MYP unit planner

Unit title Authority and Power

Teacher(s)

Subject and grade level English A – MYP 4

Time frame and duration Approximately 28 lessons

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?

Community and Service Power can be both social and personal.

The unit focuses on how people live in Inequality and the abuses of power lead to
relation to each other. We examine the conflict.
changing nature of power and how this
affects equality. We also consider how we
might help others understand the
importance of using power wisely and how
our actions and reactions affect the
harmony of a community.

MYP unit question

How do we respond to injustice and inequality?

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?

Summative: Director’s Portfolio

Students work on a variety of tasks to explore the possibilities of dramatising “Master Harold” ... and the
boys by Athol Fugard. Students will create a director's portfolio including:
- Researching character types and casting
- Designing and annotating a set design
- Graphically blocking a scene from the play
- Creating and annotating a freeze-frame
- Recording a dramatic reading
- Creating a theatrical poster

Which specific MYP objectives will be addressed during this unit?

A – Content
o Understand and analyse the language, content, structure, meaning and significance of both familiar and
previously unseen oral, written and visual texts
o Understand and apply language A terminology in context
o Compose pieces that apply appropriate literary and/or non-literary features to serve the context and
intention
o Compare and contrast works, and connect themes across and within genres
o Express an informed and independent response to literary and non-literary texts
B – Organisation
o Create work that employs organizational structures and language-specific conventions throughout a
variety of text types
o Organize ideas and arguments in a sustained, coherent and logical manner
o Employ appropriate critical apparatus

Which MYP assessment criteria will be used?

Criterion A: Content

The student demonstrates a perceptive understanding of the relevant aspects of the topic or theme. The
work consistently displays illustrative detail, development and support. Creative pieces reflect a high
degree of imagination and sensitivity. The student's response to literature demonstrates a sophisticated
analysis of the author's intention and techniques.
Criterion B: Organisation

The student's work is consistently well organized, clear and coherent, and arguments are presented in a
perceptive and persuasive manner. Paragraph structure and transitions effectively develop and
substantiate the ideas being expressed. When such devices are required, critical conventions and
apparatus are used in a sophisticated manner.

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?

Students will learn how to use genre-specific conventions and vocabulary to deconstruct a variety of
different texts.
Students will consider how dramatic conventions can be used to express themes and how a personal
response to literature can be expressed on stage. They will consider the use of symbols, blocking, costume
design, casting, set design and acting skills.
Students will make links between texts of different genres and relate the themes to their own experiences.
Students will be able to compare how different genres portray the same theme and consider the
importance of the audience and its expectations.

Approaches to learning
How will this unit contribute to the overall development of subject-specific and general approaches to learning skills?
Communication: Debating skills are developed through the use of provocative statements to defend or
deny
Communication: Presentational skills are required in the creation of posters, collages and diagrams
through the course of the unit
Organisation: Mind mapping helps students to organise their knowledge of the extended metaphor in the
text
Organisation: Students are encouraged to set personal deadlines and interim goals for the independent
completion of their director’s portfolio
Collaboration: Students work in groups throughout the unit to create collages, freeze-frames,
presentations
Collaboration: Dramatic performance and readings help students to develop their teamwork skills and
confidence

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?

Poetry is used to introduce the themes of
social/personal power, injustice and inequality
which will set the context and lead into the
drama.
Historical context is introduced through
handouts, online museum visits, film clips and
research tasks.
Students connect the themes introduced to their
own prior knowledge of favourite films or
novels.
Students demonstrate an understanding of key
factors of historical setting by creating a group
collage.
Students draw upon prior knowledge of
dramatic conventions studied in Secondary 2
with Romeo and Juliet.
The drama is deconstructed focusing on
character and symbolism/extended metaphors.
Students demonstrate their learning through
mind maps, class debates and textual
annotations.
Students practice formal writing and paragraph
construction in response to essay questions.
Commentary writing is introduced and practice
extracts are given for advanced learners.
Models are provided for all creative
dramatization tasks in the director's portfolio.
Teacher led discussion should guide the
students through the text during class reading.
Students are given a task specific rubric which
Teachers will see students progress throughout the unit
with careful monitoring of tasks and presentations.
Feedback is provided on written tasks and students are
guided in peer evaluation of written tasks.
Teachers encourage students to engage with a visual
portrayal of the text, bringing the script to the stage with,
for example, action, costume, gesture, colour and voice.
Students are directed to rubrics and encouraged to
evaluate their own work at each stage of the
assessment task.
Class discussions and student debates will inform
teachers of student progress and give an opportunity to
address areas of uncertainty or confusion.
Gifted students are given the opportunity to extend their
learning via independent research and classroom
debates in potentially challenging areas of study (ie, the
‘Man of Magnitude’ debate, the historical research of
South African apartheid).
Students with language difficulties are given the
opportunity to discuss the texts in small groups with
students of different language levels. They are also
directed to express their understanding in a visual way
through stage direction. Exemplars are given for each
stage of the assessment.
outlines exact requirements and expectations.
Themes are explored in a different context
through a number of short stories and non-
fiction articles.
Students watch a CARE charity video
promoting the power and potential of women in
poverty and reassess the unit question.

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?

· Drama: “Master Harold” … and the boys by Athol Fugard

· Poem: In a Brixtan Markit by James Berry
· Poem: Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka
· Poem: Mort aux Chats by Peter Porter
· Poem: An Event by Edward Field
· Short Stories: Poinsettias by Beverley Naidoo
· Short Stories: The Gold Cadillac by Mildred D. Taylor
· Video: CARE ‘I am powerful’ charity video
· Video: Trailer and film clip for ‘Amandla!’