Month: October 2010

goodbye

Dear Beautiful Baby

Pernille Ripp

Today you were supposed to have been born.  A beautiful baby, joining your  older sister Thea that does nothing but run around and point at all the babies she sees in the world.  We would have been scared but excited.  Feeling so overwhelmed and yet so happy.  But today is not your due date; that day will never come because I lost you many months ago.

Every day until this day I have thought of how big my stomach should be now. How I wouldn’t be able to fit into those pants, bend over to pick up that marker, or even be able to tie my shoes.  I would be getting ready to hand over my students to another capable teacher to welcome you into this world; into our family. And yet, sometimes life doesn’t work the way it is meant to work.

I am sorry, there is no heartbeat are the hardest words I have ever heard.  And I think that moment in time will always be frozen, just hanging there, not quite within my reach but there as a mountain in my life.  Brandon took my hand and held it so tight and the tears just came and came.  A magic child, a child we had so hoped for, was not to be.

And yet, life goes on.  I returned to school and had to face parent emails, students that needed help in math, hugs and smiles because that’s what teachers do.  We keep going, no matter what happens in our life, we know there are kids that need us and sometimes, truthfully, we need them as well.  And I really didn’t tell anyone because I did not want them to ask how I was.  I knew I would be ok, I am not the only one to ever go through something like this, and yet you feel so alone when it does happen.

So with this letter, sent out to the world, I am saying goodbye.  Goodbye to the dreams that would have been with you that were not meant to be.  And thank you; thank you for showing me that maybe having another baby is not outside of our reach.  For showing me that I am incredibly grateful for my soulmate, Brandon, who I know will weather any storm with me.  Thankful for the strength you made me find in myself to carry on and keep smiling, loving, laughing.  Goodbye dear baby, so long.

being a teacher, community, grades, letting go, rewards, students

Letting Go

Pernille Ripp

As this new year is really getting under way, and for me even slightly starting over, I am thinking of all the things I am letting go off.  At first scary and new, now these things are becoming familiar and worth it.  So I urge myself to let go and continue to let go off

  • Grades. Yes, once the cornerstone of my educational philosophy but now I am seeing them for what they are; fictional numbers scribbled on a page that does not let my students know what they excelled at or even how they may improve.
  • Tests for the sake of a grade and being done with something.  Instead they now work as springboards to new learning, explorations and joint adventures.
  • My voice.  Yes I am actually staying more quiet and letting the students do the talking.
  • Rewards.  Imagine a room of 28 well-behaved students that yes may get a little fidgety or even a  little loud but that actually enjoy each other and the learning environment they are creating.  Not punished by rewards as the wonderful Alfie Kohn would say but rather motivated by a common desire to create the best learning environment for all of us.
  • Rule poster.  Oh yes, that staple of classroom walls.  I don’t even have one this year, of course, we have talked about it and, in fact, they often change based on the challenge we are doing, but nothing is etched permanently and neatly laminated for the sake of reminders.
  • My markers.  Another novel idea; let the students do the writing.  No more trying to decipher my chicken scratch.
  • Missing all of a recess.  Sure some students stay in to work with me but when we are done they are free to run because kids need to run, not stare at me for some sort of punishment they do not understand.
  • Lectures about behavior.  They get it, they know when they are being too loud, or off task, address it and move on.
  • Structure for the sake of control.  We have a basic structure such as asking to go to the restroom but if you forget, it is ok.  I forget sometimes too.
  • Me being the only teacher.  I think of my room as having 29s teachers plus whom ever walks into the room.  Those kids know something, let them show it and watch them gravitate toward each other for more.
So ask yourself; what have you let go off this year and how has it changed you?  I know that I have a long way to go but this journey is one I gladly get on every day.
blogging, students, writing

So Blogging is just for Fun?

Pernille Ripp

In the past 3 weeks my students have finally gotten to start blogging on their own. We did not take this endeavor lightly and therefore first had to discuss safety of blogging and being on the Internet, see this post on the lesson used.  We also had to discuss how to properly comment on other posts through the use of paper blogs, a lesson I wish I had come up with but which I absolutely borrowed from some fantastic educators and its creator Leonard Low, and how to solicit comments on one’s own; after all, these blogs were meant to be starts of conversations and not solitary pieces of writing.  Finally, we were ready.

Our first blog post was tied in with the Global Read Aloud Project and if you visit our kidblog you will notice that many of them do tie in with this.  However, I hope you will also notice something else; how the students have started to type using paragraphs with topic sentences as well as how their blogs appear visually.   See, I am all for creative writing but I also have a writing curriculum to teach so I therefore combined the students’ passion towards blogging, and believe me they are blogging in their free time, with my requirements for writing.  So one week was dedicated to the fine tunings of a paragraph, discussing not just the how (they mostly know that already) but also the why.  The result of that week’s focus was these introduction posts.  This week we are discussing types of sentences and you will notice, hopefully, later this week how students have to use different types of sentences in their blog posts.

So to those educators that still think student blogging is just for fun, I say, not in my classroom!  Of course, blogging is a blast, after all, how often do kids beg to write more over the weekend or groan when time is up?  Yet blogging is so much more than that; it is writing for an actual audience, not just the teacher, it is learning how to engage in a written conversation, how to constructively criticize writing, as well as appreciate other people’s skills and abilities.  Blogging has brought my fantastic students even closer as they reach out and cheer for each other.  Blogging has taught us that it matters that our writing makes sense because otherwise we may not get many comments or questions.  It is teaching us that we are not solitary writers and hopefully never will be.  Blogging for us is a life lesson of communication, writing, connections, and internet safety mixed in with conventions, crafts of a writer, and as well as the writing process.  To us it is how writing is taught with the added bonus of portfolio creation.  So to those that think student blogging is just a fad,  a way to amuse and use some technology, think again; blogging can a revolution in writing if you let it.  Don’t stand in its way.

goodbye, promise

Next Week I Promise

Pernille Ripp

As our goodbye nears in my fantastic 4/5 class, my students are getting progressively rowdier, louder, more fidgety and less able to focus on learning.  Students get overstimulated more easily and sometimes de-escalation takes hours rather than 15 minutes.  With one week left to teach them before I hand half of them over to a new teacher, it was hard not to dread how loud they would end up getting this last week.  And yet, who can blame them?  We have built an incredibly community in our room and real friendships have emerged.  No longer are kids designated by grade level but rather by their qualities and how they connect with others.  They know they have my heart so as my class gets ready for a new adventure, and I silently grieve the loss of these amazing students, here is what I promise:

I promise to always be your teacher, no matter who’s room you go to in the morning.  I promise to care for you as long as you let me.  I promise to read your blogs and approve all of your comments as you continue to keep friendships alive.  A promise to check in, to check out when you don’t need me, and to help you transition.  I promise to listen to your dreams, adventures, and your fears.  I promise to tell you every day how incredibly lucky I feel to have had you as my kid these past 6 weeks.  You will always be my kid.  I promise to step back, breathe, and understand that you acting out is just because a change is coming.  I promise to cry within moderation, (not sure if I can keep that one).  I promise to smile, to laugh and to tell you just how incredible you are.  I promise to care long after the bell has rung on Friday, the nametags have been replaced and the lockers reassigned.  I promise to never forget this class, this journey, these kids, you.  I promise.

aha moment, being a teacher, PLN, students

I’ve Always Been a Teacher – Edna’s Aha Moment

Pernille Ripp
Edna was one of the first international connections to my PLN and has been one of the most inspiring as well. Never afraid to lend and ear or give advice, she has been a wonderful person to learn from. Edna is a teacher and curriculum coordinator at an IB PYP school (Primary Years Program) in Melbourne, Australia. She blogs at What Ed Said and is @whatedsaid on Twitter.



I’ve always been a teacher. Not the sort who does the same things year in, year out, though. I’ve always enjoyed change and challenges and been willing to experiment with new ideas.

But I’ve been teaching a long time and I admit there have been things I have done just because I always did them that way. I always liked using computers, but I had no idea of the possibilities…

My ‘aha’ moment came a couple of years ago, when I read an extract from ‘Navigating through the Storm, Education in Postmodern Democratic Society’ by Ron Aviram, head of The Center for Futurism in Education, in Israel. To be honest, till then, I had not thought much about the fact that education in schools hadn’t changed, while everything else in the world was changing rapidly and radically.

Then I attended my first international conference in Singapore, a gathering of 700 IBO educators from the Asia Pacific. What motivated me wasn’t so much the content, as the opportunity to network with educators from around the world and to witness the things that teachers had done in their classrooms and schools.

I started reading online and began to discover some inspirational education blogs.  Soon I had subscribed to quite a number and was reading voraciously online about educational reform and how others were integrating technology into their classrooms.
I started experimenting with web 2.0 tools and implementing them into my teaching. I introduced my class to ToonDoo and Voicethread to enhance their learning. We learned together.  As I discovered new and useful tools, I shared them with my class and with other interested teachers at school.

The ICT teacher at my school was thrilled to have an accomplice at last. We started a voluntary tech group for interested teachers to experiment together every fortnight before school. Our ‘Thinking group‘ which meets on the alternate week had been sharing readings and implementing Visible Thinking and soon the 2 groups began to merge as a 21st century learning group.  Discussions centred on making learning relevant and authentic, including the integration of technology. This is my in-school PLN.

I joined nings, such as Classroom 2.0 and PYP Threads and began to participate online.  Then a friend encouraged me to start writing my own blog. At first I didn’t think I had anything to say. Then I didn’t think I would have any readers. But I pushed forward and was soon addicted. I had more things to write about than time to write them.  I didn’t care if I had an audience or not, the process was part of my own learning.

And then, by far the best thing happened. I had dabbled in Twitter and not yet seen the point. But, once I figured out the benefits of following educators and educational hashtags, and once I discovered #edchat, I was on the road to the most powerful learning yet. Over the coming months, I began to develop a worldwide PLN. Learning from them and with them, I discovered and uncovered resources, tools, ideas, challenges… and inspiration. Interacting with educators around the world has pushed my thinking, clarified my ideas and motivated me to explore different kinds of learning for myself, my students and my school.

I’ve always been a teacher. Not the sort who does the same things year in, year out, though. I’ve always enjoyed change and challenges and been willing to experiment with new ideas. But I’ve changed more in the last couple of years as a teacher and a learner than in the preceding 25 years!



AHA!