MYP unit planner

Unit title Theme: Human Behaviour

Teacher(s) Domenic and Meyer

Subject and grade level Language A, Level 4

Time frame and duration 4 weeks

Stage 1: Integrate significant concept, area of interaction and unit question

Area of interaction focus Significant concept(s)

Which area of interaction will be our focus? What are the big ideas? What do we want our
Why have we chosen this? students to retain for years into the future?

My individual choices greatly affect my

Health and Social environment.

Students will explore human nature and the

personal decision-making process. They will
examine the behaviour of people in power
and appropriate conflict resolution. They will
use The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens
to reflect on themselves and create “private
victory” and “public victory” goals to help
them become well-rounded, balanced
individuals.

MYP unit question

Why can’t I just do what I want?

Assessment
What task(s) will allow students the opportunity to respond to the unit question?
What will constitute acceptable evidence of understanding? How will students show what they have understood?

Students will write an extended essay describing the role of power and freedom in society using concepts
gleaned from William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, excerpts from Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan and F.A.
Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom.

Which specific MYP objectives will be addressed during this unit?

-understand and analyze the language, content, structure, meaning and significance of both familiar and previously
unseen oral, written and visual texts.
-organize ideas and arguments in a sustained, coherent and logical manner.
-use language accurately.
- employ appropriate critical apparatus.
- express an informed and independent response to literary and non-literary texts.
- compare and contrast works, and connect themes across and within genres.
Which MYP assessment criteria will be used?

Criteria B, Organization

Stage 2: Backward planning: from the assessment to the learning activities

through inquiry

Content
What knowledge and/or skills (from the course overview) are going to be used to enable the student to respond to the unit
question?
What (if any) state, provincial, district, or local standards/skills are to be addressed? How can they be unpacked to develop the
significant concept(s) for stage 1?

Skills
-use language as a vehicle for thought, creativity, reflection, learning, self- expression and social
interaction
-develop critical, creative and personal approaches to studying and analyzing literary and non-literary
works
• create work that employs organizational structures and language-specific conventions throughout a
variety of text types
• organize ideas and arguments in a sustained, coherent and logical manner
• employ appropriate critical apparatus.
NCSCOS
1.03 Demonstrate the ability to read, listen to and view a variety of increasingly complex print and non-print expressive texts
appropriate to grade level and course literary focus, by:
 selecting, monitoring, and modifying as necessary reading strategies appropriate to readers' purpose.
 identifying and analyzing text components (such as organizational structures, story elements, organizational
features) and evaluating their impact on the text.
 providing textual evidence to support understanding of and reader's response to text.
 demonstrating comprehension of main idea and supporting details.
 summarizing key events and/or points from text.
 making inferences, predicting, and drawing conclusions based on text.
 identifying and analyzing personal, social, historical or cultural influences, contexts, or biases.
 making connections between works, self and related topics.

2.01 Demonstrate the ability to read, listen to and view a variety of increasingly complex print and non-print informational
texts appropriate to grade level and course literary focus, by:
 selecting, monitoring, and modifying as necessary reading strategies appropriate to readers' purpose.
 providing textual evidence to support understanding of and reader's response to text.
 demonstrating comprehension of main idea and supporting details.
 summarizing key events and/or points from text.
 making inferences, predicting, and drawing conclusions based on text.
 identifying and analyzing personal, social, historical or cultural influences, contexts, or biases.
 making connections between works, self and related topics.
 analyzing and evaluating the connections or relationships between and among ideas, concepts, characters and/or
experiences.

3.02 Express an informed opinion that:

  states clearly a personal view.
 is logical and coherent.
 engages the reader's interest or curiosity.

3.03 Support that informed opinion by:

 providing relevant and convincing reasons.
 using various types of evidence, such as experience or facts.
 using appropriate and effective language, reasons, and organizational structure for the audience and purpose.

 demonstrating awareness of the possible questions, concerns, or counterarguments of the audience.

Approaches to learning
How will this unit contribute to the overall development of subject-specific and general approaches to learning skills?

This unit aims to develop the ability to select appropriate information and evidence to support and
argument. They will practice oral communication skills by presenting questions and information to the class
in a group discussion. Written skills will be developed in journal entries that will provide appropriate pre-
writing strategies for the final assessment.

Learning experiences Teaching strategies

How will students know what is expected of them? Will
they see examples, rubrics, templates?
How will students acquire the knowledge and practise
the skills required? How will they practise applying
these?
Do the students have enough prior knowledge? How will
we know?
How will we use formative assessment to give students feedback
during the unit?
What different teaching methodologies will we employ?
How are we differentiating teaching and learning for all? How have
we made provision for those learning in a language other than their
mother tongue? How have we considered those with special
educational needs?

Students are shown templates of journal writing.
They are given definitions and examples of 7
levels of questioning to base their oral
discussion. They practiced in small groups and
then are expected to lead whole group
discussions. They will receive the Humanities’
“Concepts” rubric and Language A’s
Organization rubric. Instruction of writing
organization and thesis writing will be given.
Students have taken a baseline exam in the first
week of school. Most students will have the
prior knowledge of main idea and
understanding details. They all were to read
Golding’s Lord of the Flies before the start of
the school year.
-Journal entries on defects of human nature as shown in
Lord of the Flies and written feedback
-Informal feedback during discussion (small and whole
group)
-Student created levels of questioning for Lord of the
Flies (Socratic Seminar)
-Goals and action plan written in conjunction with 7
Habits
-Character assessment (for self and characters in Lord
of the Flies) using learner profile
- Creating a thesis exercise and pre-write
-Note-taking and organizational strategies for writing
lesson (Five-step paragraph)
-Peer review with checklist
Assessments are scaffolded so students may work
independently, in pairs or in small groups for more
individualized instruction.

Resources
What resources are available to us?
How will our classroom environment, local environment and/or the community be used to facilitate students’ experiences during
the unit?

5 computers in classroom, media center computers, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, The 7 Habits of
Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey, Thomas Hobbes Leviathan, F.A. Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom
Class room environment will vary widely from pairs, small group, whole group in circle discussions. Local
university UNC’s writing center resources will be used for thesis and organization preparation.

Ongoing reflections and evaluation

In keeping an ongoing record, consider the following questions. There are further stimulus
questions at the end of the “Planning for teaching and learning” section of MYP: From
principles into practice.
Students and teachers
What did we find compelling? Were our disciplinary knowledge/skills challenged in any way?
What inquiries arose during the learning? What, if any, extension activities arose?
How did we reflect—both on the unit and on our own learning?
Which attributes of the learner profile were encouraged through this unit? What opportunities were there for student-initiated
action?

Possible connections
How successful was the collaboration with other teachers within my subject group and from other subject groups?
What interdisciplinary understandings were or could be forged through collaboration with other subjects?
Assessment
Were students able to demonstrate their learning?
How did the assessment tasks allow students to demonstrate the learning objectives identified for this unit? How did I make
sure students were invited to achieve at all levels of the criteria descriptors?
Are we prepared for the next stage?

Data collection
How did we decide on the data to collect? Was it useful?

Students and teachers and Possible Connections

The two perspectives helped students understand the concept in a more global way. As a teacher, I noticed
class discussions were more developed and involved because they were able to pull information from their
Humanities class as well. They had an increased sense of confidence because the unit pulled from multiple
perspectives. However, when asked about the assessment, a couple students found it difficult to organize
both courses into one assessment. It was concluded that for some, they had a hard time pulling together
the historical documents into the discussion of Lord of the Flies. Next time, since this was their first
assessment in IB, in 9th grade, in high school, we will provide them with even more structure and
organization for the development of the essay. We worked on the essay in class in Language A, but they
should have then taken it to Humanities and worked on it in there as well. The connections made between
the Hobbes, Hayek and Golding pieces helped most students understand “the big picture”.
“I paid more attention to people and society and contemplated the good and bad in people,” one student
said. “Reading the book with a civics perspective helped us see the big picture and not just the plot of the
book.” “When we talk about it twice, we understand it more.” Students noted that it helped them truly
understand the role of government and what life would be like without it by examining both the novel in
Language A and the topic in Humanities. Current events became clearer- “when I watch the news it makes
more sense”, one student noted.
Some students stated they preferred to work on the paper all at once and not in steps. In the future, I will
give the entire project to students, and allow some students to work independently on the project, while
others can have the option of working step-by-step to create and organize their essays.
Students felt that this unit helped them become more knowledgeable about the role of government and the
reasons for it. They felt it really helped them to view a society, albeit a fictional one, that had no structure.
Lord of the Flies helped them make an easy connection because it was a community run by kids. They
were able to reflect on structures of government, as well as current government issues with a higher degree
of understanding. The group discussions, which included questions created by the students using a specific
structure and organization that included levels of thinking and reasoning, encouraged problem-solving and
critical thinking. I was very impressed with the questions and answers students were able to create and
discuss. Collaboration was great, especially considering the fact that these students
Learner Profile Traits:
Communicating- getting points across, listening, and understanding, in the Socratic seminar. Collaboration
through peer editing in their papers.
Open-minded- considering multiple viewpoints in the government and around the world.
Knowledgeable- students felt that they had a broader knowledge base for the reason for government. They
also understood better how governments become corrupt.
Thinkers- helped students use their knowledge to think critically about current events in the news, such as
the healthcare bill, nuclear issues in Iran, on going crisis in Afghanistan and Iraq, etc.
Assessment and Data collection
Most students were able to demonstrate their learning because the assessment was so specific. The
students who did not, were the students who refused to read the books, keep their notes and handouts. I
am very content with the product the students’ created. The assessment criteria and the objectives worked
well together. The organization criteria supported the objective of expressing and developing an informed
opinion. They had to master the objective of “demonstrate the ability to read, listen to and view a variety of
increasingly complex print and non-print expressive and informational texts” in order to have an “informed
opinion” so I was very pleased with the assessment. Students who completed all of the steps of the unit clearly
mastered the assessment.
I collected data on the Socratic seminar and student levels of questioning. This formative assessment gave clear
data on the students development of and “informed opinion” and “demonstrate the ability to read and
comprehend text”. I also collected data on three journal entries, 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens goal
development and a Learner Profile character assessment. All were essential in informing me of student
comprehension of the texts.

Figure 12
MYP unit planner