What is the MYP Community Project?
All East Nashville Magnet eighth graders complete the community project, a culminating activity in the MYP program. The IB explains that the community project encourages students to practice and strengthen their approaches to learning (ATL) skills, to consolidate prior and subject-specific learning, and to develop an area of personal interest. The community project provides an excellent opportunity for students to engage with community needs and develop skills and knowledge that has personal and local relevance.
The Community Project consists of three major components:
- Focus on service as action
- A Process journal
- A presentation
The group nature of the project is important; the project should revolve around a challenge and need identified by the students. Students will be supported by many members of the East Nashville Magnet team including their PLT teachers, the school’s librarian and media specialist, and a personal supervisor who will advise and help them through the process.
Students get a workbook that helps guide their project, divided into four main chapters that reflect the project’s phases:
- Investigate
- Plan
- Taking Action
- Reflecting
As students work their way through this workbook, they are prompted to initiate, manage and direct their own inquiry. Students will have goals and deadlines to help them budget and use their time wisely and will be given opportunities to conduct research and collaborate with staff and other students during the school day. However, large parts of this project will be completed outside of school hours. Parents, we encourage you to review posted timelines with your student to ensure a successful, timely completion of the project.
The aims of MYP projects are to encourage and enable students to:
- participate in a sustained, self-directed inquiry within a global context
- generate creative new insights and develop deeper understandings through in-depth investigation
- demonstrate the skills, attitudes and knowledge required to complete a project over an extended period of time
- communicate effectively in a variety of situations
- demonstrate responsible action through, or as a result of, learning
- appreciate the process of learning and take pride in their accomplishments