Ask a group of students what they would like to learn about, create, improve, or accomplish if they could choose almost anything, and they'll usually answer quickly.

They may want to learn to play a song on the guitar, build a computer, get better at drawing, train for a 5K, learn how to decorate cakes, start a small business, or fix an old dirt bike. The ideas are endless.

Once students have an idea they genuinely care about, teachers naturally want to help them turn it into something successful. We ask questions. We suggest resources. We help organize the work. We point out problems they have not yet noticed. And sometimes, without meaning to, we slowly turn the student’s project into our own.

Personal projects within the Marzano Academies model are meant to give learners something real to own. Students pursue a goal that matters to them while developing the skills required to move that goal forward. The research around element Xb provides guidance around the critical moves and conditions that lead to agency in learners. While there is not one set pathway, what is critical is that the students themselves have to plan, make decisions, find resources, respond when something does not work, seek help, and determine what to do next.

Personal projects are different from teacher-designed projects with student choice built into them. The learner is not simply choosing from several options we have already created. They are identifying something they want to accomplish and determining, with appropriate support, what getting there will require. That means the goal is not simply to produce an impressive final product: the process matters too. And sometimes the most important thing a teacher can do is resist the urge to make that process easier.

Conversely, personal projects should not mean, “Go do whatever you want and come back in six weeks.”

Students still need structure. They may need help breaking a large goal into manageable steps, locating resources, setting interim targets, managing time, thinking through setbacks, or reflecting on what they are learning about themselves along the way.

That structure is valuable because it helps students turn an interest into action. The key question is who is making the important decisions inside that structure?

The following Use-It-Tomorrow strategies can help teachers navigate the process of supporting learners through implementing a personal project while ensuring the critical components remain in the hands of the learners. Here are three places where that matters most.

Let the Learner Own the Goal

For example, when asked for a project idea, a student says, “I want to learn how to make sushi, but I don’t know where to start.” It would be easy for the teacher to step in and help.

The teacher might suggest the student research the history of sushi. They could compare different styles. They could calculate ingredient costs. They could write a reflection. Perhaps they could create a presentation at the end. Suddenly, the teacher has designed a very respectable interdisciplinary project; however, it is also no longer really the student's project.

That does not mean teachers have no role. Students may need help making and keeping an idea manageable, identifying a first step, or thinking through what they will need. But there is an important difference between helping a learner clarify their goal and quietly replacing it with a better teacher-designed one.

Instead of asking, “How can I turn this into a school project?” try asking questions like:

• “What do you actually want to be able to do when this is finished?”
• “Why does this matter to you?”
• “What would make you feel like you accomplished what you set out to do?
• “What do you think your first step might be?”

The answers do not have to sound academic. The important thing is they belong to the learner.

Quick Proactive Starting Point: When students first propose a personal project, try a simple “Tell me more” rule. Before offering suggestions, ask at least three questions intended only to understand the student’s idea. For example:

• What are you hoping to accomplish?
• What made you interested in this?
• What would you love to be able to say you did by the end?

You may still need to help refine the project afterward. But beginning with curiosity gives the learner’s idea a chance to develop before adult thinking starts shaping it.

Don’t Rescue the Project Too Quickly

Personal projects get interesting when something goes wrong. The materials cost more than the student expected. The person they hoped to interview never responds. The first design does not work. The recipe fails. The project is taking much longer than anticipated. The learner realizes they do not yet know enough to complete the next step.

For a teacher, these moments can look like problems to solve. For the learner, they may actually be the project.

A student who encounters a meaningful obstacle now has a reason to plan, seek clarity, ask for help, take smaller steps, reconsider a strategy, or find another route toward the goal. Those are exactly the kinds of metacognitive and life skills we want students to develop.

If the teacher immediately supplies the solution, the project may move forward—but the learner loses the opportunity to figure out how to move it forward. The goal is not to leave students stranded. It is to change the kind of help we provide.

Instead of: “You should email the local mechanic.”

Try: “Who might know something that could help you?”

Instead of: “You need to redesign this part.”

Try: “What do you think caused the problem?”

Instead of: “Here is another website you can use.”

Try: “What information are you missing right now, and where could you look for it?”

The teacher is still supporting the learner. The difference is that we are supporting the thinking, not taking over the decision.

Quick Proactive Starting Point: Before beginning personal-project work, tell students that they are going to encounter what we might call obstacle moments—places where the original plan stops working.

Give them three questions to use before asking an adult to solve the problem:

• What happened?
• What have I already tried?
• What could I try next?

When a learner approaches you with a problem, resist answering immediately. Start with one of those questions. Over time, the pause itself can become part of the learner’s problem-solving routine.

Let Success Look Different

Teachers are accustomed to defining the destination. We know what students are learning, what successful work should contain, how it will be assessed, and often what the final product should look like.

Personal projects require a different kind of restraint. If one student wants to learn three songs on the guitar and another wants to design a working birdhouse, success should not need to fit into the same template. One learner might end with a completed product. Another may demonstrate a skill. Another might discover that the original goal was unrealistic and be able to explain how they adjusted it. Another may not accomplish everything they initially imagined but may be able to describe the obstacles they encountered, the decisions they made, and what they would do differently next time.

That does not make the project unsuccessful.

Remember what the project is actually giving students a chance to practice: pursuing something meaningful, managing themselves through the process, and learning how their actions influence an outcome. An attractive finished product is nice. A learner who can explain, “Here is what I wanted to do, here is where I got stuck, here is what I changed, and here is what I would do next,” may be showing us something much more important.

Quick Proactive Starting Point: Before students get deep into their projects, ask them to complete this sentence:

“I will know I made meaningful progress if…”

Do not require every learner to identify the same type of evidence. Revisit the statement periodically and let students revise it as they learn more about the goal they are pursuing. The purpose is not to lock students into another teacher-created rubric. It is to help them become more thoughtful about what progress toward their own goal actually looks like.

Final Thoughts: Give the Interest a Process—Without Taking It Over

A teacher can provide a process without providing every answer. We can create time without choosing the topic. We can ask questions without prescribing the next step. We can help students find resources without deciding which resource they must use. We can help them examine obstacles without removing every obstacle. And we can celebrate progress without requiring every project to arrive at the same kind of finish line.

Personal projects give students something that can be difficult to create in traditional schoolwork: a reason to say, “This is something I want to accomplish.” Our job is not to turn that desire into a better school assignment. It is to help learners develop the skills to do something about it. That is where agency starts to become more than an idea. It becomes something students get to practice.

Continue Your Learning

Elements Xb is a component of the Marzano Academies Competency-Based Instructional Model. To continue building your understanding of effective, evidence-based, competency-based instructional practices and the full Marzano Academies instructional model, become a member of the Learning Lab. For only $10 per month, Members can access Dr. Marzano’s research Folios, professional learning resources, and practical tools designed to help teachers make competency-based practices work in real classrooms. The Learning Hub also includes Badging Experiences that allow teachers to identify a meaningful professional growth goal, strengthen their classroom routines, and document their growing expertise. Teachers should own their professional learning, and the Learning Hub is built to support that work. You can also sign up for Virtual Office Hours or engage in a CBE Coaching Series with Marzano Academies Faculty to deepen your team’s approach to a personalized, competency-based classroom. Please reach out with any questions.

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