You should already have a shortlist or a front-runner topic for your Student Project from earlier planning. If you do not, pick a topic you care about enough to finish in the first two minutes, write it as one sentence, then carry on with the plan. Today you lock that choice in and turn it into a plan you can actually follow: what you will make, who it is for, and a short list of milestones written as jobs you can tick off. Nobody starts building until your plan has had a scope check (partner or teacher).

A workable Student Project plan has five parts, written so someone else could understand it cold:

1. Settled topic: one clear sentence on what the project is about and why it matters to you. Example: I am exploring how short-form video tips can help first-years spot sponsored posts.
2. What you will produce: the format (for example a short video, a digital montage, a podcast-style audio piece, a designed page or post series), approximate length or shape, and who the audience is. Example: A 90-second explainer video for first-years in our school.
3. Strands it can show: name the course strands your project will let you demonstrate. The four strands are: Understanding myself when engaging online; Evaluating online content; Following my interests online; Publishing online. Under each, you can also note skills such as finding and judging sources; ethics, rights, using others' work within copyright rules (fair dealing), and consent; how format and design shape a message; and publishing safely. Either the strand titles, the skill examples, or both are fine if you can point to evidence later. Example line: Strands it can show: Evaluating online content (source evaluation and crediting); Publishing online (consent check before any images of people).
4. Milestones: the steps that get you from here to a finished, published piece, written as things you can tick off.
5. First next step: the single milestone you will start after the check. Example: Find and evaluate three sources on my topic using the class checklist.

Try this (about two minutes)

With a partner, rewrite this intention as a tickable milestone: work on the video. Be ready to say one version aloud.

Open a new doc or page. Save it the class way. Copy these five headings, then fill them using your own topic:

1. Settled topic
2. What I will produce
3. Strands it can show
4. Milestones
5. First next step

Done when (minimum for the first check)

• Settled topic: one sentence (use your front-runner, or pick a main topic and a backup now).
• What I will produce: format, approximate length or shape, and audience.
• Strands it can show: name two or more from the board list (strand titles and/or skill examples).
• Milestones: at least three tickable jobs for the first check (aim for five to eight by the end of the block or in the first five minutes next session). Include research, making, crediting, a safety and consent check, and publishing or packaging across the full list.
• First next step: the single milestone you will start after this plan is checked.

Scope check

After about ten minutes of writing, swap plans with a partner and run these four questions (tick yes/no on each other's plan):

1. Is the topic a single clear focus?
2. Is the product finishable in the project window?
3. Are milestones tickable and ordered?
4. Can this show learning across strands, not only a polished final piece?

Mark the plan Partner-checked when you finish the swap. Your teacher roams and stamps plans that are clearly finishable, and sits longer only with ones flagged unsure, too big, or too thin. Everyone should leave with either Partner-checked or Teacher-checked on the plan. Do not begin building the product until at least a partner check is done.

If you are waiting for a check, tighten two milestones so each names a finished thing you can point at (file, draft, export), or write one backup milestone if your first next step gets blocked. Add any remaining milestones and finish the strands line before you leave or in the first five minutes next session.

A plan is not a wish list. It is a short agreement with yourself about topic, product and the next jobs you will actually do. Tickable milestones make progress visible. A scope check (partner or teacher) stops you starting something you cannot finish or something too thin to show what you can do. Keep your checked plan saved the class way. Between now and the next checkpoint you work the plan, starting with the first next step you named, once at least a partner check is done.

Think about

• Which milestone on your list will be hardest to tick off, and what would make it easier to start?
• If time remains: If you had to cut your project by half tomorrow, what would you keep so it still showed real learning?