Be the change – Page 16

“I would give them time to read but I don’t have the time…”

The words haunt me several weeks later. Shocking in their simplicity, yet profound in their meaning. I didn’t have the courage then to address it but I have the courage now.

You see, that statement represents so much of what goes wrong in our reading instruction. We want kids to read but expect them to do it outside of our classrooms. We want them to grow as readers but expect them to fall into the pages of a book on their own. We want them to be readers but then tell them that with us we don’t have to practice because surely they know how to do that already. And yet the numbers don’t lie. The increase in summer slide, in kids who say they don’t read for fun and the scary statistic that says that 26% of adults haven’t read a book in the last year.

And we wonder why we seem to be turning from a nation of readers into a nation of watchers.

It starts with us. It starts with the way we choose to spend our time. It starts with our lesson planning. We nurture the seeds of reading and make the decisions that will help them grow or wither. With us, the reading should start so that it has a chance to continue once they leave us. It is as simple as that.

So how do we find the time to have kids read when we don’t have the time? The answer lies in the small things, the small tweaks that we make every single day with one goal in mind; more time to read.

We start with independent reading. Every day.

My students start every single class with 10 minutes of uninterrupted free choice reading time. I do reading check-ins during this time, but their job is to read. To fall into the pages of a book. Nothing else. Every child is expected to read, and for those who fight it every single day, I keep trying every single day. I wish I could give more but 10 isthe least I can give, if I had a longer class period, I would give more time.

Ask yourself; what if we started with independent reading, what is the worst that could happen?

We figure out our learning target.

While I don’t love everything about learning targets, they do force me to think about the ONE thing that I want students to grow in. Too often we pile many different lessons into one, which increases our talk time. Instead, really narrow down what is the most important for today and then focus your lesson in on just that. I know that I teach many different skills in one day, but this helps clear up some of the clutter.

Ask yourself; what is the one skill we really need to focus on today?

We stop talking so much.

Teachers are estimated to speak 60-75 % of the time. So if you teach in 45 minute periods like I do, we are dominating almost 30 minutes of that time. No wonder we say we don’t have the time. Yet how much of that time talking is spent on repeating instructions, on giving extra directions, or simply trying to answer every single thing question asked in front of the whole class. So set a timer, record yourself, have someone observe you, or ask a child to stop you after a certain amount of time. Couple this with a specific goal and then stick to it when someone says you are out of time. If it is a lengthy lesson, which mine sometimes are, explain why to the kids and then help them get up and move. But again, if you start with reading then you will already have preserved their reading time.

Ask yourself; how can I find out how much time I actually spend talking?

We get to the point.

I know we are supposed to activate background knowledge, share personal stories, and really suck kids into our instruction but how often do we get so wrapped up in sucking them in that we lose them by the time we finally get to the point. Keep the introduction short, it is, after all, the introduction, and get to the meat of the lesson more quickly.

Ask yourself; How can I keep my introduction to only a few sentences?

We do most of our teaching in small groups rather than whole class.

How often do our lessons increase because we are trying to teach all the skills to all the students and yet what is really needed is one major teaching point and then tons of small groups for personalized instruction? So focus your one thing in on what all the kids need and then save everything else for small group instruction. That way kids are getting what they need rather than tuning out in a large class.

Ask yourself; is this needed for all of the kids or just some of them?

We re-evaluate our routines.

Independent reading is my bell-ringer, it is my task to do while I do attendance. It is the thing to do while kids get settled in. It is the thing to do while I check in on a kid. It the thing to do while we wait for the last kid to show up. If you are waiting for something you read. If you think you are done and need to check in with me you read until we can speak.

Ask yourself: What small things take up time in your everyday routine that could be converted into reading time because, truly, every minute counts?

We cut out the extra stuff.

Just like we speak too much during class, we also have kids go through unnecessary hoops to teach and practice their skills. Do they really need to “do” something every day with their reading other than talk? Can they simply read some days and not write about it? Not post-it note it? Not do mini jots or other tasks? I fear we often feel that we need proof that their reading meant something or that they got something out of it, and that leads us creating more tasks to do. We focus a lot on longer projects so that we minimize the time spent doing stuff around their reading.

Ask yourself; is the task I planned for them to do essential or filler?

We grow our patience.

We often stop with independent reading because not ALL kids are reading, not ALL kids are making great choices, not ALL kids are using it well. But some are. The thing is, it takes time, sometimes months, sometimes years to help kids embrace independent reading. For some, it seems an impossible task and yet, we can nurture them as readers every single day. We can show that our belief in them being well-developed readers is strong and that we will keep believing in them every single day, even if they reject us completely.

Ask yourself; Am I making whole class decisions based on a few kids?

If we want kids to be readers we give them time to read, I cannot state this enough. I cannot bold it enough. I cannot repeat it enough. We cannot wonder why our students are not reading if we don’t give them time to do so with us. Then that’s on us. And if you don’t believe me, read the research courtesy of Donalyn Miller.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my newest book, Passionate Readers – The Art of Reaching and Engaging Every Child, out August 2017. This book focuses on the five keys we can implement into any reading community to strengthen student reading experiences, even within the 45 minute English block. If you are looking for solutions and ideas for how to re-engage all of your students consider reading my very first book Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students. Also, if you are wondering where I will be in the coming year or would like to have me speak, please see this page.

Be the change, being a teacher, Student dreams, student driven, Student Engagement, student voice

Maybe Next Year…

November 11, 2017 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

I was a “just fine” teacher for many years.

The kids who came to me who were successful in school did just fine. The kids who had already figured out the way to do school were just fine. The kids who seemed to find things to like about school ended up just fine.

And yet, every year there they were. Their data staring back at me as fiercely as their refusals. That little group of kids that no one seemed to be able to reach, to help, to figure out how to make them grow like we hoped they would.

And every year, at the end of the year, I hoped for the very same thing; maybe next year it will finally click. Maybe next year’s teacher will figure it out. Maybe next year they will be a better teacher than me. Maybe next year…

But what I seemed to forget for so many years. What I still forget at times is one simple truth; for all of our kids, we are the “Next year…”

We are the teachers that are supposed to finally figure it out, to make the difference, to help them grow.

We are the teachers that are supposed to find just one more idea when we seemingly have tried everything and yet nothing has made a difference.

We are the teachers that we hoped all of “those” kids would get. We are the maybe next year…

So we cannot sit back and wait for next year when that is exactly what we are.

We cannot hope that others will figure it out better than us when we are what these kids got. We cannot pass the child on as an unsolved mystery without working until the very last day, the very last moment, in the hopes that something, even something minuscule, will finally help them grow.

So we keep trying, and we keep reflecting, and we keep asking questions. And we slide those book stacks across their desks with our most enticing books, and we keep sliding them even when they dismiss us through their eye rolls or outright refusal.

We purchase the books we hope they will read.

We confer with them even if they have little new to say.

We give them as much of our time as we can so that they can see that rather than giving up we keep coming back.

And we rediscover the hope of becoming a reader that may have been extinguished either by our own actions or of actions outside of our control.

So when I am asked but what do we do when the kids still don’t read?

When they still don’t care?

When they still just don’t?

I remind myself and anyone else.

Not yet.

But they will, however small.

There will be a moment of success, perhaps not transformation yet, and we will know that instead of simply hoping that next year’s teachers would figure it out, with this one little piece we have gotten one step further. And we cannot dismiss that. So look for the little, for the often overlooked, pump up your patience, and find your successes. Don’t give up on a child just because it hasn’t worked yet. Don’t give up just because nothing seems to matter. Don’t give up and hope that others will figure it out when you are what that child has.

Teach, work, believe and love, and know that instead of “next year” we can make it become “this year…” and then for this one child, we will make a difference. But we can’t do that if we already are waiting for next year’s teachers to figure it out.

Be the change, being a teacher, reflection

A Few Questions to Re-Discover your Essentials

November 7, 2017 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

As I plan for the next quarter, I am reminded of what is essential to this classroom. To the very experience, we are trying to create for all of the kids that we get to teach every day. We want them to come to school feeling safe. Feeling accepted. Feeling challenged but in the right way. We want them to feel like what we do matters and we want them to feel needed. Like their presence here matters and that to us they are more than just a child we get to teach.

As the ideas come for what we can do with all of the time we are given, I am reminded of what is most important to us; reading time. Eyes on text. Books loved. Conversations had. Not worksheets created, papers written, or even how many books they read. But the very experience they can have with text and how it can change them as they grow as readers. Not all of the little things that otherwise seem to suck up our time.

That is my essential and so with this in mind, I plan our lessons.

Discovering or re-discovering your essential is important throughout the year. It is easy to get lost in the task of doing school. As the year passes, we often get consumed in the day-to-day of doing, of teaching, that we forget about the bigger picture; the one hope we had for all of the kids this year. And so instead, we let all of these little things whittle away at our instructional time, not finding time for the one thing we hoped we would do the most, whatever it may be.

Therefore, now is a great time to remind yourself of what your essential is for the year. The one thing that you had planned would take up time, but now may have been forgotten.

To help you re-discover or discover your essential, you can ask yourself:

When you set up your classroom, how did you envision your classroom would be?
What type of learning experiences did you want students to have?
What is the one thing you want to ensure students experience on a regular basis?
What is the one area of practice that will make the biggest difference to all of your students?
What are you spending the most time on right now?
What do you need to stop doing to give your students more time for something else?
What do you need to start doing more of?

And finally; are you doing what you said you would this summer?

As I look at my students reading, I am reaffirmed that the gift of time to read is the biggest gift I can give all of them. That simply having the time read is the pillar of everything else I hope they will accomplish this year. That if they read, we can work on protecting the like or love f reading, but if they don’t we can’t. Everything else comes after and so with that in mind, I plan our experiences together.

What is your essential and are you teaching with it in mind?

Be the change, being a teacher, Literacy, Reading, Reading Identity

On Accelerated Reader and All the Other Computer Programs

October 29, 2017October 30, 2017 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

Pardon me while I write what is on my mind for a little bit.

I just took an Accelerated Reader practice quiz on Elephant and Piggie’s There’s a Bird on Your Head. A picture book I have read so many times I think I know it by heart. A picture book series that my 7th graders end up loving too as we perform plays based on them. A picture book series that made me cry when the last book came out and they told us all “Thank you for being a reader.”

You know what AR wanted me to know about the book?

It wanted to know what happened and what was said.

That’s it.

Not why Gerald didn’t like the birds on his head. Not what the message of the book was. Not what they could learn from the book and apply to their own life. After all, that doesn’t prove they have read it. That doesn’t prove they have understood, right?!

Sheer memorization and retelling.

Of Mice and Men wasn’t any better. Again, memorization was the key factor here. Not deep thinking. Not deep conversation about the ultimate decision made at the end. Not how this book will change you or make you think about the world you live in.

An American classic boiled down to remembering minute details.

All in the hands of computer programs which purport to help readers grow.

And before, someone tells me that for some kids programs like this works, I would like to know what we define as “works?” Do we define “works” as rushing to read another book? As sharing the incredible experience a book just provided them with others? Do we define “works” as cannot wait to read another book, outside of class not because they have to but because they want to? Do we define “works” as continuing to develop a positive reading identity that will carry them into adulthood?

Or do we define ‘”works” as kids doing it because they are rule followers and don’t want to cause a stir? Do we define “works” as a computer telling us how much a child remembered from the book they just read? Do we define it as how many points they have gained this year as a supposed reflection on how they have grown as readers? Or as now we know which book a child should read next because the computer told them so?

Because if that is what we mean be developing lifelong readers then I must have lost my mind.

When people ask me why I dislike programs like AR so much, it is hard to know where to start. My problem with these blanket programs are many; we rob kids of actual true choice not determined by a reading database that only allows you to select books that have quizzes on them.

You know which books don’t have AR quizzes on them right now? Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds and Dear Martin by Nic Stone. Arguably two of the most important books for adolescents to read this year. I hope they never add them, I can’t even begin to imagine what types of low-level questions they would ask.

We rob kids of the chance to have conversations with others about the books that are changing them. We rob kids of the messy process that it is to get to a deeper meaning within a book, even when they are young. We rob kids of the chance to be seen more as the points they are given. We rob our most vulnerable readers, those we label struggling, low, or whatever other harsh terms in our data meetings, the opportunity to have the best possible chance at becoming a reader through the determined instruction of a knowledgeable teacher.

In our eagerness to make sure every child is reading the right fit book, we have forgotten about the very child reading those books.

Reading was never meant to be about points. Or scores. Or correct answers.

It was never meant to be about levels or data or rewards for goals met.

Reading was never meant to be easy either. It was meant to be a complex process in which we discover parts of ourselves that we didn’t know before. A process that brought us closer together as a community of learners, as we felt the growth we made not because a test told us but because the very book we just finished was an accomplishment in itself.

Don’t believe me? How can simple computer programs really be so bad? Why don’t we ask the very kids we subject these programs to? A novel idea, I suppose, as what would kids really know? And yet, I am here writing about this because of the very things kids (and their horrified parents) have told me over the years.

“AR means my child picks the smallest books they can in order to get the points they need…”

“AR means I am not allowed to read the book I wanted to…”

“I am a bad reader because I cannot get the answers right…”

So what can we do instead of these programs?

We can start the conversation first. We can ask the very kids we subject to the reading programs and then do something about what they tell us.

We can ask parents and caregivers how this program either hurts or harms their child.

We can invest all of that money spent on this program into great books and then put them in every single classroom. And then we can read them and speak about them and help kids find great new books.

We can give teachers training on reading workshop and how to have meaningful conversations about books with kids.

We can tell our teachers to go back to common sense reading instruction.

We can tell our teachers that teaching to fidelity doesn’t mean fidelity to the program but to the kid in front of them.

We can evaluate everything we do with kids and see if it really gets to what we hope they become; kids who read books because they want to!

If we want to know whether a child is reading, we can look at them while they read.

If we want to know whether a child understands what they are reading, we can ask, sometimes face to face, other times on paper.

If we want to know how a child is progressing as a reader, we can assess them, hearing them read out loud, conferring with them and asking further questions. And sure, use a computer to give them a test but make sure that the test is actually giving you valid information. Let the data be a part of the conversation, not the whole conversation.

If we want to know what book a child should read next, we can ask them. Then we can bookshop. If a child doesn’t know how to select a great book then that is where we start.

If we want to know whether a book is a good fit for a child, we can ask them. And we can remember the words of Fountas and Pinnell who said, that “Levels are a teacher’s tool and not a child’s label.”

You know what helping a child figure out their reading identity is? It’s hard. It’s messy. It’s exhausting at times.

It’s not easy.

But it’s worth it.

it’s worth it every time we see child realize that they, too, can be a reader.

It’s worth it every time we see a child realize that they, too, can get something out of a book.

It’s worth it every we see a child realize that they, too, can understand what it means to want to keep on reading.

Not because a computer told them to select another book from their level.

Not because they were given points for their work.

Not because they were given rewards.

But because to them, it mattered, beyond the computer, beyond the quiz, beyond the task.

But because to them, they became readers because someone cared about their reading journey and protected the very hope they carry for being a reader some day.

A computer program will never do that for a child, no matter how “research-based” it is.

PS: Whoa, apparently this post which was just me thinking out loud has struck a chord for many. I encourage you to reflect on it and see where it fits into your reading philosophy. As I have said before, if a program harms even one child’s love of reading then we need to question it, which is what I am doing here. I am not shaming teachers, I am a teacher myself, but instead asking us to really reflect on whether the thousands of dollars spent on these computer programs are really helping us achieve our goals in the long-run, because of course programs like these can garner compliance in the short run, but we are in this reading life for the long run.

To see more thoughts on AR please see Jen Robinson’s posts which showcases other work on it. Donalyn Miller’s post on it and do take the time to read Stephen Krashen’s discussion of the research that AR uses as a selling point.

Be the change, being a teacher, Reading, Student dreams

Cover Reveal: Albie Newton by Josh Funk and Some Very Exciting News

October 23, 2017October 23, 2017 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

I first properly met Josh Funk when he bought me a cup of tea in a convention center in Boston for ILA. Properly because we had actually met at NerdCamp but had not had much time together. So in a crowded hallway, we sat down to talk picture books, writing, and what it means to work with kids and try to make the world better. Had I known that I would make a friend that day I would have made him buy me a donut (chocolate with sprinkles, please).

That day Josh told me of his latest picture book, he was still writing it and was wondering out loud about how characters would react to a child that perhaps didn’t see the wrong in his ways. We laughed about the perfect endings we both wished for all of our children and realized that the not so perfect endings are sometimes what makes books so amazing and also life so hard. I spoke of one student who right away reminded me of Albie Newton and how I wished that he would be a part of a world where his set ways were seen as strengths rather than an oddity.

More than a year later and that picture book we talked about is ready to have its cover revealed. When Josh asked me if I would do the honor, there was no other answer than yes. After all, this would perfectly coincide with another announcement I had planned; Josh Funk is a contender for Global Read Aloud 2018! His books are some of my 7th graders’ favorites, as well as my own childrens’, and will be perfect for sparking conversations around the world. I have wanted to tell him for some time but thought a little surprise would be better.

So surprise, Josh, thank you for trusting me to reveal Albie Newton to the world.

Who is Albie Newton?

A clever scientist?

A brilliant artist?

A mischief-maker?

On the surface, it might seem like ALBIE NEWTON is a cute little story about a boy’s first day at school and how he attempts to make friends (and fails with hilarity), but everything eventually works out in the end. Hopefully, you’ll revel in the adorable illustrations created by Ester Garay. And I certainly want you to laugh at the silly STEAM-related situations in which Albie finds himself. For example:

Arjun ate his snack and finished Albie’s cleanup duties,

while Albie built a science lab and found a cure for cooties.

But there’s a deeper level; one I really struggled with getting right. And Pernille Ripp helped me realize exactly who Albie was and how to keep his character true.

We talk about the need for windows and mirrors. I believe Albie will be a mirror for some kids who often don’t get to see themselves in everyday, non-”issue” related stories.

Let me back up. One of the very first lessons you learn as a picture book writer is this:

The main character must solve the problem on their own – and learn a lesson in the process.

It’s a basic picture book paradigm – flip through pretty much any picture book and you’ll see what I mean. And this generally makes sense. Stories are far more satisfying if the main characters figure out how to solve their own problems. It’s less satisfying if a parent or teacher solves the problem and didactically explains the lesson.

But as an educator, you’ve likely encountered some students who, in certain social situations, have difficulty solving their own problems. And in some of those cases, kids may not even notice that they’ve caused problems … until it’s too late.

Back to Albie’s story, on his first day of school, he ends up unintentionally and unknowingly alienating his classmates one by one on each and every page of the book. As the tension rises and his classmates’ anger reaches a boiling point, Albie is still unaware he’s caused a conflict.

And then, I had my own conflict: How do I end this book?

Does Albie solve the problem himself? Does he apologize? Does he learn a lesson? That was the textbook answer according to the “Picture Book Paradigm”.

But I knew Albie’s character. He wouldn’t apologize on his own. I didn’t even believe he would change throughout the story. Would this be a satisfying ending for the reader? Would it be believable? After several phone calls and emails with my agent AND editor about this very topic, a decision had to made. Deadlines loomed. The illustrator was already hard at work.

And there I was, having coffee on a bench at the Hynes Convention Center for ILA 2016 in Boston explaining my struggle to Pernille Ripp. If you’ve read Pernille’s writing (and I’m assuming you have because this is her site, after all), you’ll know she’s got passionate opinions. And that day she didn’t disappoint.

Pernille said that she’d had students like Albie. And sometimes social interactions are incredibly challenging, to say the least. She adamantly said I needed to stick to my gut and have Albie NOT apologize or learn a cliché lesson. Because that’s how it would have been for many of the Albies she’s taught. And especially not because that’s just how picture books work.

Pernille’s encouragement gave me the confidence to keep Albie’s character the way I’d always intended – a mirror for those who need him to be one. And hopefully, Albie is a window for the rest of your students, who often have trouble interacting with and understanding the Albies of the world.

You might even say that Albie Newton isn’t really the main character of ALBIE NEWTON; the main character is everyone else in the class. And they’re the ones who learn that valuable lesson and come out of the story changed.

Without further ramblings, explanations, and ado, here is the cover of ALBIE NEWTON.

_Albie Newton.jpg

Thank you, Pernille, for hosting this cover reveal. And thank you for giving me the advice and confidence to make this book the way it needed to be.

ALBE NEWTON by Josh Funk, illustrated by Ester Garay, published by Sterling Children’s Books will be available everywhere on May 1, 2018.

Bio: Josh Funk writes silly stories and somehow tricks people into publishing them as books – such as the Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast series (including The Case of the Stinky Stench and the upcoming Mission: Defrostable), It’s Not Jack and the Beanstalk, Dear Dragon, Pirasaurs!, and the forthcoming Albie Newton, How to Code a Sandcastle (in conjunction with Girls Who Code), Lost in the Library: A Story of Patience and Fortitude (in conjunction with the New York Public Library), It’s Not Hansel and Gretel, and more coming soon!

Josh is a board member of The Writers’ Loft in Sherborn, MA and was the co-coordinator of the 2016 and 2017 New England Regional SCBWI Conferences.

Josh grew up in New England and studied Computer Science in school. Today, he still lives in New England and when not writing Java code or Python scripts, he drinks Java coffee and writes manuscripts.

Josh is terrible at writing bios, so please help fill in the blanks. Josh enjoys __(naps)_____ during ___(rain storms)_____ and has always loved ___(doing his taxes)_______. He has played __(old and wise)_____ since age _(2)_ and his biggest fear in life is being eaten by a __(goldfish)________.

For more information about Josh, visit www.joshfunkbooks.com or @joshfunkbooks on Twitter.

Be the change, being a teacher

Our Perfectly Average Child

October 12, 2017October 12, 2017 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

I have shared the story of our youngest daughter Augustine’s much too early arrival several times on this blog. It is a story I share gladly as we think of what our students sometimes live through before they come to us. It is a story I share to remind myself of how far we have come. And yet, whenever I look at her I cannot help but marvel at just how far she has come.

How much she is versus what she was.

How far she has grown from how little she was.

The odds she has overcome to be given the best title in the world; perfectly average.

Average; meaning in the middle of a set of numbers, meaning typical, meaning the usual.

A perfectly average child who has fought her way to carry that label.

It is within her story that I am reminded of just how far “average” can be for a child.

How much our students sometimes overcome to simply reach it.

How far our students go to simply be typical. To reach the usual. To reach the middle of others.

How we sometimes forget just how much of a victory reaching average can be.

Of course, we should push our students to be more than what they were but don’t ever discount the average. Don’t ever dismiss the journey of a child who happens to land right there, for we don’t know how far that journey has been.

As I look at Augustine run after her siblings I see a perfectly average child and I know that she will be okay. That we will be okay. And that average is right where she is supposed to be.

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