PYP

Planning

Meeting Log

2013-2014
Week 1

Working Together Collaboratively

Meeting Date:____________ Start Time:___________ End Time:____________

Attendance:

Questions for Discussion:

How can these planning meetings be successful for you as an individual?

What will you need to put aside to make these meetings meaningful?
As a group, what would make these planning meetings worthwhile?
How will you decide who takes notes? Who brings this Log to the meetings? What to do if
someone comes late? Who will submit this Log to Malita and Elisa each week? Who will collect
it?

Activity:

Create an essential agreement for your PYP Collaborative Planning Meetings.

Notes/Minutes:
 Our essential agreement on
collaborative PYP Planning meetings:
Week 2

Resources and Fieldtrips

Meeting Date:____________ Start Time:___________ End Time:____________

Attendance:

Questions for Discussion:

What was the best fieldtrip you ever took your students on? What made it so great?
What are the Things to Remember with respect to fieldtrips at IIS? (both on the record and
off the record)
What kind of resources do you need for your new Units? Think about fieldtrips and guest
speakers in particular!

Activity:

Create a fieldtrip checklist that you could give a teacher new to IIS in order to ensure their
fieldtrip was a success both logistically and as a learning experience for the students
Formulate a list of possible fieldtrip venues and dates for your Units or current teaching. This
list should be submitted to Mrs Ige this week in order to make these activities happen.

Notes/Minutes:
Fieldtrip checklist:
Week 3

Visible Thinking
Meeting Date:____________ Start Time:___________ End Time:____________

Attendance:

Questions for Discussion:

Have you ever used one of the Project Zero Visible Thinking Routines in your class?
Which ones are you familiar with?
What do you think about the idea that by making thinking visible through repeated routines we
encourage students to be critical thinkers?
What are the other ways you encourage your students to be critical thinkers?
How do you record their thinking?

Activity:

Check out the Project Zero website: http://www.visiblethinkingpz.org/

Use the Visible Thinking Routine on the following page to record your collective ideas about how
to improve thinking in your classrooms.

Notes/Minutes:
 Step inside
Imagine a researcher from the Visible Thinking Project coming into your classroom. Think
about their point of view. Consider the following:

1. What can this person see, observe or notice about thinking in your classroom?

2. What might the person know, understand, hold true, or believe?

3. What might the person care deeply about looking for in your classroom?

4. What might the person wonder about or question?

Week 4

Language
Meeting Date:____________ Start Time:___________ End Time:____________

Attendance:

Questions for Discussion:

Englishs emergence as the global language, along with the rapid progress in machine
translation and the fragmentation of languages spoken around the world, make it less
clear that the substantial investment necessary to speak a foreign tongue is universally
worthwhile. While there is no gainsaying the insights that come from mastering a
language, it will over time become less essential in doing business in Asia, treating
patients in Africa or helping resolve conflicts in the Middle East. - Lawrence Summers,
former president of Harvard University. Excerpt taken from What You (Really) Need to Know
New York Times, January 20,2012
Do you agree with this statement?
What are the assumptions that Lawrence Summers makes in this statement?
What stereotypes does he subscribe to?
Do you think that IIS should promote the learning of additional languages during the school day,
beyond the language of instruction (English) and the second language (French)? If so, which
ones and why?
Are you dealing with any students whose first language is not English right now? What
challenges does this pose? What solutions can the group offer?

Activity:

Look through the IB Standards and Practices that connect to language on the following page.
As a group, rate our schools progress towards meeting those practices by marking the
continuum below each one.
For each one, suggest how the school could further improve our practices around language.

Notes/Minutes:
 Language Linked Programme Standards and Practices

Standard A: The schools educational beliefs and values reflect IB philosophy.

7. The school places importance on language learning, including mother tongue, host country
language and other languages.

Poor-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Excellent

How could this be improved?

a. The school makes provision for students to learn a language, in addition to the language of
instruction, at least from the age of seven. Schools with two languages of instruction are not required
to offer an additional language.

Poor-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Excellent

How could this be improved?

b. The school supports mother tongue and host country language learning.

Poor-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Excellent

How could this be improved?

5. The school develops and implements policies and procedures that support the programme(s).
a. The school has developed and implements a language policy that is consistent with IB expectations.

Poor-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Excellent

How could this be improved?

Standard C1: Collaborative planning - Collaborative planning and reflection supports the
implementation of the IB programme(s).
8. Collaborative planning and reflection recognizes that all teachers are responsible for
languagedevelopment of students.

Poor-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Excellent

How could this be improved?

Standard C3: Teaching and learning - Teaching and learning reflects IB philosophy.

7. Teaching and learning addresses the diversity of student language needs, including those for
students learning in a language(s) other than mother tongue.

Poor-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Excellent

How could this be improved?

8. Teaching and learning demonstrates that all teachers are responsible for language development of
students.

Poor-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Excellent

How could this be improved?

Week 5

Planning our Summative Assessments

Meeting Date:____________ Start Time:___________ End Time:____________

Attendance:

Questions for Discussion:

What makes a great summative?

What was the best summative you ever designed/carried out? Why? Each of you should share
your summative story.
What was the worst summative you ever did? Why? Each of you should share your summative
nightmare story.

Activity:

Have a look at the Assessment strategies and tools table below (taken from MTPYPH, pg. 16)

With a partner, develop the assessment tool and

strategy that you will use for your summative.
Dont forget that the evidence you will be looking
for in your summative assessment will be each
individual students understanding of the central
idea.

Make sure you describe the assessment strategy

in detail, as this will define the task.

Make sure you also define the criteria for success

when you describe the assessment tool.

Be ready to share your summative assessment plan at the next staff meeting.

Notes/Minutes:
Week 6

PYP Unit Planner Love it or Hate it?

Meeting Date:____________ Start Time:___________ End Time:____________

Attendance:

Questions for Discussion:

How do you feel about the PYP Unit Planner?

Have you ever downloaded Unit Planners from the OCC? From other websites? Have you ever
read a peers planner?
Do you use the planner to plan in advance or more as a record of what was done in the unit?
How do you record the activities in Section 4: How Best Might We Learn? (page 2, second
column)? Do you group them by Line of Inquiry? Do you list them chronologically? Randomly?
Do you group them using the Inquiry Cycle? Do you create Learning Objectives within that
section? Discuss your strategies!
What are the barriers that prevent people from liking the planner? How can these be
overcome?

Activity:

Individually, complete the Blob Self Assessment on your feelings about the PYP Planner and
then start working on your planner!

Notes/Minutes:

T
he Blob Self-Assessment
Week 7

6 Heads are Better Than 1 (or 2) Activity Brainstorm!

Meeting Date:____________ Start Time:___________ End Time:____________

Attendance:

Questions for Discussion:

Activity:

Based on your new Units, brainstorm a list of possible activities for a class other than your own.
Look carefully at the Lines of Inquiry and the learning objectives that the teacher will need to
achieve for the students to understand each one.
Dont forget that any fieldtrips need to be organized well in advance, so get your list of fieldtrips
with dates to Mrs Ige this week to avoid disappointment.

Notes/Minutes:
Week 8

Differentiation Lets Get Real

Meeting Date:____________ Start Time:___________ End Time:____________

Attendance:

Questions for Discussion:

If we say we believe in personalized learning paths, inclusive classrooms

and differentiation, we should be doing something about it. To what extent
do you agree with this statement?
Beyond small groups of students working on separate tasks at the same time, how
differentiated do you believe your classrooms truly are?
Many teachers feel overwhelmed by the idea of differentiation. They perceive it as an add on
to their teaching, requiring additional work. Do you feel that way? Why/why not?
If you believe differentiation could be improved in your classroom, what is stopping you from
doing so?

Activity:

Collectively, develop a definition of differentiation.

Drawing on your own practices and experiences, create a list of actions you are doing now that
provide evidence of differentiation in your classrooms.
Based on your discussion, develop a list of possible actions that could be taken both by the
school and by you in your classrooms to improve differentiation at IIS.

Notes/Minutes:
 Differentiation
Our definition of differentiation:

Evidence of differentiation in our classrooms:

How we could improve differentiation in our classrooms:

How the school could improve differentiation practices in general:

Week 9

3-Way Conferences
Meeting Date:____________ Start Time:___________ End Time:____________

Attendance:

Questions for Discussion:

How can we best prepare for the 3-Way Conferences?

Activity:

As a team, design an age-appropriate reflection tool that you will use to gather evidence of the
success of the 3-Way conferences. Submit this to Mrs Ige for approval.

Notes/Minutes:
Week 10

What is an International Education?

Meeting Date:____________ Start Time:___________ End Time:____________

Attendance:

Questions for Discussion:

The IB mission is to create global citizens. What does this mean?

What does international education mean?
What is the difference between an international education and international mindedness?
What is the connection?
Is every international school truly international? Is IIS truly international? How/why (or why
not)?
The IB states that an internationally minded person displays the attributes of the IB Learner
Profile. If you could take one away and add a new one, which ones would they be?

Activity:

Focus on the question above that initiated the most discussion.

On the following page, present your conversation and the main points that were made through
a visual representation of your conversation. A visual representation is a creative presentation
of an idea, thought or conversation in which the authors use text and pictures to express
themselves. Some examples can be seen below.

Notes/Minutes:
Our visual representation
Week 11

Gearing Up for Report Writing

Meeting Date:____________ Start Time:___________ End Time:____________

Attendance:

Questions for Discussion:

How do you personally prepare yourself to write reports? Do you prefer to write in school or at
home? Do you start early or wait until the pressure of the looming deadline inspires you?
In spite of the many hours that teachers spend preparing their report cards, they are often
submitted with grammatical errors, typos and even unforgivable mistakes (like referring to a
boy as she or vice versa). Why do you think this is? What could solve this problem?
In the past, the report card writing process caused a great deal of friction between specialist
teachers and class teachers in Pre-School and Junior School. What are your thoughts on this?

Activity:

Come up with a list of synonyms for commonly used words in reports.

Dont forget that your words will be interpreted through cultural filters, so aim to use the most
neutral and straightforward language that you can when creating your list!

Notes/Minutes:
 Report card synonyms

Progress

Excellent

Average

Weak

Disruptive
Week 12 Reflecting on Unit Reflection
Meeting Date:____________ Start Time:___________ End Time:____________

Attendance:

Questions for Discussion:

How do you structure reflection in your classes?

Do you have a routine for ensuring you reflect on the Unit of Inquiry with your students?

Activity:

Notes/Minutes:

Week 13: March 31-April 4 Meeting Date:____________ Start Time:___________ End

Time:____________

Attendance:

Questions for Discussion:

Activity:

Notes/Minutes: