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.

choices, classroom management, discipline, punishment, students

If We Would Just Stop Talking We Might Learn Something

April 20, 2012July 24, 2013 Pernille Ripp

Image from icanread

Note: After publishing this post today, its original title “If They Could Just Sit Still They Might Learn Something” didn’t seem to fit it anymore. After all, that title once again puts the blame on the students. Thus this new title which focuses on where the problem lies; within me.

You know the group of students; those impulsive, blurter-outers that poke each other during class and never quite seem to be listening to what you are doing. Those kids that are in every class who the more we yell, the less they do. Those kids I thought I had figured out until recently. Well those kids have been teaching me quite the lessons lately. Those kids have reminded me why I changed my teaching style in the first place and now I stand renewed, refocused, and definitely re-humbled.

First lesson; Don’t assume they don’t know something. After a few days lessons with some students I kept thinking that their gaps were huge, that their knowledge was lacking, that they had missed out on so much. Until I started to pay attention. Then instead of whole concepts missing, I realized there were small misconceptions that needed to be tweaked, things that needed to be defined, items that should be refreshed. It wasn’t that they were missing entire units, rather that some of their remembering was just a little off.

Second lesson; Talking more will not teach them more. I kept droning on trying to cover everything that I thought they had missed or needed reinforced; is it any wonder that they grew more and more restless? When raising my voice didn’t seem to change the situation, it dawned on me that I needed to stop talking. Let them work, switch up the task, and stop hogging the lime light. Have mini projects, get them moving, even use mini whiteboards, anything to make them active. Switch it up!

Third lesson; Give them time to think. I was so excited when one student knew the answer that I called on them to be more efficient. That way we could cover more material since all I was looking for was the answer anyway. When we take away students’ time to think though we rob them of the chance to explore their procedures, to gain confidence, and to learn something. It is not about the answer, it is about how you get there.

Fourth lesson; Bring back the fun. Often when faced with students who seem to be struggling with concepts we switch to drill and kill mode. We take away the “fun” projects because that wont teach them enough. Unfortunately those projects and hands-on activities are just what we need. These students have already been taught something the traditional way, now lets think of another way to explore it. Anything hands-on activity always seems better than just more and more practice.

Fifth lesson; Let them teach. When a student gets something, let them explain how they did it. Let them get the confidence they need to speak to a whole group of peers. Let them boast a little to build confidence. Don’t just tell them, “Good job,” let them have their moment because perhaps that hasn’t happened very often.

Sixth Lesson; Don’t punish. When students were blurting out and drowning me in side conversation, my brain immediately switched to consequence mode. Amazing how it still lurks below the surface, ingrained somewhere, even now after almost 2 years with no classroom punishment. Instead of punishing though, I came up with a solution; a simple post it on their desk. Now when they blurt out an answer or jab at each other they have to put down a tally mark. I just make a check motion with my finger and they know, it is between the student and I. Nothing is done with the amount of tallies, it is simply a way for them to see how much they blurt out. Several students have already told me after two days of this that they cannot believe they blurt out so much. Self-awareness beats punishment any day.

When students are loud, out of their seats or simply not focused, we tend to blame the student. We tend to think that something is wrong with their concentration rather than looking inward and wondering what can we change about ourselves? What can we change about our delivery? And while these lessons are not a fix all plan, they are helping me teach these students better. They are reminding me what it feels like to not understand something and still want to learn. They are reminding me that I can be boring and dry as a teacher and that it has a direct effect on the students. Once again, my students taught me something important and for that I am thankful.

challenge, Science

The Super Tube Challenge

April 20, 2012 Pernille Ripp

Again, another great idea adapted from Bill Ferriter; The Super Tube Challenge!

Goal: Strengthen a toilet paper tube to hold as many social studies book as possible when it stands vertically.

Materials:

As many different paper tubes as you can collect – we collected for almost 2 months.
Unlimited masking tape
25 small popsicle sticks – purposely set a limit because I did not want popsicle stick structures.
One standard toilet paper tube per group

Rules:

Only the original toilet paper tube may touch the table.
It may not be taped to the table.
You may not stack tubes next to each other on the table, anything that is taped onto the original toilet paper tube may not touch the table.
You may not steal supplies from each other.
They get exactly one hour from start to finish.
They may use books throughout the challenge to test strength of their design.
You may not interact with other groups during the challenge.

Process before the challenge:

Either have students pick or assign teams of 3
Show them a regular toilet paper tube and stack as many heavy books on one until it collapses. In our case it was 3 social studies books.
Tell them the challenge.
Show them materials they will be building with.
Have them plan for at least 10 minutes the first day. I did this challenge over 3 different times, 2 10 minute chunks and then big 60 minute time.
Explain the rules and discuss them. Students will probably have questions.
Give them time to manipulate the tube and start a plan with group – we spent 10 minutes doing this.
Another day give them another 10 minutes to discuss whether they need to have modifications to their design or not. They also need to assign one person to be the “scavenger.” This will be the only person who can gather materials.
Have them decide on a plan of attack for the challenge.

The Challenge:

Have 25 popsicle sticks and original paper tube ready for each team.
Set a timer for 60 minutes (or whatever time you decide).
Start timer – scavenger may get 10 tubes for their team – free for all.
Throughout the challenge , like 15 min in I let the students scavenge one more time but usually just 2 tubes at a time.
Film the challenge!
At some point, inform them that you are taking away their masking tape. This added challenge forces them to rethink their supplies as well as their original design, great on their feet thinking needed.
I did shout out minutes left throughout challenge.
At 60 minutes all building stops, hands off and the designs rest for a minute. Then I place the books to see who has the strongest tube design.

Learning Goals:
Students will work on:

Teamwork
Perseverance
Creative problem solving
Engineering for structural strength
Time management
Controlling variables
Planning
Using standard materials in a non-standard fashion.

New Adventure, Student-centered, technology, video

Well Hello Adobe and Thank You For Coming To Our Room!

April 18, 2012 Pernille Ripp

Being a teacher with pretty tech savvy 5th graders means I am constantly on the look out for ideas of how to integrate technology into our lessons. And while I do love technology, I never want to integrate it just for the sake of the tool, but rather to ensure a deeper level of exploration and inquiry for my students. We use Flip video cameras quite a bit in our room whether to record our learning, create video projects, or even make presentations for other students. Yet whenever we had recorded footage we always ran into a major obstacle; no editing software other than Flipshare or Windows Movie Maker. And sure these programs work alright, they just are not that kid friendly and definitely not up to what our students want to create. So when Adobe contacted me and wanted to know if I would be interested in trying out some of their software for them and then review it, I jumped at the chance. Maybe, just maybe, their Premier Elements software is exactly what we have been looking for.

So I told my students about this opportunity and they got as excited as I did. I am in constant awe of their fearlessness of new technology. Talk about a huge lesson we as teachers should learn! Yesterday the software was finally installed on my computer at school thanks to my awesome tech integrator Linda and I cannot wait to have the students use it. So far the first project we will use the software for will be creating 5th grade survival videos for the incoming 4th graders as a way of working on our script writing and fluency/expression. I cannot wait to share our honest opinion about the Adobe software and how it worked in the hands of my talented 5th graders.

So from time to time, you may see a post about Adobe and as always it will feature my unbiased opinion – or even better, that of my students. I am as curious as many other elementary educators whether Adobe software can be used at our level, so there will be no holds barred when it comes to reviews. For now, if you already have access to Adobe software at your school, do check out the Adobe Education Exchange; super great resource for ways to integrate their technology created by other teachers. I have been exploring it and finding it easy to access and search for grade specific resources.

challenge, Science, Student-centered

The Spaghetti and Marshmallow Tower Challenge

April 18, 2012 Pernille Ripp

Thanks to Bill Ferriter for sharing the idea for this wonderful science challenge here. I also garnished ideas from this PDF created by the BA.

As part of our team building and creative problem solving efforts, we have done several challenges throughout the year. This one therefore fit perfectly in with science as we were able to discuss variables, perseverance, and working as a team.

Goal:
To build the tallest marshmallow and spaghetti tower within 30 minutes. The tallest tip will be the marshmallow that is furthest off the ground

Process:

You will create or be assigned a team; 3 people to each team.
You will be given 100g of spaghetti and 50 grams of mini marshmallows.
You will have 5 minutes to plan your approach.
You will have 30 minutes of build time.
Spaghetti and marshmallows may be broken but marshmallows may not be made wet.
You may not actively seek out other groups to poach ideas but you may spot ideas from your work station.
Once time is called a full minute will be waited before teacher measures height. This is to ensure tower stability.

Learning Goals:
Students will work on

Determining variables and controlling them
Team work
Time management
Creative problem solving
Engineering for structural strength
Perseverance and idea adaptation

Here is a video showing parts of the challenge and the winning design

education, student blogging, students

The Purpose of Education According to My Students

April 17, 2012 Pernille Ripp

I know we as educators frequently discuss what we think the purpose of education is. Fancy words and creative sentences abound when this noble philosophy is discussed. We debate, digest and dissect until we feel we have reached some form of conclusion, that is, until someone new sparks a different discussion and we ponder it all over again. Yet how often do we ask our students that question? How often do we ask them what the purpose is of education and then listen to their answer?

Well, last week I unleashed the question on my fabulous 5th graders who took the time to ponder and then blog about it. And they would love to hear your thoughts! However, a couple of things struck me as a trend in their answer, so much so that Wordle even agrees with me.

– There is a purpose to education, it is not just a waste of time.
– Education somehow prepares us for life after school and without we may not be succesful (something I don’t totally agree with)
– Education is related to their life

I loved what Karina wrote;
Why is Education so important to kids and adults? This question made me really think. I have heard kids say ” Why do I have to go to school.” and their parents say ” Because you have too.” It is not the easiest question to answer but if you think about, it is actually easy. My first answer was… This man screwed up his life and does not want it to happen to anybody else. After I thought that for a little bit it came to me. It was that people way way back used writing and reading to escape from people who controlled them and didn’t treat them well. If people were educated to write and read then they had more choices in life. They could work a lot of different jobs. Education gives us choices in life.

Emphasis added by me.

No matter what we decide the noble purpose of education is, I love how my student, David, adds another dimension to the question. He finishes his post with,

“A final and really important reason for going to school is making friends. I mean, it feels good to talk to someone when you are sad, really excited, bored and just to talk! You need to know how to interact with people if your job requires it.”

So perhaps education from the eyes of a 5th grader is just to prepare them for life outside of school, to teach them to read or write, but in the end it is also about developing them as human beings, to maintain them as someone who others want to be friends with. And that is indeed a noble purpose.

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