Start with the statement of inquiry, not the activities
A unit planner is not a scheme of work with extra boxes. It asks you to state what the unit is really about, and then show that everything else follows from it. If you begin with the activities you already run and reverse-engineer a concept to justify them, the planner will read as though you did, and so will the unit.
The statement of inquiry is built from a key concept, one or more related concepts, and a global context. It should be a sentence that is arguably true rather than obviously true — something a student could interrogate. "Communication changes when technology changes" invites inquiry. "Communication is important" does not.
The pieces, and what each is actually for
Every element of the planner is doing a distinct job. Knowing which job stops you writing the same thing three times in different words.
- Key concept — the big, transferable idea. There is a defined set to choose from; pick the one the unit genuinely rests on, not the one that sounds most impressive.
- Related concepts — subject-specific ideas that give the key concept traction in your discipline.
- Global context — why this matters beyond the classroom. It should change what students do, not just how the unit is introduced.
- Statement of inquiry — the key concept, related concepts and global context combined into one contestable sentence.
- Inquiry questions — factual, conceptual and debatable. Most planners are thin on debatable questions, and those are the ones that produce the interesting lessons.
- Objectives and criteria — which MYP criteria this unit assesses, and which strands within them.
- ATL skills — the specific skills students will need and will be taught, not a list of everything they might use.
Choose fewer criteria and assess them properly
Each MYP subject group has four criteria, A to D, and each is assessed on a scale of 0 to 8 against published descriptors. A common mistake is to tick all four for every unit. The result is a summative task carrying more weight than it can bear and four judgements made too quickly.
Two criteria assessed carefully across a unit will give you better evidence than four assessed in passing. Over a year, make sure each criterion is assessed enough times to support a defensible final judgement — the requirement is about the year, not about any single unit.
Make the ATL skills teachable
"Students will use research skills" is not a plan. Naming a specific skill cluster, deciding which lesson teaches it, and deciding how you will know whether it landed — that is a plan.
The five ATL categories are communication, social, self-management, research and thinking. Pick one or two per unit, teach them explicitly, and give students something to reflect against. Skills claimed in a planner and never taught are the single most common finding when unit plans are reviewed.
Write the reflection while you can still remember
The planner has a reflection section for before, during and after the unit. The after section is the one that gets abandoned, usually because it is filled in months later when the detail has gone.
Ten honest sentences written in the week the unit ends are worth more than a page written before an evaluation visit. Note what students actually found hard, which task produced the best evidence, and what you would cut. Next year's planning starts there.
