First Interview & Assessed Reflection

Preparation

Before you attend your first formal interaction, you should take some time to reflect on a Google document:

• Reading: What readings have you completed? Which ones have been most useful? Which ones have not been useful? Did you find any surprises in the readings? What databases seem to be most helpful? Are you struggling to find research on anything in particular?

• Notes: Do you have a workable note-taking system in place? Does this note-taking system track citations (more specific than just hyperlinks)? Does this note-taking system help you to identify patterns in the information you are gathering? 

• Research question: Do you think you need to tweak your knowledge question still? Why? (Please avoid total changes to your topic area/questions. We are too deep into the process to make these kinds of massive changes.)

• Exemplars/Student Samples: Have you read any extended essay samples that you thought were outstanding? What aspects of the essay stood out?

• Passivity: You may not have completed as much as you'd hoped since your first meeting. If this is the case, what are some of the causes and reasons for this? Have you been using your to-do list on ManageBac to help you stay on track? How is your time-management?

• Essay plan: How are you planning to structure your essay? Have you looked at the subject-specific planning documents on the CORE website? (There is a link at the bottom of each group page.) You have an outline due on June 15th. This outline needs to be detailed enough that your supervisor can provide you with verbal feedback to sustain you through the summer. What do you expect this outline needs to look like? How detailed?

• Writing: It is not essential that you have started writing yet, but have you started jotting down ideas for arguments? What parts of the research seems to be pulling together best? Are there any parts that do not seem to connect?

• Self-Management: Have you been using your Researcher’s Reflection Space tab on Managebac to track informal meetings? 

The Interaction

Reach out to your supervisor and set up an appointment. Remember your supervisor is busy, so reach out as soon as possible and be as flexible as you can with your availability. 

Bring your notes on these reflection to your meeting with your supervisor. Make additional notes during your meeting on this same document. This will be make up your brainstorming that you will use to write your official reflection, which will be sent to the IB for assessment.

Before writing your reflection, make sure you go through the reflection writing Google Slide.

The Reflection

Use your notes as the brainstorm for your reflection. Keep in mind that the IB does not want a list of things you have accomplished. Instead they want to know how you have grown, what challenges you have faced and how you have overcome them. If you say everything is "going great" you will score very low. They want an honest account of why you are drawn to this topic and how and why your approach has evolved.

• 100 - 150 words

• Drafted in Google document: edit, conduct word count, and check spelling

• Pasted from Google to Managebac on EE Planning and Progress Form - First reflection session box

• Locked into Managebac 5 minutes after saving -- ergo draft in Google

• Counts toward Criterion E: Engagement