Welcome to BiblioGarden: Lessons from a PYP Librarian
Hello! Thank you for visiting my website, which is designed to help PYP Librarians connect teaching and learning to the PYP Library.
I’ve been a practicing school librarian at international schools in Germany, the United Arab Emirates, and China. As a newcomer, I found a lot of help regarding policies, standards, vendors, tech tools, and library management software, but virtually nothing about how best to engage children and provide learning experiences when students come to the library. Regrettably, there seems to be very little in the way of a collective lesson bank within the PYP Library world.
This website has grown from many requests to share what I have learned, as well as from my desire to make a starter curriculum available to new PYP librarians. Because lessons are tailored to fit each school’s patron base and cultural environment, most content will need to be adapted for local use. However, enough can be shared to give new librarians a head start on lesson planning, while learning their roles and building their collections. My hope is to eventually grow this site so that everyone can contribute their best practices. We can build a community of professional support, while simultaneously offering extraordinary library experiences to our students.
Although I have worked within the International Baccalaureate (IB) and United States curricula, my site is geared for librarians who are working within the IB’s Primary Years Program (PYP) framework. However, I am not affiliated with the IB Organization, and the IBO does not endorse this site or any of my work.
My intent is for this site to be hands on.. It is structured around Units of Inquiry, and I hope that visitors will be able to review lesson plans within a Unit of Inquiry framework and find material that will improve their own practices. Please note that most of the site was prepared before AASL released their new standards for learners, librarians, and libraries. Thus, when I tie material to AASL standards, all references are to The 21st Century Learner.
Sometimes there is focus on books instead of children. However, school librarians are primarily concerned with supporting and enriching students’ education. Teaching should be transdisciplinary, with lessons tied both to the literacy program and Unit of Inquiry content. Library lessons and activities should never be treated as “stand alone” or “single subject.” Accreditation teams often ask about holdings, but successful library programs are not built on numbers of books. Successful library programs are built on meaningful teaching and learning in an authentic framework.
I believe that we can learn from one another. By sharing some of the PYP Library lessons I’ve created, I hope to inspire and offer practical help to colleagues.
Thank you for stopping by and for your interest. If you know a PYP Librarian who could use a few ideas, please invite them to visit my site. Together, we are growing modern literacies in students around the world. There is no better, more fulfilling, or more exciting work.
Thank you to the teachers and leadership at the International School of Stuttgart (ISS), GEMS World Academy (GWA), Dubai, and Shanghai American School (SAS). It has been my pleasure and an honor to work at each of these schools and learn from the children and teachers there.
Your Friend in the Library,
Betty Turpin, MLIS
International School Librarian