Author: Pernille Schmidt Ripp

Since 2010, I have lived my teaching life outloud, writing, speaking, and sharing the great, the okay, and the sometimes not so great. Starting as a 4th grade teacher in Middleton, Wisconsin, then heading to the middle school for many years, in 2022 I moved back home to Denmark to try teaching primary grades. Because why not? But I also started the Global Read Aloud in 2010, a global literacy project that has connected millions of children across the world. I also write books trying to help others co-create sustainable student-centered learning spaces, and I share my life on Instagram, in both English and Danish.
grades

Another Failed Report Card

Pernille Schmidt Ripp
I thought I had dealt with it right; have students grade themselves for the trimester since I have to post grades then.  At least they would be coming from the students rather than just me.  Since we have switched to standards based report cards, I projected and explained what each category meant on this new report card.  Then we discussed what a “3” meant vs a “4” and off they went.  They handed them in, I looked them over and highlighted anything I wanted to discuss.

At conferences I pulled them out and asked the students about the highlighted areas.  Blank stares.  I then prodded a little bit more, why would you give yourself this grade, what was your thought process?  Blank stare, then cleared throats,….”I’m actually not sure what that means so I just put a number there…”

Exactly.

These kids, even after I explain what the things are I am grading them on, they have no clue what it really is.  Perhaps it is due to poorly written report card language, perhaps it is due to not speaking educationalese, perhaps it is due to that what we grade them on most of the time seems to bear little resemblance to what we do in our classrooms, the discussions we have.  Sure, we discuss and use the term comprehension strategies but if they are all lumped together in one box, then how will a child know if they use all of them well or just some of them.  How will they know what that even means, to use them?  And does it really matter?  Parents don’t know what they mean either and they come armed with years of schooling and college degrees.  So we think of attaching explanation sheets to the report cards just so they can have some sort of a clue as to the terms we so flippantly throw around.  Now do you get it, it seems to scream.

We move toward better report cards so that we hope to better tell parents what their child has mastered or not, but in the end, when we create report cards that bear little resemblance to the conversation that happens within the classroom, what does it really matter?  Should I once again change the way I teach to make sure I use terms that will appear on a reportcard, even though those terms do not always fit what we are teaching or even within the understanding of my students?  Should I barge on, use the terms, just so students may know what they mean when they get their grades?  Or should we ask the students what the report card should look like so that they could take ownership of their learning journey?

I dont have the answers, do you?

reflection

In Which I Get Schooled By A Kid

Pernille Schmidt Ripp
This post is not to garner pity, or poor you kind of comments.  It is not to embarrass or to make myself look terrible.  It is to speak the truth of how teachers are merely humans and although we would like to be infallible, we are far from it.  Although we would like to think we always know best, we don’t.

Chalk it up to sleep deprivation going on for about 10 days.  That’s what happens when everyone in your household has the flu and you are the only one healthy enough to be caretaker.  Chalk it up to being distracted; too many things going on, both in school, and outside.  Chalk it up to forgetting who I am, if even for a minute, and going back to those old ways.  Chalk it up to whatever you want but today I got schooled by a kid, and I deserved every bit of it.  I called this kid out infront of the class and made him so angry.  Instead of backing off and thinking about it, I kept at it, letting him get more angry, until a break was needed.  I wanted to be right so bad, that I forgot for a moment that this was a kid in front of me.  Perhaps I was a little bit right, but nowhere near the amount needed for that type of  confrontation.

I went home, reflected, admitted to myself that that was poorly handled and that I had to reach out tomorrow.  Once again, this kid beat me to it.  This kid, this so angry kid, sent me the most eloquent email telling me exactly what was going on.  Telling me exactly why he got so very angry and exactly what I did to push him there.  He wrote to apologize but also wanted to make sure I heard his side, and hear it I did.  Not like I had heard it today in the classroom, but really hear it, no filter, no holding back.

Instead of getting angry, I saw what this email really was; a way in, a gift really, a way to repair a relationship that otherwise may have been fractured for the rest of the year.  This kid gave me a chance again.  This kid gave me a chance to redeem myself, to become a better teacher, to remember that I teach someone’s child.  Thank you.  I am sorry.

students, technology

My Students Are Not Digital Natives

Pernille Schmidt Ripp
My students are not digital natives.  There I said it.  They are digital consumers, much like the rest of us, but natives, not so much.  I used to believe in the whole digital native myth and that if I just gave them a device they would be able to make it work and adapt it to their needs.  Make it work; sure, adapt it; not really.  Push themselves beyond their comfort level; very rarely unless they have an interest in all things technology.  Yes, most of them are afraid of technology just like many adults.   Most of them don’t want to just figure things out even when I encourage them to, they would rather just be told how to use it and then use it for that specific purpose only.  So even though I tell them to just figure it out, my 5th graders would laugh if anyone called them digital natives, and then they would ask what that term even meant.  So why do we persist with the pushing of the digital native persona?

Tonight I asked that question on Twitter, or rather I made a statement:

As always Twitter did not disappoint…

 

 

So what are our students?  Do we really need to label them?  I like to think of my students as kids who like technology a lot, but I have never called them that.  Should I?  Should anyone?

principals, reflection

Can We Have Courageous Conversations With Our Principals?

Pernille Schmidt Ripp
I am always struck by passion of the principals I meet in my travels and this weekend, at EdCamp MadWI, was no different.  I was in many frank conversations with principals who had questions for me or just had really amazing ideas.  Their passion for their staff and the betterment of their school poured out of them.  As I returned to school today, I wondered; where are those conversations between teachers and principals in our buildings?  What holds us back as teachers in starting frank and honest discussions with our very own principals on a regular basis?  Fear?  Apprehension of misunderstanding?  Past poor experiences?  Or is it simply time and a strictness of protocol?  Do our home schools have a power hierarchy that we cannot bridge in the same way we do at EdCamps?  Do we walk around our schools afraid of having courageous conversations with those closest to us?

I think it is time we start those courageous conversations with our administrators.  It is time for us to realize and acknowledge that our principals were teachers once as well, and that they too functioned under a principal, with every self doubt that implies.  It is time for us to not be afraid and to speak to our principals and administrators the way they deserve to be spoken to; as human beings rather than just our bosses.

I know I fall victim to stereotypes myself;  assuming that someone in a principal job does not want feedback, does not want ideas, does not want honest discussion.  I am not sure where this idea started from but it seems to permeate many schools.  Perhaps the very role of principal means there is a glass wall between us.  Perhaps it is their sheer busyness that creates a natural distance.  I am not sure but we must discuss, we must reflect, and we must have conversations that push the boundaries much like we would with our colleagues because even though principals are in leadership positions they are still our colleagues as well.

While I know many principals tread water all day, floating from one fire to another, there are still many moments for us to discuss and reflect together.  I think we need to bridge that unspoken gap that exists between teachers and principals and somehow find a way to grow together, rather than the more typical path of us versus them.  We must approach our every day as we would an edcamp; there to learn, there to think, there to connect.  It is time we give our principals a fair chance.

Be the change, edcamp

So We Ran an EdCamp and What Did We Learn?

Pernille Schmidt Ripp
Yesterday was one of the “Oh my gosh I can’t believe it is finally here” kind of days with the coming of EdcampMadWI – or EdCamp Madison as we preferred to call it.  After many months of thinking, hard work, and definitely team work, the day came and passed in such a blur, it felt as if it was my wedding day.  The same nerves of anticipation and then a blur of people to speak to, thank, and even a presentation or two and then it was over and with just great memories to look back upon.  So while there are many posts out there on how to plan your Edcamp, I thought I would offer up a few smaller lessons we learned along the way.

  • Think small.  This idea started out with Jess having a lunch time conversation and then grew from there.  Our core team was 4 people; Jess (@jhenze44), Kaye (@MiddleLevelEd), Emily (@MsDittmar) and myself.  That was it, and it was nice.  Because we knew it was just us 4 people taking care of most things, we also knew explicitly who was going to take care of what and when.  Accountability was there and that to me was half the battle.
  • Create a Google group just for the organizers.  This way all emails get archived and it is easy to find.  Saved us so much time.
  • Tell sponsors specifically what they should sponsor.  We started out soliciting sponsors by just asking for something, toward the end, we were asking for specific items to be covered.  This worked much better than just crossing your fingers and hoping for something good.
  • Ask other edcamp planners for help.  I was lucky enough to be able to ask many great people for advice; @mbteach – one of the original founders of edcamp and @TamL17, one of the edcamp Milwaukee planners.  They have done it before and thus know exactly what to do or not do.
  • Think outside of education.  We had many local sponsors like Market Street Diner that wanted to help even though they have nothing to do with education, so don’t be afraid to ask.
  • Trust your volunteers.  Kaye was phenomenal at recruiting volunteers and then overseeing them, but truth is, many of our volunteers knew exactly what needed to get done without being told.  So get quality people and then trust them to do their thing.
  • Make goodybags.  We had a lot of stickers, pens, app codes etc to hand out to people but rather than raffle it all off which would have taken a long time, we instead created 49 goodybags.  20 were handed out to the first 20 people that proposed a session and then 29 were raffled off during lunch.  At the end of the day we then only had some major prizes to give away rather than tons of stuff.
  • Set an example.  I proposed a session on blogging, Jess did one on Evernote, and Emily did one on 20% projects.  We found the time to do it and were still able to run the edcamp, it can be done.
  • Don’t marry your schedule.  We had set a preliminary schedule but our opening took a lot less time than we anticipated so we had 1 1/2 hours for our first session instead of waiting for it to began.  You run the edcamp; you can change the rules.
  • Meet people.  I purposely tried to meet as many people as possible this time around rather than just stick to the few I know.  I have never had so many great discussions about a variety of topics.  Because you are an organizer you will be busier but also more visible  take that opportunity to reach out to others and engage them in conversations.
  • Wear sensible shoes.  I wore my teaching shoes which happened to have a higher heel and then I rolled my ankle before the day began.  Ouch.  So next time, yup, I will be the one in sneakers.

Being an organizer of this EdCamp really deepened my love for this type of professional development even more.  I now know exactly how much work goes into this “easy” day of learning and also how much its success depends on the excitement of its organizers and attendants.  So in the end, we are happy to say that there will be a second annual #EdCampMadWI.

personal

Introducing The Style Teacher

Pernille Schmidt Ripp
As some of you may know, and others may have an idea; I love fashion.  But I am teacher so that in itself presents quite the conundrum   I cannot dress like someone out of a magazine because I have to be able to get on the floor and get kind of messy.  I also have to stay warm because I live in Wisconsin which to this Danish girl feels like Antarctica at times.

Having 3 kids and being sleep deprived most of the time thanks to the 4 year old also means that it would be really easy to just not care about what I wear, but I do, so I started a fashion blog a couple of years ago.  Because why not show the world how huge I get while pregnant with twins or chalk up some of my more adventurous outfits?

Not that fashion blog; poor og rich, has to move to WordPress and with it comes a new name and a new look, The Style Teacher.

So while my main goal will always be teaching, I have decided that it is ok to try to look good while doing it.    Judge for yourself at The Style Teacher.