October - December
Tasks to complete during the 1st half of the school year as a MYP coordinator
Administrative
IBIS Registration Deadline for eAssessments and projects (20th of October for May session students and 20th of April for November session students)
If eAssessments are part of Year 5 and you are using ManageBac already, look into AssessPrep as a practice platform to prepare students for this style of assessment.
Set up a timeline/guidance for the first report.
Make sure to talk with curriculum leads before, during and after the process. Their input is really valuable. Also ensure they are part of the editing/revising process. I have also found that a screencast walking teachers through the report step by step is extremely helpful in answering many of the questions
Plan out your first PD/inset day. This should be in coordination with the leadership team and should be based on your school’s action plan and vision. You may consider having someone from the IB come to give a workshop for the school. Applications for in-school workshops are through IBIS.
Staff
Meet with teams to set up a standardisation schedule and template for assessment.
Work with the project coordinator, or it may be yourself, to set up a timeline for students to work on the personal/community project. Additionally, students need to be allocated supervisors. To make it equitable, all teachers should expect to be supervisors.
Review project help articles and guides for ManageBac with supervisors.
Work with the service as action coordinator, or it may be yourself, to set up/continue expectations for service during the school year. Set up a service/event checklist and review ManageBac Service as Action guide and articles.
Talk with languages teams near the reports to confirm any students moving up phases (i.e., moving to Language and Literature). Confirm the languages team have clear standards for students moving phases.
It is best to have a window of time to move into a new phase. It should not be allowed any time in the year. This will cut down on the need for parent discussions with the MYP coordinator about when their child can move up a phase.
Parents
Connect with parents through a weekly or monthly newsletter about the MYP.
Highlight features of MYP in workshops and webinars including: Learner Profile, ATL skills, social/emotional learning, supporting children at home, inquiry in the MYP, assessment in the MYP, advantages of the MYP, explaining the projects, how MYP prepares students for the Diploma Progamme (DP), next steps after MYP.
I consider webinars and workshops to be different. Webinars are disseminating information without much feedback, usually a 15-30 minute talk and short Q/A, where the parents can watch from home. Workshops typically are longer and are face to face, anywhere from 1.5-2.5 hours involving the parents through discussions from the material.
You should not be doing this all by yourself. Utilise your curriculum leads, pastoral leads, middle leaders and teachers for guidance and expertise. They could and should also be leading workshops for parents.
Invite parents to be guest speakers for different units. It is great to have one location of contacts and expertise the parents can provide. You will then have a reusable list for teachers to consider any time a specific topic comes up that a parent could come in to talk with students.
Invite parents for end of unit celebrations (or open days) to see and participate in the learning.
Students
Students need to be allocated supervisors for the personal project and/or community project. To make it equitable, all teachers should expect to be supervisors. Instead of students picking their favourite teachers, it may be better for them to do a random choice based on preferences and interests of teachers without the name of the teacher attached.
Using ManageBac to assign project supervisors can help make this process equitable and fair to all students.
Work with the pastoral team to have the students develop personalised learning goals (shown below) highlighting the learner profile, ATL skills and CAS.
Coordinate with students to help organise the special events, either through their homeroom or projects class.
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