Create an EPIC goal for the MYP personal project

I was taking a video online course conducted by @tonyvincent in July. The topic of the week was how to narrate effectively and we were asked to create a narrated slideshow by using Adobe Spark. I have been working with MYP grade 10 students closely in the past few years to support their personal projects. It seems to me that students usually have troubles in defining their goal and justifying why their goal is challenging to them. It also seems slightly difficult for new supervisors to ask questions and guide students to explain their goals. Therefore, I decided to create a video and made an attempt to explain the process. 

Searching on Youtube, several videos explaining how to set goal for the MYP personal project are either too long or too boring. I took a risk and created something different by following the tips shared in the book, Made to Stick. On a different note, I love all the books written by Chip Heath & Dan Heath. I highly recommend this book to anyone whose job is to communicate information to different audience. When communicating anything, we should keep them: simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional, stories. My instructor, Tony, has added another component, seen, using photos, images, or videos to illustrate ideas. 

I believe stories are important to connect everyone with their emotions and experiences. I decided to use superheroes as main characters to talk about the importance of having a clear goal and devise and implement their action plan based on their epic goal. 

Here is the video I made. There are several things I want to fix if I will make this video again. But I think the guiding principles can guide students to the right directions.

Excitement 

• Am I excited about this topic?
• How is this related to my interest and experience?

Purpose 

• Why do I want to do this project?
• What do I care about?
• What do I hop to gain from it?

Investigation  

• What actions will I need to take?
• What topics do I need to research about?
• How my MYP subject knowledge can help me?

Challenge  

• What new knowledge and skills do I need to learn to make my project?
• What are my possible obstacles that will prevent me from completing the project successfully? 

The Purpose section of the EPIC goal setting requires students to think about the WHY of their project and pushes them to think about what they actually care about. Students later identify key words from the Purpose section and make connections with the global contexts and explorations. 

I created an EPIC goal setting graphic organizer to guide students and supervisors through the process. This process has received positive feedback from both students and supervisors. Perhaps you will find it useful too.