MYP Unit Planning on The MYP identifies three pieces of required documentation for the written curriculum: i. unit plans ii. subject-group overviews iii. ATL planning Managebac provides the opportunity and structure for each of these components of our written curriculum. All three pieces flow out from the unit planners we create, so this guidance attempts to insure that our written curriculum is comprehensive and consistent. Step by step, these next pages provide support on the areas of the unit planner that take first priority this year. From this foundation the planners can be refined and polished in coming years. Our goal this year is to generate a written curriculum that addresses these elements:
The following pages include three types of information and screen shots, organized according to box color:
Editing View
Published View
Explanation
This is a screen shot of the unit planner in the “edit� mode.
This is a screen shot of the unit as it appears on Managebac when completed.
This offers a concise version of MYP from principles into practice (2014), applying it to WISS and Managebac.
The final pages share the completed unit planner used as an example throughout this guide.
Unit Title Published View
In a few words, capture the essence of the unit. Remember to label the unit appropriately Unit 3: Climate Set the start date for the first week the unit is taught, set the number of weeks, and calculate the duration based on contact time.
Key Concept Select one of the 3 or 4 assigned to your subject. These are the broad, organizing, powerful ideas that have relevance within and across subjects and disciplines, providing connections that can transfer across time and culture. There are 16 in total:
Editing View Global Context Select one of the six to establish a focus for meaningful teaching and learning, inspiring explorations of our common humanity, our shared guardianship of the planet, our understanding of international mindedness. These provide a common language for powerful contextual learning, identifying specific settings, events or circumstances that provide more concrete perspectives for teaching and learning. They are: -identities and relationships -orientation in space and time -personal and cultural expression -scientific and technical innovation -globalization and sustainability -fairness and development
Key Concept & Related Concept(s) Your subject’s key concepts are in bold type, select from the 3 or 4 assigned.
Select one or two of the related concepts indicated in your subject guide. These promote depth of learning and add coherence to the understanding of the subject and allow for the exploration of key concepts in greater detail.
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Editing View
Conceptual Understanding In this section, relate the key and related concepts in a few words to the content (the knowledge and skills) of the unit. For students and parents, this acts as an important access point to the statement of inquiry which is not subject specific.
Statement of Inquiry Construct by combining the key concept, one or more related concepts, and a global context for the unit into a meaningful statement that students can understand. It should express the relationship between concepts and context, represent a transferable idea supported by factual content.
Published View Inquiry questions These are drawn from and inspired by the statement of inquiry. Develop these questions to explore the statement of inquiry in greater detail. Students can develop their own questions in ways that satisfy curiosity and deepen understanding. The strands of subject-specific objectives can be helpful in formulating these. The inquiry questions are meant to give shape and scope to a unit of study, and they help to scaffold the objectives that students should strive to achieve. As the unit progresses, both teachers and students can develop additional questions to explore. For initial planning, produce a minimum of one question per type: factual, conceptual, debatable.
The statement of inquiry: - represents a contextualized, conceptual understanding - describes a complex relationship that is worthy of inquiry - explains clearly what students should understand and why that understanding is meaningful - can be qualified (using phrases such as ‘often’, ‘may’, and ‘can’) if it is not true in all situations, but is still an important idea - can be formulated at different levels of specificity NB: statements of inquiry should not be so specific that they cannot be transferable beyond the content of the unit.
Managebac shares a flashy tutorial on unit planning that attempts to rival this guide. It’s worth a look! Check it out:
Editing View
http://help.managebac.com/support? lesson=34567&manual_id=mypcoor dinatorguide
Editing View
Published View
Content: Knowledge & Skills In the “Backward Planning” secton we have the chance to identify the subject related content that the unit will explore. Content is the subject knowledge and the subject skills that are inherent in the discipline. Complete two fields, one for knowledge, and another for skills. Once finished, this section provides a record of the “meat and potatoes” of the unit: what the students will chew on throughout the lessons. This is a valuable section especially for teachers who inherit units, for moderators looking for insight into the classroom, and for ourselves as we expand and refine our teaching.
ATL Skills Every unit, every lesson in fact, involves a complex layering of a variety of ATL skills at any time. ATL teaching can be implicit, but it must also be explicit. When unit planning, focus on the explicit ATL teaching that will happen.
Editing View
Here’s how: Check the box of one single ATL skill category from these 5: 1. Communication 2. Social 3. Self-management 4. Research 5. Thinking Decide which of the 10 clusters is explicitly planned and taught in the unit. Select the particular skills described in one of the ATL skill clusters.
Published View
This example identifies cluster “VIII. Critical thinking” with three particular skills that are taught. Which of the subject objectives do these ATL skills align with? In this example, criterion D has all three strands selected for they match the ATL cluster.