MYP4 Interdisciplinary Unit Peace & Conflict

MYP4 Interdisciplinary Unit Peace & Conflict

What is a process journal?

A process journal is a place where you document your experience of working your way through this
interdisciplinary unit.
What is the purpose of the process journal?
The process journal is intended to help you through the brainstorming, thinking, planning, doing,
refining, revising, synthesizing and reflecting stages of your project. It is a space for you to keep
track of good ideas, interesting connections, helpful resources, frustrating struggles, and important
lessons learned. It also lets other people get a sense of all the steps and stages on the journey
from Point A, where you began, with a tiny seedling of an idea, to Point B, the final product. Finally,
at the end of this unit, you will be responsible for writing a report about your project, and your
process journal will serve as a valuable tool for writing this report.
What kinds of things should be included in your process journal?
Enclosed, you will find a checklist of the items each of your subject teachers expects you to
include. All of the items they are asking for are helpful resources for your project. Not only will
these entries help you keep track of your process and inspiration but they will also allow your
teachers to check in and see where you are at in the process.
Keep in mind that in order for these entries to be helpful and meaningful, each of the items you add
to your process journal should be accompanied by a brief description of what it is exactly and why
you have included it.
In addition to this checklist, you could also include interesting articles you come across during your
research process, photographs, movies, books and websites that remind you of the assignments
you are working on, as well as any other thoughts you have during the project.
How should you write in your process journal?
Your process journal entries could be inspired by the following questions:
What did I come across this week that made me think of what we are currently exploring?
What connections can I make between the tasks assigned in English class, in Art, in I&S,
and in Music & Drama?
What current issues in the real world are connected with what I am studying?
What progress have I made this week with my project?
What challenges have I encountered this week that have made it difficult to move forward?
What is something I learned this week that I did not know before?
How do the topics I am currently exploring in class impact the way I see the world?
What is something asked of me by this project that I used to find difficult to do but now find
easier?
How often should you write in your process journal?

MYP4 Interdisciplinary Unit Peace & Conflict

You can write however often and however much you would like, as long as you fulfill the criteria
provided by the checklist and have entries for every week of the project.

Your process journal can be in the form of a website or blog (such a weebly or
google docs, for instance) or you can go old school and keep a hard-copy of
everything in a fancy file or folder. (If you opt for the latter option, make sure
you separate the different materials for the different subjects using dividers)

Checklist: your process journal should include (tick as you go along)

Subject:
Minimum Requirement:
Achieved? (tick if so)
Visual Art

i)The Visual Arts process journal

consists of gathering research
photos that will inspire creative
ideas
and
planning
of
compositions using thumbnails.
ii) You should also include a
mind
map
and
some
experimentation
with
mixed
media, four to six pages long.

Music

iii) The written analysis of

artworks connecting to the
theme of conflict and resolution
that inform the development of
your work needs to be included
in the additional written journal.
i)You need to record and
comment on the artistic
intention of your composition
ii) You need to record and
comment on the development of
the structural parts ( melody,
harmony, rhythm)
iii) You need to record and
comment on the first draft of
your composition and your
reflective statement (including
the intention, process and
outcome) in a maximum of 300
words).
iv) You need to include a
minimum of 3 recorded extracts
(audio only), providing evidence
of the development of
performance skills (in the
process of rehearsing your own

MYP4 Interdisciplinary Unit Peace & Conflict

Drama

composition)
1. Second Draft and Final Draft
of Script/Monologue with your
genre choice(s), staging, props,
lights costumes and setting
cues.
2. 1-2 videos uploaded of your
rehearsal process and 1 Final
video uploaded of pre-dress
rehearsal FULL performance.

Individuals and
Societies

3. Audio, Video or Written

analyses of your social
commentary in your
scene/monologue and how it
specifically relates to your Peace
and Conflict case study.
i) Record and comment on
sources (books, articles, political
cartoons, diagrams, photos, web
pages, etc.) you have found for
your project. The comment
should relate to the origin,
purpose, value, limitations and
content of the source.
E.g. Peoples Century: Skin
Deep (1995) TV documentary
This is a US/UK TV documentary
about the US civil rights
movement and Apartheid in SA
made for audiences in US, UK
and other parts of the world.
The value of the source is the
information on Apartheid 1940s1990s. It is also useful as it
explains the effect that the US
civil rights movement had on
Apartheid. The source is limited
as it was made in 1995 so it
does not comment on SA after
Mandela came to power.
Viewers may misunderstand the
situation in the country after the
end of Apartheid.

English
Language and
Literature

i)What you have learnt about

conflict so far in each of your
subjects (write this as soon as
possible; you will be given class
time today and Wednesday to
do so)
ii) Your experience at the World

MYP4 Interdisciplinary Unit Peace & Conflict

Press Photo exhibition and how
this is linked with what you have
discussed in the Arts, I&S and
English
iii) Other representations of
peace and conflict that you have
come across in literature and
how they can be linked to Elie
Wiesel's Night
iv) Your plan of action for the
peace and conflict conference in
the middle of January
v) The reason why you think we
chose Night as our main text to
analyse in English classes.
Moreover, you should
also reflect on at least three
of the creative responses you
have done during this unit and
what you learnt during the
creative writing process. (One
example of these creative
responses is the homework you
were tasked with last Thursday).
Answer these questions: Why
did you include them in your
process journal? Why do they
resonate so much with you?)

Language
Acquisition

i)For
English
Language
Acquisition, you are tasked with
keeping a diary in the style of
the prescribed novel The Diary
of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, in
which you reflect on peace and
conflict in your own lives.
ii) You will also be required to
reflect on the similarities and
differences between your own
lives and those of the authors of
the additional excerpts from
autobiographical
texts
and
newspaper articles you will be
reading.