As we said, what may have worked well one year, might not work as well the next. Student personas will no doubt affect the planning of your program, One can always count on the unexpected to occur within the course of a school year. These include school, community, and personal situations. Be prepared therefore to be flexible. Don't be surprised if you have to keep on coming back to review your schedule and adapt accordingly. 

You should not waste any time in getting the ball rolling and getting assignments turned in. See the journalling section for ideas as to how you might set up a journal to best facilitate the accumulation and documentation of student work. (See:  Journaling) .  The best advice has often been to have students turn in draft material before the end of the first year. This has been especially true with the Exploring submission work (the earlier submission required by the IB, see HERE for submission dates). 

Further, keep in mind that the end of the second year will be a stressful time for the full DP student, They will have five other subjects, plus TOK, the Extended Essay, CAS, and more to turn in. Music students will not have a culminating test. Therefore, the focus will be on other subjects as you approach the end of the two-year course. 

Examples of good practice have been to have all the material out to the students about halfway through their second year. Most of the last half of the second year may need to be devoted to editing and rewriting the component work for submission. 

The IB will annually publish the due dates for component submissions (see HERE for a printable summary). Keep in mind though that your school will most likely have internal dates well ahead of the IB deadline. 

Students may be confused by this. Be sure to inform students that even though they may see dates posted by the IB, the internal dates (as established via your DP coordinator) will take precedence. You may have to explain the reasons why internal dates are posted well in advance.

A student's schedule can be overwhelming. It's important that students stay on top of their time management skills (see HERE for the Approaches to Teaching and Learning that included Self Management Skills), not just in your class, but throughout the IB.

When creating a schedule, it might be worth considering having students create the due dates and timelines with you. This way they can strive for balance throughout their course of study. Have them bring their schedules to class when you create the schedule. Try to build a sense of ownership with their responsibilities. When dates are set, stick to them. Remember, extending deadlines will only create more stress.