In 1888, Robert Browning published the poem “The Pied Piper of Hamelin.” Since then, many a retelling of the story, including that of the Brothers Grimm, have been published. The underlying truth of the story still resonates today as much as it did in 1888 – take care of your children or they will be led astray. We live in a culture built on entitlement and on finding or acquiring the next best thing. In education circles this truth also resounds. We are often so busy moving on to the next trend, fad or buzz word, that we fail to ask ourselves, “where are we really taking learners?”
The Pied Piper of Hamelin may well have rescued the children of Hamelin from a dreary future of dishonesty, entitlement and boredom. No one knows where the children of Hamelin went as they passed into the cavern in the mountain. Only one small boy did not pass into the mountain with the rest of the children. The tale notes that he spent a life lamenting over the fate of his friends:
“When, lo, as they reached the mountain-side,
A wondrous portal opened wide,
As if a cavern was suddenly hollowed;
And the Piper advanced and the children followed,
And when all were in to the very last,
The door in the mountain-side shut fast.
Did I say, all? No! One was lame,
And could not dance the whole of the way;
And in after years, if you would blame
His sadness, he was used to say, —
“It’s dull in our town since my playmates left!
“I can’t forget that I’m bereft
“Of all the pleasant sights they see,
“Which the Piper also promised me.
“For he led us, he said, to a joyous land…”
Hopefully, the piper really did take the children to a joyous land. As educators, we are the pipers of today. We have the opportunity to take learners on a journey where they too can find joy… joy in learning, joy in wondering, joy in discovering, joy in purpose, joy in relationships and joy in the construction of meaning. It’s time to seize the pipe and play a new tune!
About the PiEd PYPer: Tanya de Hoog is a passionate educator who has been working in International Baccalaureate schools since 2003. 
Tanya has fulfilled a variety of roles in her quest to be the best educator she can be, including: classroom teacher, enrichment coordinator, IBA workshop leader, student action mentor, curriculum coordinator and administrator.
The PiEd Pyper 
My name is Tosca Killoran (http://www.toscakilloran.com/) and I am the Early Learning Team Leader and an EL5 teacher at Bonn International School in Bonn, Germany.
Last year, my colleague Jeff Hoffart, our Grade 5 teacher, (www.jeffhoffart.com) and I started a publishing company (http://www.ed-ucation.ca/) devoted to providing resources focused on inquiry-based education for teachers around the globe. At this point we are nonprofit and our resources are provided free and in the spirit of collaboration.
Over the past 13 years of being in both the Asia Pacific and Europe international IB school communities, we have noticed many parents and teachers new to the IB asking, “What is IB?” “What is the PYP, and what are these ‘Transdisciplinary’ things you keep talking about?” Each time the feedback we received was that the ibo.org and OCC were simply too difficult to navigate. Jeff and I decided to create an easy to navigate, straight-forward breakdown of the IB: PYP, MYP & DP programmes. We created the website as a precursor and conduit for the official IB and OCC sites. The site is a comprehensive compilation of the best resources we have found on the web. It has useful videos, blogs, websites and resources for students, parents and teachers.
As educators, we already follow your blog and are happy to have added you to the website whatisib.com as a recommended blog to follow. We would be really grateful if you could place a badge on your site that states you are featured on whatisib.com. Again, we are not making monetary gains from our work, we simply want to share the best resources we find with students, parents, and teachers around the world.
Additionally, we are interested in strengthening our content further by having contributing articles and helpful resources for teachers added to the site. If you have anything you are willing to contribute, we would be so appreciative!! If you are interested please contact us. We admire, and are inspired by, your work in education! Thank you for everything you do to bring best practice to teaching and learning around the globe!
Kind Regards,
Tosca Killoran BFA MEd
Jeff Hoffart BEd