The IB learner profile is an important and central part of the inquiry based learning approach. Each unit of inquiry should help nurture and grow these skills in your students. Here is how and why I organized my classroom library by IB learner profile skills.
Why Organized Your IB PYP Classroom Library by Learner Profile Skill?
In the past, before I taught in an IB school, I organized my classroom library by categories. When I moved to Sweden with my family and began to teach in an IB school, I knew I wanted to make a change. My first year, my classroom library wasn’t organized at all. New country, new school, new teaching approach. My classroom library being well organized was just not a priority.
However, as I reflected at the end of the year, I knew I wanted to organize my classroom library by learner profile. After all, we need to nurture these skills in our students through every unit of inquiry. I often would think “Oh! I’d love to read this book!” in connection with a learner profile characteristics. However, because my library was not organized, I couldn’t find it.
I also wanted my students to have more interaction with the learner profile. So, I spent the summer organizing my books by learner profile.
How to decide where each book fits:
Before I started sorting books, I spent time thinking about the learner profile and defining each part. I created a simple definition of each one and made labels. Then, I set to work. Many books easily fit in a certain category, but some seemed to fit in many places. Some felt like they fit everywhere.
First, I just sorted the ones that felt easy. Any books that I wasn’t sure about, I put to the side. Then, I went back again. After sorting so many, a lot of the ones I passed over the first time were more obvious.
When I ended up with just the hard to sort books, I read through them and then just put them where they fit the most. In the end, a lot of books fit in many different categories. And, if I put a book in communicator and it actually could be in balanced, it’s really okay.
I also decided to have a separate category for chapter books (since I don’t have very many of them), magazines, and books written in languages other than English.
How to keep them organized:
Next I was faced with the task of how to keep the books organized. After all, I didn’t want all of my hard work to be quickly undone. In the end, I ended up buying multi-colored electrical tape. I made the word on the labels match the tape color. I put the tape on the spine. It actually didn’t take very long to add the tape. For good measure, I added a strip of the tape to the top of the baskets.
A Finished Learner Profile Library
In the end, the result has been fantastic! It has made it so much easier for me to find books related to a specific learner profile skills. My students have been able to keep the books in order as well.
Free Learner Profile Labels
If you’d like to download these free learner profile labels, you can find them in my free resource library for email subscribers. They are perfect for book boxes or just to display the learner profile in your classroom.
