July 2014 – Page 5 – Pernille Ripp

When Students Go There

July 10, 2014July 10, 2014 Pernille Ripp

It’s 12:38 AM. I have been up for the past few hours, bouncing between sick children who want to sleep in my arms. Quite a feat when there is 4 of them, all sad, all needing so much from me, especially as I battle the virus myself. I finally look at my little boy and tell him to go night-night. That he has to get some sleep to feel better, that as much as I wish I could sleep in his crib, I just can’t. He’s two, he doesn’t understand and instead cries as loud as his little lungs will let him. I give him one last hug, tuck him into bed and then walk out. I hate this part of being a parent.

I don’t even make it in to bed before he stands at the gate to his room, crying and loud! When this doesn’t work he yells the one thing that he knows will make me come. Not “Mom.” Not “Help.” But “Poopy!” This little word, that we have been working on saying as we potty train tells him he will get a reaction. That I will come, because I always come running when he says it. Sure enough, I go against my instinct and go to him, only to find that there was no real reason for the word. It was just a tool to use to get me to come. And it worked, I came, and our cycle starts over again.

I think of this clever interaction and realize how often this trick is used in our classrooms. Not that children yell that word or wake me in the middle of the night. But they do the one thing that they know will give them our attention. They act out in such a way that we have no way of ignoring it. They go there, to whatever thing is their most extreme way of getting our attention and then they use it. Whether it is screaming at another student, slamming the door, throwing a chair (all has happened within my room) or even screaming threats at us, they are going there, asking for attention, hoping for us to react and notice them. It doesn’t make it right, or even show rational thinking, but in the moment, when they need us the most, they know it will work.

That’s why I don’t punish relentlessly. That is why I focus more energy on building community, establishing trust, and opening up communication before we get to that point. That’s why I try to be there for every kid, no matter how hard they push me away, no matter how many walls they construct to keep me out. That’s why I try to show each child that they matter. That’s why I try to not give up even when I am at my lowest point, with no energy left. That’s why I keep trying day after day, sometimes moment after moment to make a connection. To let that kid in, even if they don’t want me in their life. So they don’t go there. So they don’t get to that point. But even if they do, then we have something to build on and get us out of it again. That’s why every kid that walks into our room has a chance every day to change, to start over, to show their dreams, and not just their anger. That’s why I teach the way I teach.

I am a passionate teacher in Wisconsin, USA, who has taught 4, 5th, and 7th grade. Proud techy geek, and mass consumer of incredible books. Creator of the Global Read Aloud Project, Co-founder of EdCamp MadWI, and believer in all children. I have no awards or accolades except for the lightbulbs that go off in my students’ heads every day. First book “Passionate Learners – Giving Our Classrooms Back to Our Students” can be purchased now from Powerful Learning Press. Second book“Empowered Schools, Empowered Students – Creating Connected and Invested Learners” can be pre-ordered from Corwin Press now. Follow me on Twitter @PernilleRipp.

Be the change, Student-centered, writing

So How Do We Create Passionate Writers?

July 9, 2014 Pernille Ripp

I started my reading transformation 2 years ago, realizing that I needed to create a sense of urgency and passion regarding books in my classroom. I knew I should focus on writing, I knew I should dedicate more time to it, more energy to it, and yet… I just didn’t know where to begin. It wasn’t that I was a bad writing teacher, after all, my students write a lot and often, but my passion just wasn’t there, in the classroom to urge the student so push themselves further. To really find themselves as writers. Yet, here I sit, the author of two books, a blog that is read by a global audience, and barely was that transferring into my classroom. So where was the disconnect. Why did I not turn my students into passionate writers as well as readers?

I knew I had obstacles; a determined curriculum that had us on a breakneck pace. Students at such varying degrees of ability that there didn’t seem to be a middle ground. Things that had to be taught no matter what. And time, never forget time, and just how little we have of it. But still, there has to be a way, within our prescribed curriculums to create excitement and urgency in the craft of writing. There had to be others who had better ideas.

So I turned to Voxer, I have a group there with people I really respect, and they started sharing their ideas. So thank you group, here are some of the highlights for how we can create passionate writers:

Choice in process. We cannot underestimate the power of choice in our writing curriculum and what it means for students to be able to explore their own true writing style. Yet, within a prescribed curriculum, it can seem as if there is no choice. I have found though that I can give students choice of how they write, greater engagement occurs. Sure there is a process, but that process may look different from child to child based on what they prefer. Some will want to type right away, some will stick to a pencil. I have even had students dictate stories to others or to a Livescribe pen. Let them discover how they write best and accomodate as much as you can, then at least they can focus on the writing, not the process,

Choice in topic. Even within a curriculum that tells me what students should be creating, there are many ways to add choice in topic. If the area of focus is argumentative essay, don’t limit what the students can write about. Help them discover something they are passionate about and help them explore.

Choice in audience. This was a great point brought up by Chris Wejr and something I had not considered. I always assume that students want to share their work with as big of an audience as possible, but this may be far from the truth. Students may want to only share with me or a trusted friend. Students may want to publish it for the whole world to see. What we need to do as teachers is figure out what each child would like and then honor that. I would not have wanted the whole world to see my writing as a 13 year old, I bet I have students who don’t either.

Choice in partner. I often have students write together but when I pair kids up I can sometimes stop their writing process. Writing can be very personal, so I often think of what type of writing is occuring and match that to the relationship students need with their partner. Sometimes having your most trusted friend as your writing partner can be a very good thing.

Authentic purposes. Last year I was able to find more authentic purpose in our writing, so when we wrote our op eds, they were for the newspaper to be published, not just me. When we wrote a non-fiction picture book, they were for our 1st grade buddies. When students had a genuine audience and purpose for their writing, they felt more in control because they understood what the task at hand was. They knew they had to write succinctly for the newspaper to publish their words, they knew they had to find an accessible voice for their 1st graders.

Passion. Once again, we have to invest ourselves into writing, whether it be through modeling, discussion, or general excitement. Much like we share our passion for reading by thrusting books into the hands of students for them to have an incredible reading experience, what if we did the same with great writing emphasizing how spectacular it is? What is we start telling students that we thought of them when we read something because it reminded us of their writing?

Minimizing our critique. While I believe we have to teach students to be better writers, I think sometimes our eagerness to help can stymie the process. So figuring out what the best process is for each child to support their growth without killing them with corrections. Sometimes it is okay to just write for the sake of writing. Sometimes it is even ok to share uneditied writing just to show off our ideas. Not all writing has to be finished or polished.

Spontaneity. This great point was brought up by Ben Gilpin and I couldn’t agree more. We should look for the moments in our everyday where we are inspired to write and that does not just need to be within writing time. I get ideas to write all of the time and then try to find the time to actually jot down my thoughts. What if we created environments where journaling and small moment writing was a natural part of our day?

Sharing our writing life. I tell my students all the time about the things I write, but how often do I show them? How often do I write in front of them? How often do I stop and write in the middle of the day because inspiration strikes me? I think much like we showcase our books reads to create a reading community, we have to showcase our writing too.

What other ideas do you have? What did I miss?

being a teacher, being me, classroom management, new year, punishment, Uncategorized

So How Do You Manage Your Classroom When You Don’t Punish?

July 5, 2014July 7, 2014 Pernille Ripp

Following the debate over public behavior charts, many people wondered what they could do in its place to still keep students engaged and on track? I referred to a few posts but then realized that I did not have just one post that laid out exactly what I do in my own room, tips and ideas are in many different places. And then I realized, I don’t really have one system because my approach changes every year depending on the needs of the students and the type of community we strive to make. And yet, there are threads that run through every year with my students of what we do.

I don’t set the rules. The students know how to do school, in fact, by 5th grade they are experts at it. So instead of me telling them what the rules of the room is, I ask them to make them. They discuss expectations in their table groups and then share with the class. Nothing is written down on paper but instead we get a feel for what type of classroom we want.
We create a vision. Every year, I ask the students to create a vision of the room. Sometimes a theme emerges and other times it is just our hopes and dreams. This is one of the first steps in our community building.
We do community building all year. Even on the last day of school we are trying to create family, and so we do challenges throughout the year, we have “huddles” (meetings led by me or students), we discuss how our room is doing, we change our rules, we set up new expectations, we sometimes even call people out. Building community is not a beginning of the year thing, it is an all the time thing.
We do challenges together. The very first day we do a bloxes challenge simply so I can get the students working together, this has to do with seeing them grow together and how they function without my guidance. I love what this simple challenge shows me about the students.
When a problem arises, I consider my option before speaking. Rather than call out a student for misbehaving I often pull them aside, ask them to leave the room to think about it, or do a quick check in. Humor also gets me far in many situations.
When a larger problem arises, I stop if I can. Often when a students is very, very angry, it needs my intervention or if more than one student is involved. There is a root to the anger and something needs to be done to uncover it. While it is very hard to stop what you are doing if you are the one passing out the information, often my students are engaged in a self-driven project r investigation. This therefore frees me up to discuss/deescalate situations. Not always, but often.
Engagement matters. If my students are engaged, they misbehave less. So if behaviors seem to be out of control it is often because of what we are doing. If we need to stop, reevaluate, and re-think whatever we are doing then we do just that. Yes, there is curriculum we need to do, but there are many ways to get through it.
I ask the students point blank what is going on. I used to assume I knew why a child was misbehaving, now I ask them instead. If its because they are bored, I dig deeper. If it because of some other reason, we find the time to figure it out, even if it means for now they sit and take a breather for a bit.
I ask the students how they think their day is going. If a child seems off, I can guarantee I am not the only one that notices. That child, more often than not, is acutely aware of it as well. So why not take this opportunity to build a deeper relationship? If a child is acting out, there is a reason, we have to try to find the time to work with them and uncover it.
I look for the good. I used to get so fixated on all of the things that were going wrong in the room, all of the “naughty” things a child kept doing that I forgot to see all of the good. I now remind myself to look at the moments of kindness, the hard work, the laughter and learning that happens within a room on a daily basis. I hold that up higher in my mind than the bad. Sometimes it is all about mindset.
Every day is a new day. Rather than label my students, I try to wipe the slate clean every day (of course, this is easier said than done). Just like I want a new chance every day, I afford that to my students as well.
There are consequences, but they make more sense. When I tell people I don’t punish they assume kids get away with whatever they want in our room, but that is not it at all. There are consequences yes, but they are not meant to publicly shame a child, but rather to have them reflect and work on their behavior. This can certainly still be viewed as punishment in the eyes of the child, but I do try to have a growth opportunity for them instead of just a one action fits all solution.

In the end, I believe student motivation is a huge part of why students behave in a certain way in our rooms. In fact, so much so, that I wrote about it in my book, “Passionate Learners – Giving Our Classrooms Back to Our Students.” I therefore leave you with an excerpt from the book to help you peek into my brain some more.

Not punishing students does not mean letting things slide or letting them walk all over you. It simply means handling situations calmly and figuring out the “why” behind the behavior and then working on that rather than enforcing a set of rules. How you react changes from situation to situation — something that’s much more difficult to do when you have cut rules into stone the first week of school.

Much of misbehavior comes from students’ perception of control within the classroom. That perception also affects their intrinsic motivation for wanting to be successful participants. A problem with punishment and reward is that it often only motivates in the short term. And yet many teachers do not know how else to get students to behave. I certainly was not consistently successful until I realized that the problem wasn’t the students, it was more often the curriculum and how I taught it. Meaning, it was really me. While I may not be the one who decides what to teach, I am most certainly the one who decides HOW to teach it. If I thought that mostly lecturing (which even put me to sleep in

college) was going to capture the imaginations of 9-year olds, then I was in the wrong job. So I began to think and learn a lot more about motivating learners.

My lessons in motivation

Here is what I know about motivation from shifting my own teaching practice:

Choice matters. When students choose not just what they will do for a project but also what they would like to learn about (within some boundaries), you get buy-in. This continues to be one of the most simple and exciting realizations I have experienced.
Motivation is contagious. When one student gets excited and has an opportunity to share that enthusiasm, the contagion spreads. My students get to blog about projects, we have huddles where we share, and we are a bit louder than we used to be. But guess what? Those loud noises are usually indicators that my students are super excited about something inside those boundaries I mentioned.
Punishment/reward systems stifle learning. This short-term approach to motivation proved to be more harmful than helpful. It created a toxic learning atmosphere. Now we have class parties when we feel we want one. I have lunch with all my students several times a month because they ask me to. No one is excluded from anything. When homework doesn’t get done (I have limited homework when kids don’t get enough time to do it in class or they don’t use their time well), I ask them how they plan to fix it, and most students choose to do it at recess. This is fine by me; they are free to go out and play if they choose.
Be excited yourself. The fastest way for kids to lose interest is if you are bored. I faced up to the fact that I hated some of the things I taught and how I taught them (goodbye grammar packets). Something had to change. Now my students joke about how I almost always introduce something new with “I am so excited to do this…”
Consider outside factors. Some students have a lot more on their plates than we could ever fully imagine. We need to ask questions, get to know our students, and be a listening ear. When my husband lost his job, it was hard for me to be excited about everyday life. I was too busy worrying. I understand how outside worry can influence the way we function within our school. I’m sure you do, too.
Manage and guide what’s in front of you. We will never be able to control what our students go home to, but we sure can guide what happens in the room. Good teachers choose to create a caring environment where all students feel safe. Students let their guards down and feel it is okay to work hard and have fun. It’s the first essential step toward building a learning community.

And finally, read more about old and new ways to deal with common forms of misbehavior in this chart I’ve put together.

Be the change, being a teacher, being me, new year, reflection, Uncategorized

Stop Labeling Different – It’s Time to Stop Teacher Bullying

July 4, 2014July 4, 2014 Pernille Ripp

I took a deep breath before I hit “publish” on my post “When Teachers Bully Teachers.” I had decided that it was time to stand publicly behind the story, to claim my words, to face my fears, and yet with my fingers hovering over the button, I couldn’t help but be afraid. Afraid that nasty comments would follow, afraid that people would shun me, afraid that it would start all over again.

Within minutes the comments started coming. At first, I opened each one with trepidation; would this be the comment that told me I was full of it? That I had done it to myself? That surely I deserved the treatment I had gotten? Instead, it was story upon story of teachers sharing their experience, of teachers saying it had happened to them. Then my inbox started filling up with private reach outs, then Facebook. As I closed my computer that morning, I looked at Brandon and said, “There are so many of us and I thought it was just me.”

Teachers bullying teachers is real. Principals bullying teachers is real. Within our communities, where we try to teach children how to act as adults, there are many adults not living the words they teach. Some are doing it on purpose like in my situation, others may not know the damage they are doing. But it needs to end. For me, hitting publish was the first step, but now I see that there is so much more must be done.

If you are being bullied:

Know you are not alone, unfortunately. Look at my post and all of the comments it got. This is important, you are not alone, you are not the worst teacher in the world, you are not a horrible person, you do not deserve this.
Stop labeling yourself. I was so good at coming up with excuses for why this was happening to me that I only made it worse. I kept thinking how I was doing this to myself and it was all my own fault. No one deserves to be treated poorly, not even someone who does things a little bit different or has a strong opinion.
Share your story and speak up. Even if you are not ready to confront your bully, share your story with someone; an administrator, a colleague, the whole world like I did. Reclaim your story to stop the process.
Then stand up for yourself or find a way out. There are two ways to fix the situation because suffering through it is not one. One is to confront your bully and try to put an end to the situation, however, when I tried to do this it didn’t do much. SO then know it is okay to leave, to find another job, a better situation. You are not a coward, nor are your running away. You are saving your soul and that is important.
Make peace with yourself. I still worry about what I did but it is time to let it go. With each moment this summer I am allowing myself to put the past in the past. We have to forgive ourselves and allow ourselves to heal.

To stop bullying at your school:

Be welcoming. So much can be said for reaching out to new staff. A friendly hello and introduction can go a long way, but don’t just do it in the beginning of the year, keep checking in. Keep reaching out and making sure every person in the building feels they have someone to speak to.
Reach out to everyone. Sure, my bullying started my first year, but there are others that have said it started later. So make it your mission to make new connections every year, even with current staff, you never know who might be feeling lonely.
Be a nice person. I know many of us assume we always are, but this is something we should all focus on. Be nice, be kind, be open, be inviting. Don’t put others down just because you disagree with them.
Don’t believe the talk. I know many teachers at my old school were swayed by powerful words about me. Instead, dismiss the talk completely or seek out the person who is being talked about to hear their story. One teacher did that with me and it made a huge difference in how I saw her and our relationship.
Stop labeling different. Too often the people we ostracize are those doing things differently. Don’t be afraid of change, or at the very least, ask questions! If someone has made a change in how they teach there is probably a reason for it, so ask them why, dig around a little bit, be open to new ideas.
Recognize your own behavior. Too often we don’t see what we do as malicious or even bullying, but we need to be honest here. How often have we slandered? How often have we snickered? How often have we excluded? Take stock of yourself and see how you need to change.
Follow your own classroom rules. We had one rule in our room, “Represent.” Whatever your rules are, make sure that you are following them too. If the kids can do it, so can we.

We must say, “No more!” and share our stories. Don’t be afraid like I was, don’t suffer in silence. As a close colleague of mine told me when she read it, “I guess I knew you struggled, but I just never knew how severe it was.” And that was my mistake. I should have gone to administration with the union, or I should have gone higher up. I should have stood up, but in the moment it was too hard, too scary, and so I kept my head down and suffered through it. I will never make that mistake again. Please help me stop the bullying.