So, this is the final installment in the series of blog posts about the Citizenship Project. Most of the students (hopefully) will have, by this point in the year, completed their actions and written up the majority of the “Part B”. In theory, at least, they also will have had some time to reflect back on the process they have undertaken over the last few months. For others, inevitably, it’ll be a bit of a mad dash to the finish line on the 24^th April.

So what I did with the “Citizenship Project Section C Sample” is to pick a different project, where the candidate did a very good, but not a perfect report. The overall mark for Section C was 15/20. If the students can see what the candidate did very well, but also identify some of her minor mistakes, they should be able to help avoid some of those obvious pitfalls themselves.

I’d be asking students to read through the final part of her project and notice the following:

1. The lack of headings makes it a little difficult for the examiner to see exactly where the marks are supposed to be assigned, particularly in the final section. This is a very easy fix…
2. While the opening section (Knowledge and Insight) is very strong, it is TOO LONG. Of all the sections, the Section C has the fewest words available. While she does get 6/6 for this section, she pays the price later on by having her ‘Feedback’ and ‘Reflection’ sections squashed into a couple of lines, and certainly not developed enough for two 4/4 answers. The students need to be efficient in their writing and disciplined with their word count, skills that are often pretty thin on the ground.
3. There are a few spots, like the ‘Skills Developed’ section, where, while the content is strong and focused on the requirements of the question, I’d want maybe one or two bits of specificity. As it reads at the moment, it could apply to virtually any project that any student, anywhere in the country could have written. I always think that the personal touch is best and helps to set your work apart. It also looks like you’ve actually undertaken a deeper personal reflection when you do this…
4. If you’re a student that really struggles to write efficiently and directly, I’ve included a few sample ‘starter’ sentences that are designed to help you stay really focused on the kinds of things that the SEC seem to want you to focus in on. They’re only suggestions (and there’s obviously multiple ways to address any of this stuff), but they should be a good jumping-off point.

***As with all of the handouts you can download in the Citizenship Project tab of the website (where you can find the other handouts), the suggestions are simply my BEST GUESS as to how the projects have been marked by the SEC. I have no special insights, other than having had three classes go through the process in the last two years and the fact that I’ve spent a fair amount of time trying to reverse engineer how I think that process must have been undertaken. The SEC are also, obviously, free to change the marking scheme year-on-year without telling anyone, which I think it hard on students, but that’s life… So with those CAVEATS in mind, I hope that you find the handout useful in preparing the final drafts of your projects.***

I’ve always thought that the biggest problem that students face is not knowing exactly what the expectations around the standard of writing in the Report Booklet actually are. Hopefully, this final handout, and the ones that have gone before, will help to alleviate at least some of that anxiety!

Best of luck with your submissions!!!!

Jerome