Kate Beatty - MYP Unit Review - Munich

In this episode I’m speaking with Kate Beatty. Kate is the first returning guest I’ve had on the podcast and one I’m always very pleased to speak with about all things MYP. Kate is an IB Consultant, workshop leader, IB school accreditation team leader and programme leader, executive coach and author of educational resources including the INTHINKING MYP English Language and Literature website.

For this episode, I wanted Kate to guide me through her thoughts on an MYP unit I had constructed with any of the salient strengths and weaknesses that she could see. Additionally I wanted to pose a few questions based on the work she’s done for the INTHINKING MYP site to better broaden my knowledge of English Language and Literature in the MYP.

We discuss:

1. How she feels about the suitability of the Statement of Inquiry, Questions and GRASPS in the unit

2. The fact that a number of different facts or skills are taught in a direct and teacher led manner and whether this is okay given that they will go onto produce something that is also borne out of inquiries

3. What Kate thinks of the ATLs and the way they have been implemented in the unit

4. Kate’s general opinion of PPTs and other materials being used to communicate the course's knowledge, skills and tasks

5. On the MYP InThinking site, Kate’s decision to offer units that fall into Key Concepts outside the typical Creativity/Communication/Connection/Perspective associated with Language and Literature and why this was

6. And staying with the site, given that Kate has offered units on some classic topics of English study, how does she ensure that such a unit has a conceptual lens, connects to global contexts and has an authentic assessment?

Thanks again to Kate for guiding a way through the rewarding but challenging experience of MYP curriculum construction. All of the materials mentioned in the episode will be linked to in the show notes for anyone who wants to refer to them.

If you want to be kept up to date on when educational chat like this happens, then be sure to subscribe to the podcast and/or follow me on Twitter @chrisjordanhk

Links:

Unit plan discussed in the episode

INTHINKING for MYP Language and Literature

Kate’s website