example, the second design sketch was used but just in a different layout on final design 3.
ATL skills:
- Thinking – I thought about ways to incorporate professionally and aesthetically/visually pleasing concepts into my front cover designs.
- Self-management – I planned front cover designs before making the final ones
- Communication – I communicated with my target audience through the survey
Entry – Thursday 18th, 2021
Today I decided to conduct a review survey for my book. I was a bit disappointed because initially I was supposed to print my book and physically distribute them. However, due to current situations I was not able to do so. Instead I had to conduct a survey. I put some images of the best pages from my book. It was difficult to get enough people to do the survey but fortunately I got 32 responses! And surprisingly in a short amount of time. I got good feedback and some great points to reflect upon. Most of the people who did the survey was from my target audience (10-16 years) and some from the general public. Today I also had to edit my final report and add the final appendices. I needed to make edits to my Criterion A and B, and cut a massive portion of my word count. Overall, it’s been quite a productive day, I’m still waiting for more responses from the survey and hopefully I do as aa high number of reviews is needed to score a high grade in the criteria.
ATL skills:
Today I decided to conduct a review survey for my book. I was a bit disappointed because initially I was supposed to print my book and physically distribute them. However, due to current situations I was not able to do so. Instead I had to conduct a survey. I put some images of the best pages from my book. It was difficult to get enough people to do the survey but fortunately I got 32 responses! And surprisingly in a short amount of time. I got good feedback and some great points to reflect upon. Most of the people who did the survey was from my target audience (10-16 years) and some from the general public. Today I also had to edit my final report and add the final appendices. I needed to make edits to my Criterion A and B, and cut a massive portion of my word count. Overall, it’s been quite a productive day, I’m still waiting for more responses from the survey and hopefully I do as aa high number of reviews is needed to score a high grade in the criteria.
ATL skills:
- Communication – I communicated with my peers, my target audience and others regarding my book and their opinion on some of the pages shown in the survey.
- Thinking – thought and planned what needs to be done for my final report