CritABCD

For school librarians · IB MYP 1–5

Librarian Resources

Three ready-to-run library sessions at three levels, four pocket cards, a reading tracker, and a plain summary of the research behind them. Everything on this page is free to read, with no account.

  • Free to read · no sign-up
  • 9 session editions
  • MYP 1 to 5
  • About 45 minutes each
See the sessionsSign in to host

Three sessions, each at three levels

Each one is a host-led live class of about 45 minutes in a single period. The same idea lands at the right level from MYP 1 to MYP 5.

About 45 min

Search Like a Librarian

Students turn a topic into a question they can research, search with the right words, and check a source before they trust it.

  • Explorers · MYP 1–2 · ages 11–13Turn a topic into a question, search with the right words, and check what you find.
  • Investigators · MYP 3 · ages 13–14Build a focused question, steer a search with operators, and test sources with SIFT.
  • Scholars · MYP 4–5 · ages 14–16Write a researchable question, search with neutral wording, and judge sources like a fact-checker.

ATL: research skills (information and media literacy)

Built on Kuhlthau’s Information Search Process, lateral reading and the SIFT moves.

What happens in the session
  1. Warm-upshort
  2. The Research Journey9 min
  3. Quick-fire: Smart Search6 min
  4. Sharpen Your Question10 min
  5. Source Pack4 min
  6. SIFT It8 min
  7. Exit Ticket3 min
  8. Reflectshort
About 45 min

Credit It Right

Students quote, paraphrase and credit sources honestly, build references, and treat an AI chatbot as a tool to disclose and verify, never a source to trust.

  • Explorers · MYP 1–2 · ages 11–13Quote, paraphrase and credit your sources, and be honest about when AI helped.
  • Investigators · MYP 3 · ages 13–14Paraphrase without patchwriting, build MLA or APA references, and check what a chatbot tells you.
  • Scholars · MYP 4–5 · ages 14–16Cite at the point of use in your school’s style, disclose AI use, and verify every reference.

ATL: research skills, self-management. Academic integrity

Built on the IB’s guidance on citing and referencing and on AI.

What happens in the session
  1. Warm-upshort
  2. Why, What, How9 min
  3. Quote, Paraphrase or Plagiarism?6 min
  4. Paraphrase Lab7 min
  5. Build the References9 min
  6. Check the Chatbot8 min
  7. Exit Ticket3 min
  8. Reflectshort
About 45 min

Read Smarter

Students see genre as a promise, match a reading gear to a purpose, remember more by testing themselves than by rereading, and start a Reading Trail.

  • Explorers · MYP 1–2 · ages 11–13Explore reading families, choose a reading gear, and remember what you read.
  • Investigators · MYP 3 · ages 13–14Match genre and purpose to a reading gear, and remember more with the preview, read, recall routine.
  • Scholars · MYP 4–5 · ages 14–16Read across forms, read critically, and test yourself instead of rereading. Then start your Reading Trail.

ATL: research skills, self-management. Wide reading

Built on EEF reading-strategy guidance, practice-testing research and the limits of speed reading.

What happens in the session
  1. Warm-upshort
  2. Genres and Gears6 min
  3. Name That Text5 min
  4. Preview · Read · Recall6 min
  5. Practice Passage3 min
  6. Recall Without Looking4 min
  7. Summary and Fix-up5 min
  8. Myth and Reading Trail4 min
  9. My Reading Map5 min
  10. Exit Ticket3 min
  11. Next Readshort

Every source, passage and AI answer inside the sessions is constructed for the lesson and says so. Teacher answer keys are kept inside the platform, not on this public page.

How a session runs

  1. 1

    Sign in as a teacher

    A free account. When asked, choose “I’m a teacher”. Students sign in too, which creates their free account.

  2. 2

    Pick the year and host

    Open the Live hub, find the Library sessions under MYP 1 to 5, and press host. Students enter the code on their own device.

  3. 3

    Teach from the host screen

    Present the mini-lesson cards, run the quick-fire quizzes (each answer has a short explanation), and watch worksheets fill in live.

  4. 4

    Close with the exit ticket

    Every student leaves with one habit to try. In Read Smarter, their next book goes straight into the Reading Trail.

The Live hub needs a sign-in, so the link below takes you to the login first. Open the Live hub

Pocket cards

Four one-glance cards from the sessions. Free to project or print for your classes.

SIFT: check before you trust

Four moves for judging any page, post or video.

Stop
Pause. Do you know this source? What do you need from it?
Investigate the source
Who is behind it and what do they want? Open a new tab and look them up.
Find better coverage
What do other trusted sources say about the claim?
Trace to the original
Follow the quote, number or picture back to where it first appeared.

Fact-checkers read sideways: they leave the page and search for what others say about it. That is lateral reading.

SIFT, by Mike Caulfield (Creative Commons)

The five-part credit line

A simple first habit for MYP 1 and 2.

Who
Who made it?
What
What is it called?
Where
Where is it from: a website, a book, a journal?
When
When was it made or updated?
Link
A link or page number, so a reader can find it.

Credit the source where you use it, not only in a list at the end. The IB prescribes no single referencing style: it asks for honesty and consistency.

IB, Effective citing and referencing (2014)

The AI use note

Five lines to add whenever AI helped.

Tool
Which AI tool did I use?
Date
On what date?
Purpose
What did I ask it to do?
Prompt
What exactly did I type?
Checked
What did I check, and what did I change?

Chatbots can invent references that look real, so check that each one exists, then check the details. Your school’s AI policy comes first.

IB, AI in learning, teaching and assessment

Five reading gears

Say your purpose, then pick the gear.

Gist
What is it about? Skim the title, headings and first lines.
Find
One fact. Scan for keywords, names and numbers.
Learn
Remember it. Preview, read in chunks, stop and jot, then recall.
Judge
Is it fair? SIFT it, ask who wrote it and what is missing.
Enjoy
Read freely. No notes needed.

To remember, close the page and write what you recall. Testing yourself beats rereading and highlighting.

Dunlosky et al. (2013), study techniques

The Reading Trail

A reading log that rewards thinking and variety, not just volume. Students log what they read, reflect on finished books and fill a passport of genres, while the class works toward one shared goal.

What it does

  • Log minutes and books in any format or language: audiobooks, manga, articles and mother-tongue reading all count.
  • Finish a book and write a short reflection. A coach replies with one specific praise and one nudge, never a bare score.
  • Stamp a passport of 12 genre families, earn 12 badges, and climb from Browser to Library Legend.
  • A shared class goal bar replaces the leaderboard, so the class works toward one number together.
  • Students can mark a read private: the teacher then sees minutes, format and genre only.
  • The coach built into the site always works. An optional AI second opinion is off for every class until its teacher switches it on.

What it deliberately doesn’t do

  • No leaderboard and no prizes built in.
  • Not graded, and not compulsory.
  • No streak that resets to zero: “Steady Reader” counts 5 reading days in any 14.
  • No book covers: a remote image would make each student’s browser contact a third party.
Open the Reading TrailNeeds a free account. Students and teachers see different views.

For your school’s data and AI lead

Share this with whoever owns data protection and AI policy before students use the Reading Trail. The hosted sessions store only what the live class already does and use no AI.

What it is
A voluntary reading log inside the existing CritABCD login, with a coach that gives feedback on a short written reflection. Not graded.
What is stored
For each student: books (title, author, genre, format, language, dates), minutes per day, and, for a finished book, the reflection text, a score from 0 to 3, one line of feedback and whether an AI contributed. Points are calculated, never stored.
Who can see it
The student, and their class teacher through views that hide the title, author and reflection of anything the student marked private. No student sees another’s reading. The class goal shows one total.
AI
Off for every class until its teacher switches it on. When on, each reflection check (at most 10 a day per student) sends the book title, author, genre family, format and the student’s text to an external provider, currently Groq, with no name, ID, class or school. The result can only move the built-in coach’s score by one level, and no chat logs are stored by us. Check the provider’s current data policy first.
Deletion
Deleting an account removes all of that student’s reading data.
Children’s data
Whether this fits your school’s consent and data policy is for your school to decide. This page is not legal advice.
Before students use it
Get a yes from whoever owns data protection and AI policy, decide the AI switch for each class, and agree the citation style your school uses.

What the research says

The IB tells schools that the library plays a central role in a programme, but leaves the librarian’s job description to each school. These are the findings the sessions and the Reading Trail are built on.

Search

Professional fact-checkers judged web pages better than historians and students because they left the page and opened new tabs. A small, expert sample: read it as direction, not measurement.

Wineburg and McGrew (2017), lateral reading
Credit

One 2023 check found 55% of GPT‑3.5 citations and 18% of GPT‑4 citations fabricated, and many real ones had errors. Older models, but the habit holds: check it exists, then check the details.

Walters and Wilder (2023), Scientific Reports
Read

Practice testing and spaced practice rate high for learning; rereading and highlighting rate low. So the session says: close the page and write what you remember.

Dunlosky et al. (2013)
Motivation

Expected, tangible rewards for doing or finishing an activity lower later free-choice interest in it; informational feedback does not. So the Reading Trail pays small points for time, more for thinking and variety, and has no leaderboard.

Deci, Koestner and Ryan (1999)

Questions librarians ask

Is this free?

Everything on this page, including the pocket cards and the research summary, is free to read and needs no account. Hosting a session or using the Reading Trail needs a free CritABCD account. A hosted session that is not linked to a class is never limited on the free plan. Linking sessions to classes has free-plan limits.

Do students need an account?

Yes. Students sign in, which creates a free account, and then enter the code the host screen shows.

How long does a session take?

Each edition plans for about 45 minutes in a single period, including the warm-up and the reflection. In Credit It Right the chatbot lab can be dropped or set as homework if time is short.

Which citation style do the sessions use?

The IB prescribes none. The Investigators and Scholars editions let students choose MLA 9 or APA 7 and the model answers adapt. The Explorers edition uses a simple five-part credit line. Check which style your school requires.

Do the sessions use AI?

No. The live sessions use no AI. Credit It Right teaches students to check and disclose AI. The Reading Trail has an optional AI second opinion on reflections that stays off until a teacher switches it on.

Are the sources in the lessons real?

Every source, passage and AI answer inside the sessions is constructed for the lesson and says so, on reserved .example addresses that cannot lead to a real website. In the chatbot lab, a few references are real works with a detail changed on purpose, so students learn to check.

Is CritABCD part of the IB?

No. CritABCD is an independent site and is not endorsed by the IB. The sessions follow the IB’s published guidance on citing, referencing and AI, and your school’s own policies come first.

Try one with a class this term

Run Search and Credit a couple of weeks before a Personal Project or Community Project begins, and finish with Read Smarter to start the Reading Trail.

Sign in to host a sessionGet updates

CritABCD is an independent learning site. It is not the International Baccalaureate and is not endorsed by it. The sessions follow the IB’s published guidance, and your school’s own policies come first.