This section explores three different approaches to course design. Any of these approaches can be effective and engaging for students. Course design can be intimating, but it’s where we get to exercise our creativity. Considering these three wildly different approaches should activate your imagination. Read on to discover how each approach engages with the design principles explored in prevision sections of the guide.
Three approaches
Each of these approaches has its merits. Determining which one is right for your students depends on your answers to a few questions:
- Will your students arrive with clear expectations of the level of rigor and intensity required for college-level academic work?
- If not, do you think it’s better to ease them into things, gradually increasing expectations and textual complexity, or better to jolt them into instant awareness?
- Are you teaching at a school where students purchase their own books, or does the school supply the books?
- Do all of the texts studied need to be pre-determined before the class begins?
Design Principles: commonality between approaches
There are myriad approaches to course design. This guide offers three, but any approach that serves your students will is a good approach. When you plan a course outline, all parts of the Language and Literature curriculum should work in conjunction to engage students in learning and prepare them for course assessments. Considering these three principles of course design — variety, transparency, integration — will help you achieve this. Before we dig any deeper into our three novel approaches, here are some implementation ideas for each principle.
Design Principles: reading, critical thinking, and writing
Designing a Language and Literature course is a complex enterprise. It’s easy to become overwhelmed or bogged down by the minutia of course requirements, conceptual approaches, or the tremendous flexibility afforded by the I.B. course syllabus. Whatever approach you take, it’s important to remain grounded in the three non-negotiable domains for student growth: reading, critical thinking, and writing. This section looks at these three domains: what students need, what good teachers need to do, some common mistakes in course construction.
Design Principles: sequence and assessment at HL and SL
No matter what approach you take, there are a few principles related to the sequence of assessments that are important to bear in mind. The two charts below offer a plausible approach. Of course, there are many other variations that will serve students just as well.
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