It's both a common and a proper noun.
As educators, we want to be building quality curriculum. See what I did there? It’s a common noun. However in the MYP, it’s also a proper noun – it’s a thing that have to make as part of the accreditation process.
Building Quality Curriculum (BQC) is a standardisation tool used by the MYP to ensure that teachers are effectively using the MYP unit planner to foster really high quality learning.
Just a quick overview.
If you’d like to learn how to do your BQC, you’ll need to go see your MYP Coordinator. I don’t have copyright permissions to post the BQC documentation here, so I don’t want to go into many details. A very brief discussion, and then let’s talk about what a quality MYP unit plan looks like.
To build a quality curriculum in the MYP, you need three items: The latest MYP Arts Guide, Evaluating MYP Unit Plans, and your unit planner tool.
1. The Arts Guide teaches you how to teach MYP Arts. It’s for all of the Arts because they share common assessment criteria. For all Arts classes, Criterion A assesses Knowledge & Understanding, Criterion B assesses Application of Skills, Criterion C assesses Creative Thinking, and Criterion C assesses Responding. They share command terms, they all have the creative cycle, etc. However, there are subtle differences that are covered in the guide. For example, Visual Arts students focus on ‘representation’ while Perform Arts students focus on ‘presentation;’ Visual Arts students have ‘visual culture’ while Performing Arts students have ‘play.’
The first step is to read and understand the guide. You’ll want to attend your Category 1 or 2 MYP workshops as well, not only to learn how to setup your curriculum but also to network and learn from your fellow educators.
2. Next, I would use ‘Evaluating MYP Unit Plans.’ It’s not a thick, obtuse document – it’s simply a set of rubrics you can use when completing your planners. Only look at the top band descriptor (sharing) and you’ll come out with a really comprehensive and well-planned unit (a.k.a. you’ll have built quality curriculum).
For example,
In the lowest band, you haven’t planned any formative assessments that would cause you to adjust your teaching. In the middle band you have. In the highest band descriptor, your formative assessments are really meaningful and the students are doing peer and self-assessments throughout.
3. The third item you need is your unit planner. The content of the planners are typically the same, but they always look different because schools are given latitude on how to structure them. Some are Word documents, some are in Atlas Curriculum Planner, and some are in ManageBac. Just check with your MYP Coordinator on how to access your school’s planners.
4. The fourth step isn’t necessary, but if you are bored on a Friday evening, it’s something to do — You could go through your unit afterwards and assess it. This is actually THE ‘Building Quality Curriculum.” Capitals. Proper Noun. It’s the standardisation document required for accreditation.