Section 1 ● Project Record

  Template   Examples

Requirements

Most of your 4-H career is spent working on projects, and fittingly, a majority of your record book is spent commemorating those projects. Section 1 provides a framework for planning, completing, and analyzing each of your 4-H projects. How? Let's go through it step-by-step.

Overview

Please just fill this box out. It's really not that hard, and I'd rather not waste the space (or the bandwidth) to explain in detail. If you really have questions, contact the Extension Office.

Goals

If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time Zig Ziglar

Goals provide direction for your 4-H project. If you've ever gone to any motivational leadership conference, you've heard about goals far more than you could ever care to, but the facts show the people with goals accomplish more. Great, you say, how do you make goals? I'm glad you asked.

A goal is an objective or thing desired to happen with SMARTY attributes:

	S	Specific A goal should only cover one area Bad Example To walk my dog two miles every day this summer and teach her to fetch Good Example To walk my dog two miles every day To teach my dog how to fetch This goal needed to be split into two goals. Having more goals is great: just make sure that each goal stands alone.
	M	Measurable Someone else should be able to objectively tell if you've met the goal or not. Bad Example To shoot really well this year in .22 Good Example To shoot an average of over 250 points over all my .22 practice shoots this year Measurable usually involves numbers or binary (true/false) statements. Notice how this example added a way of measuring (average) and a quantitative target (over 250 points). That is characteristic of measurable goals. What about To do better than last year? Invariably, record books are turned in each year with the goal "to do better than last year." Sometimes this is measurable, but usually it is not. It would be far better to identify exactly what you want to improve and find a way to measure that. If you do resort to this goal, you MUST keep your record book meticulously organized so that the judges can find how you did last year.
	A	Achievable/Attainable You must be directly in charge of accomplishing the goal: it cannot depend partially on parents, animals, acts of nature, etc. Bad Example To finish my market hog at a weight between 245 and 280 lbs. Good Example To learn how protein percentage in feed affects rate of gain in hogs This does not mean that you cannot ask for help accomplishing your goals, but you do need to be in charge and take initiative for your goals. No human being can directly control an animal's behavior or weight, another persons opinions, or the weather. Make sure that your goals do not rely on these things.
	R	Realistic Your goals should be things you can actually accomplish with the resources (time, money) that you have. Bad Example To make 20 saddles in the month of January To carve one drink coaster by fair Good Example To complete two saddles by March of next year No 4-Her could have the money to buy materials for 20 saddles, or the time to make 20 saddles within one month: that is unrealistic. Difficulty can also play a role here. Making one coaster should not be a challenge for an experienced leathercrafter and would be unrealistic, but might be appropriate for a first-year member.
	T	Time-bound Set a deadline for your goals. Bad Example To breed half of my rabbit hutch Good Example To have bred half of my rabbit hutch by December Because record books are due annually, the defacto time-limit for all record book goals is the record book due date; so the time component isn't a deal-breaker. It really shows initiative and professionalism, though, if you set a deadline before record books are due.
	Y	Why Every goal should have a bigger purpose or reason behind it. Bad Example To volunteer for three leadership positions in the community this year (because I need another Youth Leadership goal for my record book) Good Example To volunteer for three leadership positions in the community this year (because I need to improve my public speaking and organizational skills) You don't always write the "why" in your record book, but if you have a good why, you will write better goals and be more motivated to accomplish those goals.

How do you write SMARTY goals? Here's a way I like to do it:

1. Get a blank sheet of paper and pencil (not your phone or computer)
2. Write the project name and why you enrolled in that project at the top of the page
3. Write four or five things you would like to accomplish in that project (these don't have to be SMARTY)
4. Set aside your page for two months
5. For each of those things you wanted to do, write a SMARTY version
6. Add your new goals to your record book

I've found that by writing down the goals early along with the why behind them, I will be more likely to accomplish my goals. Try it yourself and I think you will, too.

Project Description

If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself. Albert Einstein

Use the project description to explain what you did in the past year to someone who doesn't know anything about that subject. A good project description should read almost like a newspaper brief about your project. Like a good reporter, include the following information on your project:

• Who (parents, siblings, project leaders)
• What (leathercraft halter, market steer show, cooking recipe)
• When (at fair, at the spring judging contest, at home all year)
• and
• Where (at Hansen arena, at home, at SAREC)

Size & Scope

There's always a four-point-five percent margin of error, plus or minus. The Accountant in The Accountant (Short film)

"Size & Scope" isn't nearly as confusing as it might sound. Let's define these words to clear that up.

Size

is numbers, i.e. the number of hours spent, dollars invested, contest points earned, pounds of feed, etc.

Scope

indicates the varieties, different types, recipes, plants or animal breeds with which you worked.

In short, Size & Scope is a quantitative analysis of everything you used to complete your project. Good Size & Scope sections vary widely depending on the project, but all of them record the items (physical or intellectual) used in the project, and the time and money spent on the project. Take a look at the examples for ideas to get you started.

Knowledge & Skills Acquired

Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. Proverbs 8:10 KJV

Knowledge & Skills Acquired serves two purposes. First, it allows you to address whether or not you met your goals. Second, it tells readers what you actually learned this year in your project.

To complete Knowledge & Skills, create a heading for each goal you wrote. Write a paragraph (at least three sentences) explaining if you met the goal, how you met the goal (or why you did not meet the goal), and what you learned from the goal. After each goal is addressed, include paragraphs explaining anything else you learned about your project area. Remember that your readers might not know anything about your project area, so be sure to explain it in a way that a layperson can understand.

Exhibition Summary

Exhibiting is a good form of advertising. H. A. Willman in The 4-H Handbook (1952)

When you compete in the county fair or other 4-H contest with your project, list that competition here and list what place you got. If you have a project that involves multiple items (e.g. a knitted scarf and a knitted hat), list both of those items and the placings each received. If you exhibited your project at multiple shows (e.g. a heifer at the Colorado Dairy Extravaganza, the Brown Swiss State Show, and the County fair), feel free to restructure the columns to match the exhibitions you actually attended.