Month: July 2012

Be the change

We Cannot All Be the Best

Pernille Ripp
Be the example!  Set the bar high so others will rise to it!  We want to be a beacon school!  How often do we hear all of these statements in education.  Be the best teacher you can be…Be the one others want to emulate…Be the best school…the best team…the best everything.  And yet, we cannot all be the best. The whole notion of the term “best” automatically excludes most of us.

So instead of striving to be THE best, how about we strive to be better?  To change things?  To inspire others?  To motivate? To set grand examples while still learning from others?  The truth is if we were all beacon schools no one would be able to see us from the glare.  So shine bright yes, but that doesn’t mean you have to shine the brightest because then all you do is blind others.  

being me, help

It Is Those Little Things

Pernille Ripp
image from icanread

I wake up and spot it right away; my phone plugged in charging next to the bed.  Not a big thing, just one of those little things.  I get downstairs, which takes a while this pregnant, and again; a cup of tea sitting there.  My husband may have left for the day but the reminders of his presence stays.  It’s those little things that make me smile.  Those things that take maybe 30 seconds or a few minutes but that carry me through the day; I am loved.

At school, I fill the copier with paper.  I sort the recycled paper and bring scraps back for the kids.  I clean the sink, turn off the lights, change a dried out printer cartridge.  None of it is in my job description but it is those little things that make others have an easier day.  I greet everyone I meet with a smile, I stand and listen while looking someone in the eye.  I email out a website that another grade may be able to use.  Those little things that help, those little things that show others concern.  I don’t make it a priority, I have enough of those, but I make it a part of my day, i take the time, invest it and move on.

Imagine if we all did little things every day.  If instead of hurrying through the day, concerned only about the happenings within our walls, within our brain, we took those seconds and did a little thing?  Imagine the example it would set for the kids, for each other, imagine what school would feel like?  

being me, new teacher, new year

Have You Found Your Soul? My Advice to a New Teacher

Pernille Ripp
image from icanread

The new year may be coming or it may be far away from you, but I sit here and ponder, what would I tell someone starting school?  What “wisdom” would I share with a brand new teacher or a teacher that has been around for a long time, not quite sure that they are ready to go back?  I think i would ask them this; have you found your soul of teaching?  Your essence?

I’m not talking mantras, although Angela Maiers’ “You Matter” hangs proudly above my door.  I am not speaking of teaching style or tips, classroom management ideas, or even your teaching philosophy.  I am talking the inner core, the you that you bring into the classroom.  Have you found it?  Have you listened to it?  And what does it look like?  Yes, we can get caught up in seating charts, grand ideas, and new programs to be implemented, but all those fall away if you don’t have you in the classroom.   If you’re not ready to bare yourself, invest yourself, and give those kids all of you.

What does it mean to be you in a classroom?  To truly put yourself out there, invest fully, wholeheartedly, some would even say foolishly.  What will you give to the students, because teaching is about giving and not just knowledge, but giving the essence of you?  Kids spot phonies from miles away, they see those that are there for the paycheck, those that bring in the baggage, those that cannot wait to leave once the day is done.  And they react, swiftly, without mercy, and we stand there wondering what went wrong?

So I hope you find your essence before the new year arrives, or if it is in the middle of the year for you then I hope you still have it.  I hope you take the time to figure out what you are and who you are and how that will play out with the kids whose lives you touch.  Think of the impact you can have and then use it for good.

Find your soul, find your essence, and then have enough faith in yourself to go in there and share it.

being me, followers

Introducing www.pernilleripp.com

Pernille Ripp
This morning I got up way to early and decided I was sick of my web site address.  Such things happen when you are very pregnant, in full nesting mode, but unable to do anything in your house.  So what happened?  Well, this blog is now housed at http://www.pernilleripp.com

I feel so grown up.

Now what does that mean for anyone who reads it?  I am pretty sure absolutely nothing.  The old address still works, but hopefully this will streamline things a bit.  Am I now a brand?  Well no, because I have nothing to sell.  But I do have a much shorter blog address and that makes me feel accomplished.

So the ideas will still keep coming, just on a sleeker website name.  And now I am off to tackle something in my house.

Oh, and I couldn’t just leave it at that.  The Global Read Aloud also now has a much shorter name:  www.globalreadaloud.com and that is something I am very proud of.

classroom expectations, future, hopes

Will School Rob My Daughter of Her Voice?

Pernille Ripp

There she is, my daughter, not caring one bit who hears her or whether they approve of her actions.  She saw a piano, saw an opportunity and knew she had to sing.  I sit there, slightly mortified at first and then slowly relishing this moment.  She doesn’t care, she is performing, doing what she loves, making up songs that take their truth from the pictures.  She is just being her…

I worry what will happen to this part of her personality as she grows up.  will she continue to do what feels right at that very moment?  Will she have opportunities to create when she has that urge?  To sing and play and do what makes her her?

Will school allow her to stay herself or will the rules of the classroom tell her to be quiet, to sit down, to do what is prescribed and follow the program.  Will her only chance of individuality be choosing what color pen to write in or the picture on her binder?  Will she be lucky enough to have teachers that will continue to offer her opportunities to explore herself, to continue to build her confidence while teaching her the rules of society?

I do not expect for her to be given a free pass to perform like the kids in Fame, but I hope someone recognizes that this little girl is not afraid to share.  Not afraid to express herself.  Not afraid to raise her voice, and that they will celebrate it rather than roll their eyes and tell her to sit down and listen.  I hope school doesn’t take my little girl out of her.  I hope school becomes a place for growth and not for reigning in and quieting down.  I hope she gets an opportunity to create and express herself in some way.

being me, classroom expectations, homework, talking

Flipping for the Flipped Classroom Seems To Be the Trend but Not for Me

Pernille Ripp
from icanread

Hey Pernille, we watched a video on the Khan and the flipped classroom model today.  I think you would love it!

Oh, yes I am already familiar with it, why do you think I would love it?

Well, you love technology….

It’s true, I love technology for what it does for my students and I.  I love that we can grab cameras and document our learning.  I love that we can blog and start conversations with others.  I love that I send my students out the door with tools that others may not know about in middle school, thus spreading their knowledge and giving them options.  But I don’t love the flipped classroom, it’s not for me, sorry.

Sure, it is a cool concept.  Videotape your lecture so that it can be accessed anywhere and then use the class time to discuss and investigate and really learn more.  I love the classroom part.  I love the idea of not standing in front of students talking and instead getting to the actual work stage, the exploration, the stage that the kids so desperately want to get to anyway.  But the lecturing is not for me.  Sure, there are times when I have to provide background for my students, in fact, every day that happens, but the idea of taping a lecture and then forcing them to watch it on their own time upsets me.

When I do my background providing, or “teaching” in class, we have discussions.  The students ask questions, clear up misconceptions, and sometimes we end up in a totally different arena then we intended.  I know I need to keep it short, I know I need to keep it relevant so that we can do the work, so that the kids can have time to explore.  I know I could talk a lot longer if I had the opportunity.  Being on live in front of the kids mean I have to be a story teller, I have to be at my best so that they stay with me and stay engaged.  Sure, there are times I wish I had it recorded so that they could watch it again because they didn’t get it the first time, but then I realize that they didn’t get it because I didn’t do a good enough job explaining it.  And having a recording of me explaining it poorly is not going to do them any favors.

Then there is the homework aspect of the flipped classroom.  We expect students to use their time outside of school to watch all of these videos. Can you imagine how much time that would be if every class in a high school setting required this?  My teenage rebel self rolls her eyes.  I would never have been into that as a teen and in college I did my homework on my breaks at work, my breaks between school and work and wherever I could.  I didn’t sit in front of a screen, nor did I have access to it.  I worked full-time while going to school full-time and did much of my reading in my car.  Flipping my classes would have meant that was not an option.  Sure, times have changed since I graduated 5 years ago, students have more access to portable computers, yet we are still asking them to take their outside time and do the work in a matter determined by us.  We are still taking their time.

So I leave you with this simple question, why not skip the lecture altogether?  Perhaps we wouldn’t need the concept of the flipped classroom if we just stopped talking and got to the point?  Perhaps if we actually honed our craft as story tellers, not as lecturers, students would have the opportunity to get the teaching and the exploration all at once?  I know it sounds crazy but I think it can be done, we just need to stop talking so much.