Here is a brief run down of how I have planned our unit of inquiry with my class. However, with the enhancements to the PYP bringing a greater emphasis to student voice, so too is the concept of rounding up their ideas and suggestions for curriculum design, placing more of an emphasis on the children’s participation at the planning level.
You probably recognise your own planning as a mix and match of the above.
- fully collaborating with the students to plan the learning and construct the unit together, democratically.
- ( choosing profile, lines of inquiry, concepts etc.)
- semi-collaborating with the students to unpack the unit and follow the direction of their inquiries.
- teachers can follow on from a previous year’s plans, amending it to suit their reflection and new classes’ needs.
- teachers may collaboratively develop the unit with their team, before knowing the students’ prior knowledge.
- teachers develop a skeleton plan and complete it as they are informed by the childrens’ inquiries and progressing knowledge.
- The unit of inquiry has been planned in a variety of ways over the years:
Allowing the children to actively contribute to the planning of their own learning, absolutely promotes meaningful student involvement.
In my previous post about implementing student agency, I mentioned the difference between passive learning and active learning. With the enhancements to the IB PYP having recently been unveiled, I felt that this would be a great time to address co-planning the unit….with your students as your co-planners!Įncouraging greater student agency in your classroom is more than simply listening to the student voice. It never fails to amaze me, when given the opportunity to take the lead, how much our students rise to the challenge.