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.

It is fall here in beautiful state of Wisconsin and for teachers that means one thing; WKCE is here or the state’s accountability test. This lovely little test will take hours and days from some grades out of our learning to once and for all prove what students know or do not know. So as I pondered this year’s test last night (that’s what happens when one is up at 3 AM), I also thought of the test accommodations that we are allowed to provide and just how ridiculous they are. Read on to see what I mean:

Accommodation: Small group setting.
Premise: Big rooms and more students provide more anxiety and thus taking the student and placing them either in one-on-one setting or a small group will relieve that anxiety.
Debunked: Most often the anxiety the student is experiencing does not come from the setting. In fact, I would argue that most of the time the classroom is the preferred setting if it is for anxiety purposes, after all, this is the room that should be a safe-haven for students in a community they know. Not so in the case of a random conference room or even small closet. Some then argue the small group setting is for the quiet so the student in question can think better, except that doesn’t hold up either since students are absolutely not allowed to make any noise during the test. In a “perfect” test environment the only thing you should hear is the rustling of pencils writing, that’s it.

Accommodation: Read the instructions aloud.
Premise: Student who struggle with reading will know what to do.
Debunked: Students who struggle with reading are not going to get much help from someone reading the instructions when they cannot proceed to fully read and comprehend the actual problems. While math problems are also allowed to be read aloud in some cases, it still boils down to comprehension. Chances are if that student has this accommodation they have had other accommodations in the classroom to be successful learners, none of which are allowed during the test. But read it aloud, that we will do so you have more time to sit and ponder what you do not know or do not understand.

Accommodation: Extended time.
Premise: Students that process more slowly or have anxiety should be allowed unlimited time.
Debunked: I love this one. Nothing like giving a frustrated student as much time as they want to take the test that they are frustrated by. I still think most of my students that have been given this accommodation end up taking the least amount of time. Not all but most. If you do not understand the test or the question unlimited time will most often do nothing for you. That is like being presented with a test in French except you don’t speak the language, but hey, you have unlimited time to figure it out!

Accommodation: Break the test up.
Premise: For students who cannot focus for long periods of time you can spread the test out.
Debunked: Again, why continue to torture a child by prolonging the frustration. When a child is not successful on the test it seldom has anything to do with how long they can focus but rather the content itself. When no other help is offered such as breaking the problems apart (that is not allowed) how are we really helping?

So in the end, we sit with accommodations that do nothing to solve the problem; the test itself. We speak often of tests and how destructive they can be to students, and yet, we band-aid the harm of the test by trying to set up better accommodations. In the end, they change very little; the test itself flies in the face of how we instruct and how children work through problems. The test will therefore never be an accurate measure of how much a child actually knows within a learning community but only a measure of who can focus the longest and regurgitate facts. And is that really worth testing?

assumptions, being me, Decisions, life choices, students

We Should All Be Surprised

October 3, 2012 Pernille Ripp

image from icanread

A teacher contacts me at the beginning of the year at their wits end; they have this one student, you know the one, the one that doesn’t listen, the one with the rap sheet miles long even though they are just in 5th grade. That student that smiles and laughs and then turns deadly the moment you turn your back. yeah that one is now in their room and this teacher tries everything. Throughout the year we share tips and ideas, what if’s and have you tried’s. Sometimes there are small victories but most often the honeymoon is over before it began. At the end of the year the teacher is exhausted and the student is about the same except maybe taller, faster, and even more hellbent on saying no and getting their way.

Over the summer I hear once more from the teacher, this time telling me that the student had been in trouble with police. Something minor but still a gateway to worse, a gateway to things we so diligently try to shield our kids from. What comes next floors me; “I’m not surprised, just thought it would happen later, that’s all…” The words form a rope around my neck and I feel myself at a loss for words. I don’t know how to answer that, not then, but now I do. You should be surprised! You should be shocked that any kid decides to go down that path. We should never lose our surprise when students, kids, make bad decisions. I don’t care what path they were on in our classrooms. I don’t care how destructive they may have come off as. We should be surprised when they make terrible decisions and not just say, “See, I knew it would happen…”

I know this may be idealistic and perhaps I have one foot in utopia, but yet, we have to be surprised when our students fail our expectations. We have to be surprised when they wander into dangerous territory and make poor decisions. Be surprised when all of our hard work, all of our efforts, don’t seem to make a difference. Someone has to keep believing in these kids, even the ones we think are lost. Even the ones that give us the hardest time, sometimes, because after all, they are the ones that need it the most. So stay surprised and keep believing.

being a teacher, hidden rules, listen, Student-centered

Sometimes We Have to Break Our Rules

September 29, 2012 Pernille Ripp

image from icanread

It’s 3:40 AM and Ida is inconsolable. My normally calm, happy baby just will not stop crying; she is clearly miserable. I have tried everything in the baby books; swaddling, ssshhing, feeding, rocking, singing, pacifier, but nothing, nothing works besides holding her in my arms. So I do what I had promised myself not to do this time around, fall asleep with her on my chest, and finally we both get some much needed rest.

Why do I share this story? Because sometimes doing the thing we had promised we would never do is exactly what we need to do in our classrooms to progress. Sometimes we have to go against what we have read, go against what we have thought we would do, and simply figure out how we can help a child. Because when that child clearly has needs we are not fulfilling and we stumble across some idea, or we realize that our procedures and policies simply do not work, well then, we have to break those rules.

In the end; helping all children succeed is what we were put into our classrooms for. Even if that means sometimes doing things we never thought we would do. And I am ok with that.

blogging, kidblog, student blogging, writing

6 Steps to Better Student Blogging

September 24, 2012 Pernille Ripp

image from icanread

When I started blogging with my students, I had no idea what I was doing. I knew I wanted them to write, I knew I wanted them to connect, and I knew I wanted them to reflect openly on many issues and not just blog their writing assignments. Sometimes their blogs blew me away and other times I wanted to encourage them to hit delete rather than publish. Over the years as I have seen our blogging reach a wider audience, we have fine-tuned what it means to blog and it is something that I continue to work on with every batch of new students. So how can you take your blogging from just writing to actual global collaboration and reflection, well, these tips may help.

Be a blogger yourself! I show this blog to my students and we discuss what I do to keep an ongoing dialogue going. We discuss what my writing looks like and who I am writing for. The students notice the care I take with my posts and also that I (usually) comment back. Because I am dedicated to my own blog, I know how much work it is and also how fulfilling it is. Why would you ever ask students to bare their souls if you haven’t bared your own?
Make it authentic. Yes, I have students write about curriculum once in a while, but rarely is just a typed up version of something they already wrote. So if you want them to blog about an in-class topic such as science, how about making them keep a science inquiry diary where they discuss and reflect on their discoveries and answer questions from others?
Discuss the difference. We tend to assume that students know the difference between blogging and writing but they usually don’t. So make a chart, a list, a poster, something and use the students’ own language to discuss the similarities and differences. Post it and bring it up again, particularly if you see students’ writing not developing the way it should.
Create expectations. Again, ask the students; what should a great blog post look like? Then hold them to it. I have certain requirements the students have to follow and they also add their own to them, after all, this is being published to the world. While I would not have my students write a rough draft and then type that up, I believe we can hold them to a certain standard when it comes to their blogging. It should be punctuated correctly, spelled mostly correctly, and it should be a blog post, not just a couple of lines.
Make the time for it. And keep it! I have an urge to blog most days and I do wait until inspiration strikes, however, that takes training in a sense. I love to blog and I love the conversations that follow blog posts, but this is something I have grown accustomed to. I didn’t start out that way and neither do most of my students. So dedicate class time to blog, discuss their blogs, and celebrate the comments the students get. Make it a big deal because it is! When we grow complacent about our student blogs, they lose their deeper meaning and students can take the global connections aspect for granted. The blog then becomes just another forced writing assignment. So make them a big deal and keep them that way.
Prepare, Discuss, and Reflect. Before you start blogging, do all of the necessary preparation. Then while you blog discuss how it is going, fine-tune the expectations, and maintain a blogging presence in the classroom. Reflect once in a while; how is the blogging going? Should we take a break? Have students run the discussion, it is there hearts and minds on the line, not yours.

If you need more help, please visit my blogging resource page. I even have a letter for parents on blogs that you can get here. But in the end, if you do student blogging right, it may just turn into one of the most rewarding experiences for the students and for you. And even if you don’t do it right, it is never too late to fix it. Happy blogging!

being a teacher, classroom management, discipline, punishment

Red Cup, Green Cup, I Even Had a Blue Cup – Why I Threw Out My Sticks in A Cup

September 20, 2012 Pernille Ripp

image from icanread

I remember the first time I displayed my classroom management cups; I was so proud. Although the idea was not my own, far from it, I felt that here was something I could embrace, here was something I could stand behind and really make my own. My old system of putting names on the board had proven to be too complicated, I had given up on it and so had searched for something new. Inspiration struck in another classroom and I too had gone to Target and purchased my cups; big fancy tropical drink cups.

The system was so easy; a stick with your name on it starts out in green, when you misbehave you move it to yellow – warning! – and then when you disobey again you move into red. But that wasn’t enough, oh no, I needed another level of bad, another level of punishment; enter the blue cup! The blue cup was an immediate phone call home to parents. It didn’t matter what we were doing, blue infractions meant stop the class and make that phone call in front of all of the class to tell your parents just why you were calling home. Proponents of in-class embarrassment can clap their hands with glee here. It was great! Not only did I get to call students out in front of their classmates to move their stick, I also got to have the cloud of warning hanging over them all day, and that stick of theirs could never move backwards in a day, only forward so the whole class knew exactly who had been bad that day with absolutely no chance to redeem themselves, power to the teacher!

With some kids the system was great, they misbehaved so often I didn’t even have to speak the words, we had a hand motion and a certain look that told them exactly what they needed to do. Move that stick or else! Or else… or else I publicly humiliate you in front of your peers, or else I make sure that if your day didn’t start out poor it is now guaranteed to be. Or else I call you out for any little thing because I am so focused on you now with that stick in the yellow cup. Those cups were central to the power in the room. Their placement was at the front of the class right by the white board where everybody could see them. No slinking to the back to move your stick, oh no, get up here and do it.

So what were these stick moving infractions because they must have been bad, right? Well, to the teacher I was then, where it all had to do with keeping the control, they were definite deal breakers. They were kids speaking out of turn, blurting out, or not paying attention. Kids coming in late from recess or not having their supplies ready after they had been asked. How about leaving your homework at home and then forgetting to come in during recess to do it. Or if I was in a bad mood it might be a snarky comment or the attempt at a joke; move your stick! You see, there was no rhyme or reason, some days it was easy to move your stick, other days I let things slide because I was in a better mood. And yes, some kids moved their sticks more than others because they just couldn’t sit still, because they just couldn’t get it together, because they were that kid that just keeps getting in trouble because we are so focused on them and their misbehavior. Poor kids.

So I stopped when I realized, too late, how much damage this system had created. Students had relinquished the power to me, sure, but it was because of fear not out of respect. They knew I was the boss because I made sure they were at the edge of their seats hoping to not be called to the front. I had created the type of classroom I swore I would never teach in and it had all been so easy. I knew I had to change when I saw their self-esteem suffer. I knew I had to change when it was the same kid day in and day out moving that stick. I knew I had to change when those parents didn’t answer the phone call because they knew it was not good news. I knew I had to change when I couldn’t recognize the teacher I saw in the mirror. So I threw out the cups, threw out the sticks, took a deep breath and swore off all systems. No more sticks, no more calling out, no more cups. And guess what…the kids behaved. The kids started to have more fun, to show respect, to pay attention. Was it perfect? Of course not, this is real life not a movie. But by throwing out the cups we shifted the power to be more balanced. The room became theirs again and I got to fulfill the role as teacher, not just punisher. I got to show the kids that I loved my job and more importantly that I loved having them in my life and that will always be more important that a cup and a stick. I have never looked back.

global, global read aloud, tools

5 Reasons I Love Using Edmodo in the Classroom

September 17, 2012 Pernille Ripp

Image representing Edmodo as depicted in Crunc...

Image via CrunchBase

I have long been a fan of Edmodo after it was introduced to me as tool in the Global Read Aloud. This free social network specifically aimed at students and teachers is a fabulous way to integrate social media into your classroom, as well as setting up ways to collaborate with other classrooms.

While there are many great tutorials on how to use Edmodo such as this one by Jason Bedell, it is really one of those sites that needs very little how-to explanation, which makes it ideal for any techie newbie out there. So here is my top 5 reasons for using this social network

Global collaboration made easy such as for the Global Read Aloud. We have different groups set up for teachers and small student groups. We love how easy it is for people to find each other, share resources, and even branch off on their own. This is our fastest growing site used in the GRA and parents can even be invited in to see everything we do.
It is free! Teachers love free things and particularly ones that are really well made. Edmodo is easy to use, easy to facilitate, and does not charge us a dime.
It is a great introduction to Facebook. I know this may sound strange but I love how closely Edmodo resembles Facebook without it being Facebook. Being a 5th grade teacher where students are legally not allowed to be on Facebook, Edmodo provides them with an opportunity to dabble in social media and getting used to using it well.
It is private! I love the ability to set up different groups and the ability to add students to them. I also love that this is something only teachers or administrators can do and not just anyone. I also love how we have control over who joins the group, connects with us, and how we communicate. You cannot find someone on Edmodo outside of it and yet it provides enough flexibility within its privacy that students can create meaningful collaboration.
It provides a direct pipeline to the teacher. I love that students can use Edmodo for informal as well as formal classroom work. My students often use it to ask for homework help, clarification, or just to boast of their latest achievement. They also use it to reach out to me privately with questions or concerns and I love this capability. Some students simply do not feel comfortable speaking to you about private things out in the open but this way they can contact me directly without anyone knowing.

Of course there are many more reasons, such as how easy it is to share resources, how it allows students to communicate with other classrooms and create polls, how parents can get a window into the classroom, and how I could use it to post and gather homework assignments. So this top 5 is just that; my top 5. Why do you love Edmodo?