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.

assessment, being a teacher, change, Student-centered

Why Giving Second Chances Should be Second Nature

November 1, 2011 Pernille Ripp

We have all had the phone call, “Tommy studied so hard but didn’t do very well on the test, is there anything we can do?” How many of us have said, “No, sorry…” I know I used to. I used to be the queen of no extra credit, no re-takes, no second chances. That is until then I realized how this didn’t reflect adult life. In my job I get second chances all of the time. If a lesson doesn’t go as planned, I re-do it or teach it again. I don’t get observed only once to have my teaching career decided but instead multiple times by various people. If we have a bad day, we go back, fix it, and then move forward. Every single day I get to learn from my mistakes. So why is it we are so hellbent on not giving our students the same second chance? Yes, I know that standardized tests have inane rules we have to follow, but nothing else does. We decide the rules and for some reason a lot of the time those rules do not involve allowing students to learn from their mistakes mistakes.

Last year, my students got to fix everything they handed in. Stupid mistakes became teaching moments, sloppy work was enhanced, and gaps of knowledge were filled in. It was certainly more work for me, but what it taught the kids was invaluable; perseverance, dedication, and not being afraid to try something. More learning occurred in my room last year than ever before. And this year is no different, my students give me their best and then we figure out how to learn even more. By giving them second chances, they are proving to me how much they really know, outside of the anxiety, the pressure, and the rigidity that can occur. So why not try it? Give your students back that test and tell them to fix it, give them back their work and tell them to enhance it. Give them another chance to learn.

assessment, goal, tools

Oh Wow – An Adventure with my Livescribe

October 30, 2011 Pernille Ripp

Recently, thanks to a wonderful member of my PLN (I won’t name him so he doesn’t get inundated with requests) I was mailed a LiveScribe pen. I have wanted one of these little wonders for a long time thinking it would help me assess my students, keep a record of their progress and also let them hear my thoughts about their work. Having 25 students in my room means I simply do not get as much time to sit down one-on-one with them to give them all of their needed feedback. The Livescribe pen allows me to record my thoughts and then have them listen to it so we can start a dialogue.

Life has gotten in the way a bit, though, so I haven’t had enough time to really get to know the tool and thus had not used in a professional sense yet. The opportunity finally came Monday where I was involved in an integration day for one of my students with special needs. This is where the genius
of this little pen shone brightly; during the meeting I was able to take notes and record the goal discussion that was happening in the room. I, of course, informed the meeting participants that I was recording and then we started to work. I now have notes and a recording of what we discussed should be this student’s main goals accessible to me at any time. Sheer brilliance.

The recording has already been shared with other members involved in the child’s education and I am planning on referring to it throughout the year as we try to keep him engaged and involved in the learning. One click of the button and now my memory can fault me all i want, I have it all right there.

PS: In a way you can say this is a sponsored post since I was given the pen for free to try out, but the enthusiasm is genuine. I am already excited about the other possibilities of using the pen; hello post-observation conference!

Uncategorized

Giving Grades is the Easy Way Out

October 28, 2011 Pernille Ripp

Somewhere in the grade debate, colleges came into the picture. As in if you don’t grade a student, they will never be able to get into college. However, this simply isn’t true, in fact Alfie Kohn just discussed it in his latest article “The Case Against Grades.” In it he also makes the point that even if a college did require grades, they don’t care about the grades from middle school or elementary school. And yet as a nation we are obsessed with numbers and ranks. We love to sort our children and compare them to others. Unfortunately because we have so many to get to, we do it the easy way; by assigning them a letter grade based on a percentage.

Now, you may think that I am bashing teachers who grade, but no, I am discussing the system that requires us to do so. I grade. I have to for trimester report cards, that is also the only time my students see a letter grade. It is decided upon through a conversation between the student and where we discuss their progress and their goals. Also, don’t confuse this for an attack on assessing students, because it is not. Grades do not equal assessment at all times.

So let’s be frank, it is way easier for me to grade my students than it is to properly assess them. Grading means I can tell them when something is due, collect it from them, take it home and based upon a rubric or key I assign their percentage which then translates into a grade. All I then have to do is enter it into my gradebook and hand it back to the child. Assessment done. I don’t need to speak to the child about their work because it would not change how they did. I could also dock them points if they handed it in late, or didn’t have their name on it. I could dock them points for neatness or creativity, because I am the judge of both of those.

True assessment is messy and time consuming. It involves speaking to the children about their work and their progress. You have to find the time to speak to all of them about whatever they are working on. You have to actually listen while they speak and brainstorm together. And this can’t be a one-time visit either if the project is larger, then you have to find the time for multiple check-ins. When the project is finished you look through it with the child. You discuss its strengths, its weaknesses and how it could be improved. You discuss what they have learned, what they have discovered, and sometimes you even let them take it back and work on it some more. Those conversations don’t translate into neat percentages. They don’t translate well into grades because my “A” is going to be different from anyone else’s “A.” Together you assess and perhaps even find new venues for learning. You walk away feeling that you know the child, their knowledge, their passions and what they need to focus on. Percentages don’t tell you that.

Now I know what some will say; I don’t have time to discuss all of this with my students, especially people who have more than one classroom. And to them I say; who decides what your assignments look like? Who decides how the time is spent in the classroom? We have more power over how we teach than we think, even with all of the crazy standards and regulations we all face. We decide how the time is spent in our rooms, how material is covered, how students learn together. We decide more than we know.

So next time you sit down to grade an assignment, wonder whether it can be done a different way. Wonder whether this is truly giving you the best perception of the child’s learning and growth. You might be surprised of what you realize.

Be the change, being a teacher, believe, failure, Student-centered

Please Don’t Mark It Wrong – How Our Society Raise Children Afraid to Fail

October 27, 2011 Pernille Ripp

Another child stands by me asking for my help, 5 seconds after the assignment has been given, “But I just don’t get it, Mrs. Ripp…” And I ask, because this is the 3rd time today that this child has come up to me immediately into work time, “Well, did you try?” She hasn’t, she is scared, and she admits it readily; “Please don’t circle it. Please don’t mark it wrong.” So upset, she raises her voice, pleads with me as if my circle matters. As if my marker holds the power. And I am stumped because how does a 5th grader get that scared of failing?

The truth is we are doing this to kids, we, this society in pursuit of perfection is doing it to our kids, because it was done to us as well. My daughter, who granted is only a wise two and a half year old is not afraid to fail. She gets frustrated sure, but she tries and tries and then sometimes tries again. We encourage this at home, urging her on, urging her to explore, to pick herself up. Again, again, again. Will she be the child in 8 years that stands petrified in front of me, asking for help because trying seems too daunting?

No teacher or parent tries to make their child afraid of failure. Yet our practices in schools support this notion that failure is the worst thing that can happen. An incorrect answer on a test pulls down your grade, you get enough, and you get an F for failure stamped across it for the world to see. That F means nothing valid, nothing worth reading here, nothing worth. Homework that is meant to be practice is tabulated, calculated, and spit out on our report cards. The child who gets the answer right is heralded as smart, the child who gets it wrong is told to keep trying and maybe they will get it someday.

How we run our classrooms directly affect how students feel about themselves. About how they feel about their own capabilities and their own intelligence. I fail all the time in front my kids, not on purpose, I try stuff and it doesn’t work and we talk about it. And yet, I am not perfect either. I catch myself in using practice problems as assessment, where really they should be viewed just as practice. I praise the kids that get it right and sometimes don’t praise the ones that kept persisting but never reach a correct answer. I don’t alway have enough time to explore all of the options so I guide the kids toward success knowing that some venues will lead them to failure. I shield them from it sometimes because I don’t want to crush their spirits.

We have to stand up for our children and we have to turn this notion around that failure is the worst thing that can happen. Failure is not the worst; not trying is. We have to keep our kids believing in themselves and having enough confidence to try something. If we don’t we are raising kids that follow all of the rules, that never take risks, that never discover something new. And that failure is too big to remedy.

collaboration, connections, projects, skype, Student-centered

So You Want to Do Mystery Skype?

October 25, 2011August 24, 2013 Pernille Ripp

Mystery Skype is one of those ideas I wish I had thought because it just so fun but instead I was lucky enough to hear about it from Caren MacConnell. The concept is simple: classrooms Skype call each other and try to guess where the other classroom is located either in the United States or in the world. There are many great resources out there but for my own sanity I am creating one list for future reference:Before the call:

Sign up – there are many places to sign up and some are even grade level based. I signed up a couple of places but also tweeted it out; the response was immediate as a lot of people are doing this. If you would like to sign up:
Decide on a date and time – don’t forget to consider in timezones.
Prepare the kids
1. We wanted to know facts about our own state so that we would be ready for any question. We therefore researched the following questions: climate, region, neighboring states, time zone, capital, famous landmarks, geographical location. All of this gave the students a better grip of what they might be asked.
2. We also brainstormed questions to possibly ask. We like the concept of the questions having to have yes or no answers as it makes the game a little harder and has the students work on their questioning skills. Questions we came up with included whether they were in the United States, whether they were east of the Mississippi, Whether they were West of the Rocky Mountains, If they were in a specific region, whether they border other countries, whether they are landlocked etc.
3. Give jobs. I think it is most fun when the kids all have jobs, so this was a list of our jobs:
  1. Greeters – Say hello to the class and some cool facts about the class – without giving away the location.
  2. Inquirers – these kids ask the questions and are the voice of the classroom. They can also be the ones that answer the questions.
  3. Answerers – if you have a lot of kids it is nice to have designated question answerers – they should know their state facts pretty well.
  4. Think tanks – I had students sit ina group and figure out the clues based on the information they knew. Our $2 whiteboards came in handy for this.
  5. Question keepers – these students typed all of the questions and answers for us to review later.
  6. Google mappers – two students were on Google maps studying the terrain and piecing together clues.
  7. Atlas mapper – two students used atlases and our pull down map to also piece together clues.
  8. Clue keepers – worked closely with answerers and inquirers to help guide them in their questioning.
  9. Runners – Students that runs from group to group relaying information.
  10. Photographer – takes pictures during the call
  11. Clue Markers – These students worked with puzzles of the United States and maps to remove any states that didn’t fit into the clues given.
  12. Problem solver – this student helped students with any issues they may encounter during the call.
  13. Closers – End the call in a nice manner after guesses have been given.
4. Note my students have since then tweaked these jobs – here is a link to our new Mystery Skype jobs

During the Call:
During the call you just have to step back and trust the kids. My students were incredible, both with their enthusiasm and their knowledge, I think I was more nervous than they were. I did have to fact check some of their answers so I did stay close by but otherwise it ran pretty smoothly. We decided which class would go first with their first question and then there were two options:

Yes answer: They get to ask another question.
No answer – Other team’s turn to ask a question.

Students were allowed to guess whenever they thought they had a great answer (and it was their turn). In the end, both classes were able to guess each other’s location.
One note; Don’t allow kids to use the Internet to try to google the other class – it spoils the geographical purpose of the challenge.

A list of questions as created by my students to help you start.

Resources:
For our preparation for this, I showed the kids this video on Linda Yollis’ blog – it really gave the students a concrete example of what to expect and they got very excited. Also Mr. Avery has a great discussion of jobs he had students do during the call.
Jerry Blumengarten also has a nice collection of links on one of his many pages that was helpful to me.

Here is a video of our first call with Joan Young’s class

We are already excited to try it again!

being me

So We Lost…But We Didn’t Really

October 25, 2011 Pernille Ripp

So what do you think when you see you are no longer in the running to win The Great American Teach Off? Bummedness at first, after all $10,000 is almost half my net salary and would go an incredibly long way in my school, but then something else… relief. You see, who would want to be at their most innovative 4 years into their teaching career? Who would want to peak at such a young age when I have so many years of teaching still left in me? I hope that when I am 70, I can look back at my years of teaching and see the change, the progress.

So while my students were so disappointed, I was just fine with the news. We have new challenges to face, new ideas (and old ones) to explore, and new things to learn. We are on to the next adventure; thank you for believing and thank you for voting for us.