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.

I became a teacher to help students grow. To help them face their challenges and conquer them in meaningful ways. To help them figure out who they were and where they fit into this world. I became a teacher to teach, in the truest sense of the word. Not to trust a computer to do my job.

With the craze of data collection and the push for more and more tests to gather even more data, I cannot help but wonder what happened to the spirit of teaching? Where is our push for better teaching, not just based on data, but rather on the spirit of the child that stands in front of us? Why is it common that a teacher’s intuition or a teacher’s experience with a child takes second place to what a computer or an anonymous test grader thinks? What happened to us being trusted as professionals? Can a computer or a bubble test really tell us more about a child that than what we already know?

I am not dismissing data as a whole but rather the seemingly absurd way we push for more and more as if the computer can unlock the secret to all that a child needs to grow. What happened to the notion of the whole child as a learner, of the child being on a journey to become a person, not just a worker? I know my students will one day have jobs, but right now they have a life to explore. A life to create and a person to grow into. Where are we leaving room for that in our curriculum?

I wonder how we can move into meaningful data collection. Whether that is an oxymoron in itself. Is there room for the child on our data walls? Or has the data itself swallowed the child and they have just become a statistic. A name to be moved up and down a wall, despite what a teacher might say. What happened to teaching?

I am a passionate (female) 5th grade teacher in Wisconsin, USA, 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 Classroom Back to Our Students Starting Today” can be pre-bought now from Powerful Learning Press. Follow me on Twitter @PernilleRipp.

She Wants to Teach

April 24, 2014 Pernille Ripp

“Mom, I have an idea…”

Thea reaches for the marker and starts to write her ABCs on the whiteboard behind her. She is with me in school today for take your daughter to work and has been thinking hard the last few minutes.

“When the kids come back I’m going to teach them their ABCs…” she states, as if this is the most brilliant idea ever.

So I tell her it is time to go and she furiously scribbles a few more letters on the board. We get the kids, they settle in, and Thea marches to the front of the room as if she was born to be there. She waits and then points to a letter. “Umm, what’s this one?” she says. Hands shoot up as the kids grin. “You!” she points to one of my students who gets it right and Thea quickly tells them good. The next five minutes Thea is the teacher.

I stand back, feeling my heart break and swell at the same time. I have joked with others about how Thea wants to be a teacher and today she has once again shown me that it seems to be in her nature. That teaching may just be her calling as well.

I want to shake the dream out of her head. I want to stop her from becoming a teacher, from choosing this profession that can be so life consuming. I want to stop her from picking a job that will mean working the longest days for little pay. That will mean worrying at night about things out of your control. Worrying about test scores and politicians and how they will affect your life. Worrying about whether the parents like you, whether the students are learning, and whether you are truly prepared. Whether you are everything you say you are.

And yet…

My little girl wants to teach. She wants to be a part of a life that changes the lives of others. She wants to be an influencer, someone who molds and shapes. She wants to make a difference by helping others become what they dream to be. She wants to teach and I couldn’t be prouder.

I couldn’t be happier. Even knowing she will face heartbreak. Even though I know she will have days where she wants to pull out her hair, shut the door, and give up – she wants to teach. She wants to be a part of that. She wants to change the world. She wants to make a difference. For now anyway.

She wants to teach. And the world will be better for it. So why should I stand in her way?

being me, end of year

Make Each Day Count

April 23, 2014April 23, 2014 Pernille Ripp

The number of days I have left with my students. That doesn’t subtract the days where I am not teaching because we are doing special events making the number even smaller. It is the total number of days that I have left to make a difference. Left to teach. Left to help.

I used to do the countdown in my head, not because summer beckoned me, but because I felt a growing sense of dread. Did I do enough to teach them? Did I reach every child? Did I actually teach them anything? Was 5th grade worth it to my students?

Now, I do my silent count down as a reminder to make every moment count. As a way to say that yes, summer may come and steal you away, but until then we are still together and we are still on a learning journey. We still have things to explore. We still have things to mess with. Our brain still has mysteries to ponder.

So while I may know how few days we have left together, I will not cling to it for celebration, but rather to push our purpose. To focus even more on the learning. To grow even bigger together. I will never be able to do all of the things I had hoped for but I will keep trying until the very end.

36 more days to go, make each one count.

being me, new year, reflection

What if They Eat Me Alive?

April 22, 2014 Pernille Ripp

The nightmares have already started.

You know the ones; you wake up with your heart pounding, sweaty palms, and this sinking feeling in your stomach. The students hated you again. They were out of control. The parents complained. You forgot what you were doing. You weren’t prepared. Ah yes, the back to school nightmares have already started for me. Yet school is not out for another 7 weeks, so why is my heart racing every morning when I wake up?

Last week, I took a giant leap of faith and accepted a 7th grade English position in an incredible district, Oregon, with the possibility of working with a new amazing team. And now, my dreams haunt me. I always thought I would be in 5th grade forever, maybe inch my way into 6th, but 7th? Those are for the truly brave teachers. That grade level is for those teachers that can handle anything. Not for me, I am not that good. Yet, when this opportunity arose, I knew I had to try. I knew I had to jump. I knew I had to believe that I could do it. So now my nightmares are making me pay for it as I feel like the new kid on the very first day of school.

What if they hate me?

What if they think I’m not funny or that my ideas are stupid?

What if I can’t help them become better writers?

What if they don’t want to read?

What if they hate picture books?

What if they eat me alive?

I hope by September 2nd, when those first kids enter the room, that my nightmares have stopped. I can only hope, and prepare, and dream. And find really great picture books. Keep your fingers crossed.

Be the change, being a teacher, end of year, students

Stop the Hurry

April 20, 2014April 21, 2014 Pernille Ripp

“Look at this, mom!”

Thea is jumping from stone to stone on the pavement next to me as I am walking in my straight line sticking to the sidewalk like a proper adult trying to get where we are going as fast as possible. Never mind that it is a Saturday, never mind that it is beautiful weather, never mind that we have the time. I want to get there fast just because we can.

At first, I think to tell her to hurry up, to come walk by me so we can get there faster. I go to reach for her, but her expressions stops me; pure joy. She is not just getting somewhere, she is exploring, balancing, laughing – she is on an adventure. And the extra 2 minutes it takes us to get to our destination are quickly forgotten as I watch her leap.

How often do we tell students to hurry up in our rooms? How often do we tell them to stick to the path, to get to the destination with an eye on the end and never taking the time to expand the journey? How often do we stop to explore, to “jump from rock to rock” within a topic simply because we are curious? Simply because it might be an adventure?

Every year I try to find time for the self-driven exploration within my room but every year by about April I feel like we have to quicken the pace. Like we need to walk faster to get to our end destination. But not this year. This year I want to enjoy my final weeks with my kids, my final weeks as a 5th grade teacher. I want to not just watch the kids explore, but explore right along with them. We will still get to our destination, we always do, but we will take the path they want as much as possible. We will find the time to try, we will make the time to laugh. I want to see them love learning as much as I do. And that won’t happen if I keep telling them to hurry up.

Be the change, being a teacher, new year

Does Your Vision Show?

April 19, 2014 Pernille Ripp

I have a vision for my classroom every year. One based on experience, but also on hope. One that speaks to the bigger goals, those outside the curriculum, those outside the standards. We focus on courage, passion, and dreaming. On embracing our mistakes. On bringing the world in. On becoming better people. On focusing on each child as if they are the only child there.

Thursday morning I officially accepted a 7th grade English position in the Oregon School district here in Wisconsin. I accepted nervously, what do I know about 7th graders? And yet, every time I interacted with people from this district I thought of how well my own vision for the classroom fit into the district’s vision for all students. When I spoke to teachers they spoke of the focus on each child. When I spoke to parents, they spoke of the creative opportunities given all kids. Wen I spoke to administration, the passion shone through. Sure, it fits with their mission statement, but they are also embodying it in everything they do and everything they say.

We get so wrapped up in our mission statements that we sometimes forget about the passion, the curiosity. We carefully select words that we hope represent what we want to say and yet often the people representing the district; teachers, parents, students are not mirroring the message. They aren’t living it because other things have taken their time and focus.

So look at your own classroom, your school, your district. Are you proof of the passion? Are you proof of the vision? If not, why not? What is holding you back? In the end I gave a resounding yes to their job offer because I didn’t have to ask what their goals were, what they were passionate about, they had already shown me. Are you?