January 2013 – Pernille Ripp

Must We Be Passionate Readers to Teach Reading?

January 28, 2013 Pernille Ripp

I am standing in the book store staring at all of the books I want to read and bring into my classroom when a boy’s voice cuts through my thoughts, “Dad, can I get this book? Mr. Wischer says it is one of his favorites…” I immediately begin to smile as I poke my head over the shelf, you see, Mr. Wichser happens to be my 5th grade colleague, a brand new teacher, and obviously an influencer of book choices. The dad agrees and the student happily leaves the kid section, excited to read his new book.

I share the story with Brandon and once again look at my own pile of books eager to get home and get them read so that I can place them into the hands of my students. What I read matters, I know this because my students have told me so when they ask me for another book recommendation. At the moment they rely more on me than each other and this year I am finally up for that challenge as I consume more books than I ever have.

And yet, I don’t see many teachers discuss the books they are reading at the moment. I know we are so busy as teachers, I know we all have so much to implement and do, I know we have lives of our own. But where is the shared passion for reading? Where are the book recommendations for our classrooms? Are we too busy to read or are we too busy to recommend?

It leads to my final thoughts which I have no answer for; should we mandate that teachers of reading be passionate readers? Or at the very least stay on top of the current books appropriate and engaging for our grade level? Can we go so far as to demand teachers who teach reading to actually read?

It seems that if you are a middle school teacher in a certain topic you are passionate about that topic. After all, why would you ever sign up to teach math if you hated it? But at the elementary level we don’t have to be passionate about it all or so it seems. We can pick and choose about what we would love to teach and then hope we mask it well enough so that students don’t pick up on our own disdain. We don’t have to like math or science and we don’t have to have read the books that line our classroom walls. But it that ok? Can we truly teach a passion for reading if we do not have it ourselves?

Be the change, students

10 Things That Helped Us Love Reading More

January 23, 2013 Pernille Ripp

image from icanread

I just cannot help myself from bubbling with excitement; my students are loving reading this year. And while I wish I had done something revolutionary to create this enthusiasm, I can claim no such feat. Through many small things reading has become our main focus point, our cherished time, the one thing we all look forward to no matter which day it is, no matter the weather, no matter the time. The students just want to read. So what has worked for us? Just a few things:

Share my own reading life. Many smart people have given reasons for why we should share our reading life with our students and they are all so right. To foster a love of reading in our room we have to be readers ourselves. We owe it to the students to know about books and share what we are reading as well.
Stay current. I had really fallen off the wagon of young adult books and it showed. I had no idea what was really being read by students at the moment and could only fake so many book recommendations. Now I am just as excited about the new Scholastic catalog or the random books students bring in; I just cannot wait to read my next book.
Share your books. I have many books in my house that I kept there so that students wouldn’t ruin them, not any more. Books are read by me as fast as I can get through them and then put into the hands of whichever student wants it. They take care of them as well as I can and I have gotten over if a book gets ruined, that just means someone was reading it.
Friday preview. Whenever I get a new book in my hands I do a preview of it; read the first chapter aloud to the class. Whereas I used to just read the back of the book and rattle off a recommendation, reading the first chapter aloud has proven to hook many students. We have 6 books with waiting lists in my room because of this.
Speed book review. Think speed dating but with book recommendations. Half my class sits with their current book and the other half visits each students to hear about their book. Every kid gets a minute or two depending on the day to share their book. This is a great way to spread the knowledge of great books and doesn’t take long.
Using book trailers. I love these ingenius little movies, even if they are poorly made. Now I often start my day showing a book trailer of a new book and it definitely gets the students excited about reading the book. I have also decided that for our genre study the culminating product will be a book trailer. No more reasons to ever even think about doing a book report again!
Read more series. I had never focused on whether I read stand alone book or series but now I realize the power of a great series. You read the first one and get hooked and you have many more books to read. I try to purchase as many quality series as I can and introduce them to the students.
Keep a read next list. In the back of our thoughtful logs we have a “What to read next” list that the students add to whenever they come across a new book. This way even if a book is currently being read they don’t forget about it.
Give them ownership. I don’t force students to read books they don’t like and we discuss what giving a book a fair chance looks like. Students have to know it is ok to abandon a book that is making them dislike reading, why waste their time finishing it? We can do mandatory texts in small group instruction instead.
Talk books. We talk about our books when we are waiting in line, walking to lunch, coming in in the morning and leaving at the end of the day. I am always asking students what they are reading and whether they like it. They love giving me recommendations this way and also showing me how much they read last night.

What have you done to ignite a love of reading in your room?

Be the change, reflection, students

In Which I Stop A Child From Writing

January 16, 2013 Pernille Ripp

image from icanread

He sits and stares into space, pencil in hand. I can see a few words on the paper but not the story he excitedly told me he would write; the scenes he had envisioned while he was sick. Just a few words.

I rack my brain; what happened from our writing conference to now? He couldn’t wait to leave me to write? What roadblock did he face? I finally get it, that roadblock, the reason his pencil is hovering in mid air tentatively waiting? Me. Me and my great advice. Me and my how to’s, should have’s, and don’t forget about this.

So I shout to him; “Hey, did I get you stuck?” He sheepishly grins, “Uhum.” “Oh man, I am sorry…” I answer. (No really, for some reason I have the vocabulary of a 5th grader today). I think for a second and then I say, “Well, don’t listen to me. Go back to what you were doing and write your story. Not mine.” His gets that smile back, turns his back and finally starts to write.

Sometimes even our best intentions, our well thought out writing conferencing are unnecessary at best and downright creativity killing at worst. I am glad I learned that today.

Reading, reflection

How To Start a Reading Revolution, Perhaps

January 16, 2013 Pernille Ripp

My students have always been readers, not all the kind that steal any time they can to bury their nose in a book, not all the kind that begged for more reading time, but still, they have almost always been readers. Of course, I have my old reading log partly to blame for that, the constant counting of pages and minutes, and the very structured and meticulous note-taking I did whenever I checked in with a child. Reading was not always born out of love in my room but more out of necessity and have to.

Not this year. I grew out of reading logs several years ago and have never looked back, but the love of reading did not abound in my room by any means. Sure, there were those few kids that just had to tell you about their latest book, but they were by no means the majority. And yet I had no intention of changing the reading attitude in my room, after all, I am no miracle worker and why fix it if it isn’t broken? But something changed this year, I am not sure what, but reading has become our passion.

Our room of students no longer groan when it is time to find their books and their spot, instead they groan when I ask them to come to a good stopping place. Must do not thumb reluctantly through my many strange books or constantly reread the same book over and over, hoping I wont notice. Many old reading habits have died and been replaced by a new one; a love and passion to spend our time reading fantastical books.

This transformation started with an evaluation of my classroom library and realizing that I had quantity, sure, but no quality. I had ordered whatever looked enticing but never taken the time to read much of it. I had faith that students would just discover great books on their own and share them with friends, not knowing what my own reading responsibility was.

This year, I read as much as I can, trying to turn off my computer every night by 8 PM and getting an hour of reading in before I fall asleep. My home library has spilled into my classroom and I thrust new books into the hands of students knowing that they will probably like it. I constantly know what my students are reading because we are constantly discussing it. I am encouraging students to give up books that they are trudging through; reminding them that it is ok to not finish every book. I am showing book trailers and getting honest feedback. We are readers and not just at reading time but at any time throughout the day. Books are the most important things to us and those kids that I used to interrupt at all times so I could teach them one more strategy those kids whose reading time was diminished so we could intervene, scaffold and model, those kids who didn’t get to pick a book because we knew better; those kids are reading. And they are reading silently, not because I wander the room with my eagle eye, but because their book is that good.

Today, was one of those days where I couldn’t quite believe how far we have come in two months. One student asked me what to read next since he had just finished “Liar & Spy,” I was astounded since I had given him that book yesterday. Another student did his first book talk and didn’t hate it, this is the kid that promised me he had nothing to talk about. Another kid, who said his goal was 1 book for the whole month of January has read 3 and is excitedly reading “Origami Yoda” at the moment, not even realizing that it is a book meant for kids at a higher level than he is. Or the girl who is counting down the days until the sequel to “The False Prince” comes out, well, actually there is 4 of us counting down. We are readers. Not because Mrs. Ripp threatens us. Not because a reading log tells us so. Not because there is a reward at the end of it all. We are readers because we love books and we cannot wait to share them.

image from icanread

student blogging

My Kidblog Settings for Optimal Global Collaboration

January 13, 2013July 24, 2013 Pernille Ripp

Those who have followed this blog for a while or have found it because you are searching for student blogging resources, know how deeply passionate I am about student blogging and global collaboration. I am therefore often asked what my settings are for Kidblog and for my students’ use of the site so I thought I would share these. I have found these settings to offer the safety needed for my students while still allowing them and the world to have a dialogue.

Posts Settings:

I find it incredibly important that anyone can read our posts and so far my school district has agreed. I do, however, give parents a way to opt their students out of blogging if they do not feel comfortable with their child doing it since it is so public. However, no student has ever been opted out. Safety is my main concern, as well as how these students represent themselves, so I do moderate all posts before they are published. I do not get an email but simply check every day. My students blog too much for me to be notified each time one of them writes a new post.

Comments Settings:

Again, we do not have password to leave comments on our site nor do you have to be an approved member. We blog to start conversations with others around the world and as long as I am moderating all comments, I feel we can do it safely. Every once in a while do I need to delete a comment before a student sees it but mostly because it is a spam one or a duplicate one. In the three years I have blogged with students, i think we have had 2 insensitive comments left. i deleted them – no harm done.

Finally, Student Settings:

This is where Kidblog keeps proving its brilliance and relevance; this year they added that students could edit their own profiles, thus customizing it to fit their needs. This has been a huge hit for my students because they feel more in control of their blog and the image they are presenting to the world. I also like that they can change their password since this is an important computer skill for them to be aware of. I can still access all of their accounts without knowing their password.

So there you have it, our settings for our classroom student blog, I hope it was helpful, as always if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask. And no, I am not a paid spokesperson for Kidblog; I just love their blogging platform. If you happen to live in the Wisconsin, Illinois area, I will be presenting on student blogging at ICE on February 28th.

curriculum, reflection

Sshh, Students Reading and a Teacher Too

January 10, 2013 Pernille Ripp

image from icanread

I have always been a reader. Some of my earliest memories revolve around books and when that book stumbles back into my life the memories flood back. Sleeping Beauty was my first book that I read in English, not bad for a Danish 6 year old girl. I just offered that same copy to Thea as she turned 4 and she gleefully accepted, well-knowing that it had something to do with a princess. I always have a book going, sometimes more than one but I try to remain faithful. I read whenever I can and have even been known to sneak books to school for my recess and lunch time. Our home has many books and spend way too much money at bookstores and too much time at libraries.

So why is it, that I have always hated teaching reading? At least, until today.

Teaching reading is a different beast. After all, how do you teach that a book can feel like home? That a book can make you less lonely when you once again move to a new place. That a book will bring people back from the dead, if even for a short time. That it will transport and transform an otherwise humdrum train ride, afternoon, or even class if snuck into a desk properly. How do you teach that? Sure, you can talk about it but books have to seep into the lives of children for them to full understand.

I can teach reading, sure; how to read the words, how to sound them out, figure out their meaning, but I cannot seem to teach the falling in love. And yet, something has changed in my room this year; I have finally brought myself into the room as a reader.

I had never shared much of my reading life, sure I would tell the kids how much I read, but I didn’t share the stacks of books next to my bed, or the excitement over discovering a new book. I never rushed into school just to grab a book I forgot or excitedly handed a book to a kid, knowing that they would love it as much as I did, telling them to hurry up and read it so we could talk about it. I loved to read but my kids didin’t really know it.

This year our books take front and center. We read and we read a lot. We now share our books through Biblionasium and through conversation. We swap books, borrow books, and abandon books when needed. We keep our reading time sacred; not the first thing to be sacrificed in an otherwise hectic school day, but the last. We talk about us as readers and just how excited we are. I have finally brought myself into the room in all my glorious book nerddom and the students have embraced and cherished me as one of theirs; a fellow reader who happens to have a lot of books to share and sometimes have to share some lessons.

Sure, there are days where kids drag their feet. Sure, there are days where my lessons fall apart and the kids talk too much and we don’t get to what we need, but then we read. And when we read everything else seems to go back to being ok.

Today I watched in awe as 20 5th graders sat silently, not through threats, but through the power of books. They groaned when I told them it was time to pack up. They asked if they could read just one more minute and dragged their feet when the end was inevitable. They are readers. And I am a reading teacher.