Brad Cartwright

Being the Best Extended Essay Supervisor You Can Be

 November 8, 2024

This week we’re going to focus on the five tasks of the Extended Essay that we Supervisors can control most—regardless of the broader school process in which we work.

By focusing on these five tasks we can end the static in our heads regarding what we are actually supposed to do as Extended Essay Supervisors.  

And therefore, we can be the best Extended Essay Supervisors we can be.

The main thing is the main thing, right?

And the main thing is serving students by being expert at the things we can control.  

But let’s not pretend that this is easy.  

Running an effective school-wide process is hard—for any administrator.

In fact, check this out...  

Ten reasons why the Extended Essay process is so hard:

1. It is never the most important thing for the kid to do.
2. Usually, the EE process is run by the school or a broader set of powers larger than us.
3. It is supposed to be a student-led process.
4. The IB provides very vague parameters for what is an excellent Extended Essay.
5. The unpredictability of past student performance is unnerving. 
6. Teacher isolation.
7. Lack of formal training
8. There are multiple levels of simultaneous responsibility.
9. There is no Extended Essay course, so no grades, no lessons—so no leverage.
10. Often times, there is no common student experience.

Sound similar to something you've heard in the faculty lounge? 

Sure it's hard.  That's not news.

But guess what? 

Focusing on those aspects of the Extended Essay process is an utter waste of time.

Best advice? Focus on what you can control. 

Five Tasks We Can Control:

• Task 1:  Understanding the Demands of the Extended Essay
• Task 2:  Knowing The Subject Specific Guidance 
• Task 3:  Knowing The Mark Scheme
• Task 4:  Creating a Four-Step Plan
• Task 5:  Understanding The Reflection Process

By focusing on these five tasks, the Extended Essay supervising process becomes tangible, practical, and something that can lead us to feel good about serving our Advisees the best we possibly can.

Task #1:  Understanding the Demands of the Extended Essay

This is the most obvious, but it takes focus and work—and a willingness to go back to the subject guide to make sure you understand and can convey to your Advisee these critical elements.

Here is what the IB says…

• The Extended Essay is an in-depth study of a focused topic chosen from the list of available Diploma Programme subjects.
• This is normally one of the student’s six chosen subjects for those taking the IB diploma, or a subject that a course student has a background in. 
• It is intended to promote academic research and writing skills, providing students with an opportunity to engage in personal research in a topic of their own choice, under the guidance of a supervisor.
• This leads to a major piece of formally presented, structured writing, in which ideas and findings are communicated in a reasoned and coherent manner, appropriate to the subject chosen. 
• In undertaking the extended essay, students model many of the elements of academic research by locating their topic within a broader disciplinary context, justifying the relevance of their research and critically evaluating the overall strength of the arguments made and sources used. 
• It is mandatory that all students undertake three reflection sessions with their supervisor, which includes a concluding interview, or viva voce.
• In their reflections, students are encouraged to reflect on insights gained, evaluate decisions, and respond to challenges encountered during the research.
• The Extended Essay is presented as a formal piece of sustained academic writing containing no more than 4,000 words, accompanied by a reflection form of no more than 500 words. 
• Students are supported by a supervision process recommended to be 3–5 hours, which includes three mandatory reflection sessions. 

This is the core of our job as Supervisors.  This is what the Extended Essay is in its simplest form.  Conveying this to your Advisee is critical.  That’s what this thing is.

Ok, great, but what does that mean?  And what are we trying to do here?

Task #2:  Knowing the Subject Specific Guidance

The Subject Specific Guidance is literally the directions from the IB on how an Extended Essay in each of the Diploma Subjects hits the mark scheme.

It is literally “what the essay needs to do” to earn marks.  

This is gold for us.

And you should think of it as the most important part of being a Supervisor.

I had a very experienced IB teacher tell me when I was the Extended Essay Coordinator at the International School Nido de Aguilas in Santiago, Chile, that she carried a printed copy with her to every meeting she had with her Advisees.

When the student had a question, she pulled out the Subject Specific Guidance to look for the answer—even though she already knew the answer herself.

She was modeling for her student.  You want your advisees to think “Subject Specific Guidance” any (and every) time they have a question.  

And perhaps the most useful section is the last section of every Subject Specific Guidance—it’s called “Interpreting the EE Assessment Criteria”.  

It is literally subject specific information on how a paper can hit the mark scheme, criterion by criterion.  Take a look at the Subject Specific Guidance for Economics as a reference if you’d like.  Scroll all the way down and you’ll see this crucial section for us as Supervisors.

Gold, I say.  Gold.

So, when you get a second, grab the Subject Specific Guidance for your Subject Area and take a good deep look.  There’s so much in there.

And here is we as Supervisors must be the absolute expert.  No excuses. 

Task #3:  Knowing the Mark Scheme

This task is literally knowing how the essay will earn marks—or not.  

The mark scheme looks like this:

 

You might very quickly notice that Criterion D and Criterion E have nothing to do with what the student actually writes in the paper.  

Criterion D assesses the extent to which the paper looks like it should given the subject area of the paper.   Criterion E assesses the extent to which the student writes effective reflections based on their own evaluation of how they overcame the challenges they faced along the way.  

That’s 29% of the marks of the Extended Essay available to them in those two criteria alone.  

That is really important for us to know.

In a previous article, Strategically Breaking Down the Extended Essay Mark Scheme, I shared a step-by-step process from the easiest marks to the most difficult marks for us to impact as a Supervisor.  In case it's helpful, here is a user-friendly version of the Extended Essay Mark Scheme as well.

Now, once we understand the demands of Extended Essay, our Subject Specific Guidance, and the Mark Scheme, what we need to do is create a strategic path for our Advisees to follow.

Task #4:  Creating a Four-Step Plan

This is perhaps the most important part of a smoothly managed Extended Essay process.

Every experienced Supervisor will tell you that keeping the Extended Essay process alive for students is a huge challenge.  

Especially in the part I call “The Middle”.

The Beginning is the launch of the Extended Essay process usually run by the IB and EE Coordinator.

The Finish is the end of the process when final versions of the Extended Essay are submitted.   This part of the process is also largely run by the IB and EE Coordinator.

The Middle is the portion of the process where the students go from a research question to writing their draft.

These few months are the difference maker for students who have an enjoyable Extended Essay experience and those who don’t.

How are you going to do this?  Easy.  Go teacher mode.  

Create a Four-Step Plan to take your Advisee from research question to writing.  

Think about it as four distinct check-in points that will guide your Advisee through this middle section of the process when quite frankly the Extended Essay isn't the most important thing for a student to do.

Be bold.  Be clear.  Be confident.  

These Four Steps will be different for every Subject Area.  What a kid has to do for a Physics Extended Essay will be very different than what a kid has to do for a Theatre Extended Essay.

So take charge.  

Create the plan.  Don't overthink it.  You are the Subject Area expert.  That's why you're the Supervisor.  Here’s a Four Step Plan template to help you.

And you don't need your IB or EE Coordinator's approval to do this, just do it with confidence.

Task #5:  Understanding The Reflection Process

I’ve written quite a bit about this task before.  We can have a huge impact here.  

For a complete breakdown, check out this article, The Two Most Important Extended Essay Criteria for Supervisors.  I’ll give you a hint, running an effective interview is critical to the overall grade the paper receives.

In short, just remember this.

The Reflections must be evaluative.

Not descriptive.

Not analytical.

Evaluative.

Evaluative regarding two specific processes—the Research Focus and the Research Process.

The Research Focus is the student’s journey to finding the perfect Research Question.

The Research Process refers to the student’s complete path through the Extended Essay process. 

They should be judging themselves on how well they managed those processes. 

So during the Initial, Interim, and Final Interviews, ask them specifically about how well they overcame challenges they faced along those two separate processes—the Research Focus and the Research Process.

Then have them write about that.  

Here’s my writing structure for the reflections.  Use it if you find it helpful. 

So where does that leave us?

Let's remember that the goal is to be the best Extended Essay Supervisor we can possibly be—regardless of the school structure we operate within. 

So, let's focus on doing these tasks well.

Five Tasks to Be the Best Supervisor You Can Be:

• Task 1:  Understanding the Demands of the Extended Essay
• Task 2:  Knowing The Subject Specific Guidance 
• Task 3:  Knowing The Mark Scheme
• Task 4:  Creating a Four-Step Plan
• Task 5:  Understanding The Reflection Process

They are built around what we can most control as a Supervisor.

See you next week.