Author: Pernille Ripp

I am a passionate teacher in Oregon, Wisconsin, USA, who has taught 4th, 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. Second book“Empowered Schools, Empowered Students – Creating Connected and Invested Learners” is out now from Corwin Press. Follow me on Twitter @PernilleRipp.
aha moment, choices, inspiration, lessons learned, student voice

Teaching Students How to Speak Well – A Unit to Explore

Pernille Ripp

It had never occurred to me that I haven’t taught my students how to speak well.  After all, for the past 7+ years my students have spoken in front of their peers.  I have told them to stand up straight, to speak clear and loud and to establish eye contact.  That should be enough, right?  Except for the last 7+ years I have also sat through one terrible presentation after another.  Yes, most have spoken loudly, yes, most have had some stilted eye contact, and yes, most have stood up fairly straight.  Yet, most have also been terrible presenters.  No passion, no enthusiasm, no special something that have made them enjoyable to listen to. I figured it was because I taught elementary school and perhaps better speaking skills would develop naturally.

As a 7th grade teacher, now I can see that they don’t.  My 7th graders still present fairly poorly and I realized, with the help of Erik Palmer, that we need to teach how to speak well.  Not just assume that students will figure it out over the years.  We need to teach it early, we need to teach it often, and we need to teach it every year.  So I have snagged ideas from Erik’s article and adapted them to fit our purpose.  Feel free to use and make your own and check out his other resources as well, it has been easy and fun to use.

The main idea I have borrowed from Erik is his 6 points of what a great speaker does.  These have been the framework for this week and as we go forward.  It has been essential for my students to have common language and a framework to develop them as speakers and this is what Erik discusses quite well.

These have been the guiding points for our lessons and have also been the base points of our rubric.

While we will be doing speeches all quarter, our first assignment was given on the very first day of the quarter to give the students a goal to work toward.  Assignment:  Create a one minute speech answering “How do you want to be remembered at the end of 7th grade?” (Thank you Josh Stumpenhorst for the inspiration).  To see the entire assignment, see here.

I have tweaked their first speak to be given in a circle format.  Our school uses counseling circles/restorative justice circles throughout the year and every Tuesday all of our students do circles with their homeroom teacher.  This format for delivering a speech means that my students are automatically more comfortable, which is a huge barrier in 7th grade.  They are so worried about what their peers are thinking about them.  And that is something I have faced head on when I have been teaching them how to speak.  My biggest tool has been my own enthusiasm and tendency to screw up and laugh about it.  I have no problem making mistakes in front of them to take the pressure off of them.

So what have we been doing?  Note: these lessons are about 10 minutes long, maybe 15 depending on the discussions.

Big talking points every single day:

  • What have they been taught in the past and why they need to learn better skills.
  • The need to trust others when we speak or at the very least assume that others mean us well when they watch.
  • The need to step a little out of their comfort zone.
  • That speaking well is a life skill, something that will help them be more successful in life.

Poise

Student definition:  Your swag, or how you use your body to match your message.

  • Discuss what is poise, have the students get up and move showing you poise.  They started off very hesitantly, which is ok, I have been taking baby steps.
  • Every student gets a Shell Silverstein poem and are told to practice speaking it aloud.  I then fishbowl the next activity – perform the poem just worrying about poise, none of the other things, and have their mirror (partner) critique them kindly.
  • I then partnered them up randomly and had them perform the poems in front of just their partner.  I helped them coach each other and we talked about how to give kind criticism that allows others to grow.

Voice

Student definition:  Controlling how you speak to match the message.

  • Discuss what is voice, why it is important to take control of your voice and how it is not just all about being loud and clear at all times.
  • Video clips of powerful speakers.  After giving them background knowledge about Hitler and his powers of persuasion, I showed them a one minute clip with no subtitles just so they could see how he used his speaking skills to incite people.  This really caused a reaction in my students because they saw how powerful being a great speaker can be and how that power can be used for good or evil.
  • I then juxtaposed that with clips of Gandhi and Nelson Mandela who used their voices in much different manners and yet still had people follow them.
  • The students then worked on what type of voice would be needed for their speech assignment.

Life

Student definition:  The passion you bring to your speech has to match your message.

  • We faced our demons head on this day as we discussed why most 7th graders have a hard time speaking in front of people.  This was excellent because the kids offered very honest answers about their fear of being judged by others or screwing up.
  • I then told them about major screw ups I have had as a teacher such as substituting words in read alouds for the wrong very bad words, clean underwear falling out of my pant leg while teaching thanks to static, and other fun things that happen when you are a teacher.
  • I read aloud Pigeon Wants a Puppy by Mo Willems and did the emotions and voices.  I actually made them laugh out loud because I went there, something that is hard to get 7th graders to do.  This was important because they needed to see me let down my barriers.  Then we talked about allowing us to be silly when we need to be such as when we read picture books aloud and I promised them that I would be the craziest person that day.
  • We discussed why it can be extra hard to read aloud in front of others because we worry about screwing up the words.
  • They then each got one line or two from Jabberwocky, a phenomenal nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll.  Why this poem?  Because students can’t mess up the pronunciation of the words, who knows how they are supposed to be pronounced?  They got one minute to practice how they were going to perform their line with as much life in their voice as they could.
  • I lined them up in order and each student performed their line.  Some classes we did it twice to allow the kids to build up their courage.
  • This was awesome, the kids laughed – laughed!  And not at each other but with each other.  This was a huge break through for my kids.

Eye Contact

Student definition:  How we look at our audience and how they look at us

  • We did different things in different classes based on their unique mix of personalities:
    • Most classes I did an eye contact experiment: Two students sat in front of the class while two other students came up.  The two seated students shut their eyes and then had to report whether the other two students were looking at them or not.  Most of the time they were wrong.  We did it a few times.  Mission: To prove that not everyone is looking when we think they are.
    • I had note-cards with different emotions on and we used them in different ways.  Some classes stood in a circle and acted out the emotions.  Others found a partner to do it.
    • Some classes I did an emotion charade scavenger hunt competition.  All students got an emotion but was not allowed to say it or tell others about it.  Four kids each got the same emotion (anger, sadness, excitement etc) and when I said go the students had to try to find their group partners without talking and gesturing, they could only use their emotion charades.  First team to correctly assemble got a prize.
    • All of these things may not seem like they have a lot to do with eye contact but they do; students had to pay attention and use their facial expressions to express their feelings.  This is all part of doing eye contact well and definitely helped students push themselves out of their comfort zone a little.

Gestures

Student definition:  How our hand/body movements tell our message.

  • I have note-cards with different statements on them (“Yes, we won!, No….., What happened?” and such) and students will be acting them out using gestures, with no voice.
  • We also acted out different versions of the same words, such as “no, ok, and I’m sorry…”
  • Students will have to give directions of how to do something to their partner using only gestures, such as how to tie a shoe, how to mail a letter, how to make spaghetti.  Their partner will have to try to guess what they are doing.
  • We will also try to make emotions with our hands, so what do our hands do if we are sad, if we are confused, if we are happy and such.  The key is building awareness of our own bodies so we can control them when we speak.

Speed

Student definition:  How fast or slow we speak.

  • We will watch clips of “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” Speech paying attention to the way Martin Luther King Jr. changes his pacing to emphasize his message.   I also have various other clips of speakers to show up, just snippets so they can see speakers speak well.  It is important that students get a sense of many types of speakers; male and female, present and past.
  • Each student will decide which picture book to act out by themselves or with a partner, I have grabbed a stack of Mo Willems and Dr. Seuss for them to work on all of the elements.  They will work on all elements that we have been working on.
  • They will not perform in front of the class but instead in small groups and then kindly critique each other.

And that’s how we are starting.

As we move forward this quarter, I am excited to give them continued opportunities to speak and speak well.  Next year, this will be starting off the year.  Not only are we becoming better communicators, we are also building community.  The students are slightly kinder, slightly more relaxed, and having a bit more fun in English because they are all acting a little bit silly, getting into something a little bit more, and yet developing essential skills at the same time.  I am sad that I hadn’t taught this before but at least I can correct my ways starting now.  All students deserve to have the opportunity to become great speakers and their practice starts with us.

I am a passionate teacher in Oregon, Wisconsin, USA but originally from Denmark,  who has taught 4th, 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.  The second edition of my first book “Passionate Learners – Giving Our Classrooms Back to Our Students” will be published by Routledge in the fall.   Second book“Empowered Schools, Empowered Students – Creating Connected and Invested Learners” is out now from Corwin Press.  Join our Passionate Learners community on Facebook and follow me on Twitter @PernilleRipp.

aha moment, Be the change, being a teacher, being me, challenge, choices, Passion

When We Forget Where We Are Going

Pernille Ripp
image from icanread

Sometimes we get so turned around that we forget our chosen path.  We forget where we are going.  We forget where we came from.  And in our turned-around-ness we think we need to abandon our path completely, because we no longer know who we are.

A week ago I thought my path forward next year would not be in 7th grade.  That I was not meant to teach this challenging age after all.  That I had gotten so far away from who I was as a teacher that there was no way for me to find myself again. I didn’t want to stick around for another year, I wanted to run.  Forget about the challenges,  Forget about all the good I thought I could do that wasn’t happening.  Lick my wounds and go back to my safe zone.  Back to elementary where the kids show they like you and think your jokes are funny.

Then spring break happened and with it came a moment to reflect.  A moment to remember that I don’t run from challenges.  I don’t quit when it gets hard.  That when something isn’t working, I don’t give up, I fix it.  And that perhaps 7th grade is my biggest challenge, and since when have challenges scared me?

I had forgotten that the last time I thought I was going to quit, I recommitted.

I had forgotten that the last time I didn’t like the teacher I had become, I changed.

I had forgotten that it is hard to change schools, districts, and especially grade levels, but we still do it.

That it is hard to reinvent yourself.  That it is hard to figure out new curriculum.  That it is hard to get to know students especially when you only have them for 45 minutes.  And that you will never be the greatest of teachers the very first year you teach something.  No matter your passion.  No matter your dedication.  No matter your ideas.

So I am getting back to basics.  Back to making it about the kids and not the curriculum.  Making it about growing together and figuring it out.  About making school about them and not about me.  Taking my own advice over the years and giving the classroom back to the students.  Away from homework, away from scores, away from me lecturing, and back to them doing, and questioning, and changing our school.

I am terrified to continue on as a 7th grade teacher.  They are my biggest challenge.  Yet, within that challenge I have been given a new chance to be better.  And not just as a teacher, but as a human being.  Sometimes life gets us so lost that we forget to see where we are.  We forget to see the wonder around us.  To marvel at all of the greatness that surrounds us.  It is time for me to once again open my eyes and revel in the fact that I get to be a part of the 7th grade journey.  It is time for me to stop being so scared and getting back to what I love; being a great teacher for every single kid.  Even the ones that make me want to quit.

I am a passionate teacher in Oregon, Wisconsin, USA but originally from Denmark,  who has taught 4th, 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.  The second edition of my first book “Passionate Learners – Giving Our Classrooms Back to Our Students” will be published by Routledge in the fall.   Second book“Empowered Schools, Empowered Students – Creating Connected and Invested Learners” is out now from Corwin Press.  Join our Passionate Learners community on Facebook and follow me on Twitter @PernilleRipp.

being a teacher, being me, Reading, student choice

Perhaps Offering Choice in Reading Is Not Always the Best Idea

Pernille Ripp

Today I said something I didn’t think I would say ever again.  Something that I have told others to never say, in fact, I may have even pleaded with a few people.  What came out of my mouth after lengthy consideration?  “No more reading on devices this quarter.”   Then I held my breath just a little bit and I waited for the reaction.  Not just from my students, but from the reading police, for my better sense to come yelling.  For someone to bust through my door and tell me that reading is all about choice and that reading on a device counts just as much as reading a paper book.  That to get students to read we should allow them to read any thing they want, as long as they are reading.  That fan fiction counts as fiction as well.

They would have been right, too.  It is all about choice.  It is all about getting them to read.  About letting them pick whatever they want as long as they read, as long as they get their eyes on print.  Yet for some of my students even that hasn’t worked, and so today, I took a drastic measure by outlawing devices.  You see, because even with all of that choice some are still not reading.  They may be skimming pages, they may be browsing various fan fiction sites like WattPad searching for a story, they may even be diving into a text now and then.  But most of the time, every single day, the device in their hand has become one more tool to distract them from falling into a great story, or finding their reading zone to quote Nancie Atwell.

So today, I asked, or maybe even forced them a bit to find an amazing book to read.  To feel the weight of the book in their hands, to browse through all of the books we have and find one that calls their name.  To abandon a book if it doesn’t.  To save their time to read the very best of books.  To get sucked in, knowing that I will be ask them how their book is, what they love, if I should read it as well.  And when they finish I will ask them to pass it on.  To tell someone else to read it as well, to hopefully love it as much a they did.

As they book shopped, I saw something happen that I have waited for all year; my most reluctant readers actually ask about books.  Yes it was because they had to but they were actually doing it. They browsed somewhat, they shuffled through pages, and they all left with a book that they were willing to try.  Yes, some are still unhappy that I am asking them to read a paper book.  Yes, some think I have lost my mind, but perhaps today is the beginning of a change in mind, of a seed being planted.  Or not, but I am going to try it for a while because something had to change.  That I have eight weeks left to try to get them to read at least one great book and so I had to change my tune a little bit.  We shall see if it pays off.  We shall see if it helps or harms.  What do you think?

I am a passionate teacher in Oregon, Wisconsin, USA but originally from Denmark,  who has taught 4th, 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.  The second edition of my first book “Passionate Learners – Giving Our Classrooms Back to Our Students” will be published by Routledge in the fall.   Second book“Empowered Schools, Empowered Students – Creating Connected and Invested Learners” is out now from Corwin Press.  Join our Passionate Learners community on Facebook and follow me on Twitter @PernilleRipp.

Be the change, being a teacher, being me, student choice, student voice

My Students Don’t Want to Make All the Time And I Am Okay With That

Pernille Ripp

We seem to think that all students want to just be left alone to make and create.  That if given the choice, the students would love school so much more if we just provided them with big picture goals and then let them meander along their own path to get there.  That they need time to just think and do, without too much interference from the teacher.  That if we give them enough tools and enough freedom then their inner passion will be awakened and they will discover their destiny.  That school is breaking the creative spirit of all children by not providing freedom and that we must get back to making all of the time.  Yet is this true?  Is this really what all children need?

I bring this up because it seems that in our voyage to overhaul school we seem to be going to a new extreme; one that assumes that all students want to make.  That all students are passionate artists held back by the confinement of school. I am not sure this is true though,  at least it isn’t, according to my students.

My students are telling me that they want choice all the time, but that one of the choices should always be to follow a path set forth by the teacher.

My students are telling me that they would like to create sometimes but that other times they need ideas for what they can create.

My students are asking to not be left alone at all times.  That they need guidance and vision, that they need help, because they don’t know always know where they are going or what they are trying to do. Sometimes they don’t need me right there, but sometimes they do.

My students are telling me that for most of them it is not enough to just know where they need to end, but they need to know how to get there as well.  And that is my job, their job, and why we are in a classroom.

My students are telling me that a teacher’s job is to teach and that they would like to to learn and sometimes that means sitting and listening, not doing, not inventing, not creating.  That constantly making is exhausting, and not in a great way.  That there must be balance in all of our classrooms.

That doesn’t mean that they are broken.  That doesn’t mean they will not be successful adults.  That does not mean that school somehow has robbed them of their creativity or of their voice.  It doesn’t mean that we have successfully indoctrinated all students to believe they are un-creative, it simply means that they are kids learning.  That they are kids who want to experiment but not be on their own.  That we need to ask our students and then listen to what they all say and then cater our teaching to reach all of them.  Not assume they don’t need us anymore.  Not assume that school will only be a place that holds them back unless we remove all constraints.

Once again, we must make school about the kids we teach not the kids we think we teach.  Those kids need us, all of us, all of the time.  And they may need us in ways we don’t realize, our job is to figure it out and then stop assuming they don’t mean what they say.  When they say they want a teacher to teach them that is not inherently bad, it just means they are not quite ready, and that is perfectly ok.

I am a passionate teacher in Oregon, Wisconsin, USA but originally from Denmark,  who has taught 4th, 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.  The second edition of my first book “Passionate Learners – Giving Our Classrooms Back to Our Students” will be published by Routledge in the fall.   Second book“Empowered Schools, Empowered Students – Creating Connected and Invested Learners” is out now from Corwin Press.  Join our Passionate Learners community on Facebook and follow me on Twitter @PernilleRipp.

aha moment, being a teacher

Going Beyond the Standards

Pernille Ripp

I sat in my empty classroom on Monday, spring break just started, and looked at what I have to cover in quarter four of 7th grade English.  What the standards tell me a 7th grader needs to know.  Great things, and yet…We need to get back to the basics.  Somewhere in the mad rush of trying to cover everything within the 45 minutes that strangle our English class, we seem to have lost touch with what English is really all about; amazing books, deep conversations, and writing, so much of it so that we lose our fear of being bad writers and just start to embrace the process.

So as I looked around at the empty chairs, I knew exactly what to do.  Monday morning we will start with a circle, a to-do list of dreams facing the students.  I will ask them to discuss expectations and rules, I will ask them about their thoughts on what the standards say we need to get to and then I will ask them this is this quarter to please

Find one poem that speaks to you

Read one amazing book that you must pass on to someone else

Write something that makes you proud

And have a deep conversation with someone face to face

Those are the opportunities that I need to create, those are the things that matter.  Beyond the standards, beyond what we need to cover.  We need to have incredible experiences in English, not just survive the last quarter.  Our students are bigger than the standards we teach.  What are your plans for after the break?

I am a passionate teacher in Oregon, Wisconsin, USA but originally from Denmark,  who has taught 4th, 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.  The second edition of my first book “Passionate Learners – Giving Our Classrooms Back to Our Students” will be published by Routledge in the fall.   Second book“Empowered Schools, Empowered Students – Creating Connected and Invested Learners” is out now from Corwin Press.  Join our Passionate Learners community on Facebook and follow me on Twitter @PernilleRipp.

aha moment, being me, Passion

When You Feel Like a Bad Day Kind of Teacher

Pernille Ripp

Sometimes we realize that we are not enough.  That we do not have the answers.  That we do not have that one magical thing that will make everything better.  That when they handed out the innovative teacher awards, we would not get one, not that day, not that week.  Sometimes we realize that we are not the perfect person, nor the perfect teacher.  That we do not have all of the answers, nor do we even know where to look.  And then we realize that that is ok.  And we can breathe.  And we can celebrate.  Because being a perfectly ordinary great teacher does not mean that we only have great days.

That no one ever meant for us to be perfect.  That no one ever meant for us to have the perfect answer at the perfect time for every single student.  That it is ok for us to say, “I don’t know…Let me think….I will get back to you.”  That our attempts may sometimes fail.  That parents may sometimes get upset.  That kids may sometimes roll their eyes and groan when you teach.  Add that’s ok.  That we can be imperfect and still be great teachers.  That we can have flaws and still connect with kids.  That we may have bad days but they do not have to represent us.  That not knowing is not an inherent flaw but rather an opportunity to learn, to connect, to get better.  That having a bad day should not define us but instead inspire us.  That we choose what we keep trying.  That we choose how we keep moving forward.

That even when we think we cannot figure it out, there is still a path forward, we just have to put one foot in front of the other.

That’s what teaching 7th grade has taught me.  And I am forever grateful for the lesson.

I am a passionate teacher in Oregon, Wisconsin, USA but originally from Denmark,  who has taught 4th, 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.  The second edition of my first book “Passionate Learners – Giving Our Classrooms Back to Our Students” will be published by Routledge in the fall.   Second book“Empowered Schools, Empowered Students – Creating Connected and Invested Learners” is out now from Corwin Press.  Join our Passionate Learners community on Facebook and follow me on Twitter @PernilleRipp.