Be the change – Page 23

aha moment, Be the change, being a teacher, homework, no homework, Student dreams, student driven, student voice

Are You Doing Your Own Homework?

October 11, 2016October 11, 2016 Pernille Ripp

itec-passionate-learning-environments-google-slides-clipular

This summer as I saw my niece, who is now a sophomore, we inevitably spoke about her reading life. She used to be a voracious reader, we could not get enough books in her hands. Then she came to the whole class novel, which inspired this post, and since then her reading life has been limping at best. This summer I asked, as usual, “What are you reading?” She told me The Kite Runner and then scoffed. Surprised I asked why the reaction. She then told me that she had read the book and loved it but now had to reread it to annotate it. “The whole book?” I asked. “The whole book.”When I asked her why she was not quite sure, perhaps they would use parts for discussion.

I wondered then, as I often do, when I come across homework assignments that appear nonsensical, whether her English teacher had done their own homework? Whether they had taken the time to annotate the entire book themselves. Whether they understand the labor that was involved with that task and how it would take away from the enjoyment of the book. It seems to me that once again something that is meant to teach kids how to better thinkers, instead is implicit in the killing of their love of reading.

Several years ago I started to do my own homework. From the stories we wrote, to the essays, to the speeches, and to the presentations. I started to experience what I was putting on the shoulders of my students and I quickly realized that what I thought would just take a few minutes never did. What I thought would be easy hardly ever was. What I thought would be meaningful sometimes wasn’t. So I stopped giving homework, except for reading. I stopped going by the formula of grade times 10 minutes. I stopped handing out packets and instead vowed to stop talking so much and instead spend the time in class on discussion and work time. I expected pushback or concern, but have hardly gotten any in the last six years. Most parents express relief instead.

So every year I make a deal with my students; if you work hard in our classroom, you should not have to do work outside of English. If you give me your best then besides reading a good book you don’t have to give me anything more after you leave our classroom. And for most it works. Most of my students come ready to work, ready to learn, and they hand their things in. Not everyone, just like when we have homework we have those kids that do not get it done, I also have kids that do not use their time wisely. So I work individually with them, after all, the acts of a few should never determine the conditions of the many.

So if you are still giving homework, I ask you for this simple task; do it yourself. Go through the motions as if you were a student and then reflect. Was it easy? How much time did it take? What did you have to go through to reach completion? In fact, if you teach in middle school or high school, do it all, truly experience what we put our students through on a day-to-day basis. I would be surprised if the process didn’t shape you in some way.

I still do my own assignments, although I have been slacking lately. Whenever I do, I am reminded of just how much time homework swallows. Of sometimes how little actual practice it gives, or even learning. How homework is unfair because we have already been given hours of their time in school. How those who really need the practice do not need it at home, but instead with us as support in our classrooms. Do your homework, tell your students, and see how they react. Then ask them how they feel about homework. Let their thoughts shape you as a teacher, I promise you won’t regret it.

I am currently working on a new literacy book. While the task is daunting and intimidating, it is incredible to once again get to share the phenomenal words of my students as they push me to be a better teacher. The book, which I am still writing, is tentatively Passionate Readers and will be published in the summer of 2017 by Routledge. So until then if you like what you read here, consider reading my 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, books, Literacy, picture books, Reading, Reading Identity

If Not Us, Then Who?

October 10, 2016 Pernille Ripp

When I was 17 years old, my history teacher pulled me aside and told me tone it down. “It” being my opinion in case it intimidated others. “It” being speaking my mind because sometimes I would come across so forceful that others did not want to engage. So I stopped speaking in his class. I stopped jumping in, afraid that I was going to rock the boat or upset the other students. I knew I had opinions, but I didn’t want to be known as someone who did not make room for others.

A long time ago I decided that staying quiet would not get me anywhere. That hoping that someone would understand what I needed without me actually speaking up was a delusion. That I could no longer wait until someone spoke the words that burned within me so I could quote them and pretend I hadn’t thought the exact same thing. I started writing, speaking, and teaching as the whole me, rather than the 17 year old girl who had been told to tone it down. It has been quite a journey since then.

As educators we speak up all of the time. We speak up for ourselves when changes need to be made in our schools. We speak up for our students when they need us to advocate. We speak up for our own needs and hopefully for the needs of our students. We speak up when we see injustices that need to be righted, when our teacher stares are not enough.

So I think it is time for us to speak up and let our voices be heard because when I look at my classroom library, when I really study the books I am able to put in the hands of my students, I cannot help but wonder; where are the books from non-white authors? Where are the picture books that center around kids that are going about their every day life that look like some of my students? Where are the holiday books, the birthday books, the first day of school books, the books that share small slices of life that have characters that are not white?

While I buy the ones that I know of thanks to blogs like Reading While White, We Need Diverse Books, and the Nerdy Book Club, I am constantly reminded of how few there are out there for us to purchase. When I receive a package of books I am constantly reminded of how often the kids in the books look just like my own kids in all of their whiteness. How my kids must take it for granted that, of course, the books they read have people in them that look like them. That I do not have to scour the internet to find books that remind them of themselves because those are the majority of books out there. That in book upon book being white as a character is the standard not the exception.

We need diverse books. We need own voices books. We need more than what is out there and so we need to raise our voices. There will be no change if we do not say loudly; “This is not enough. This is not ok.”

So as educators we can speak up. We can reach out and demand better. We can spend our precious budgets on books that do not just offer up more white narratives, but actually mirror the diversity that we are surrounded by. We can tell publishers that we need books that show all of the kids we teach. We need books about Native American written by Native American, or other #OwnVoices authors. We need books that go beyond the standard stories being shared so that when all of my students open up a book they can find a character that looks like them. Or when my own white children read a book, they will see a character that does not look like them and understand that that too is the norm.

For too many years we have waited for publishers to notice the major gap that has been created, and while changes are under way, the process won’t speed up until we speak up. So use your voice, use your connections, use your money to show the world that when we echo that “We need diverse books!” it is not just because it is a catchy phrase, but is the truth.

Be the change, being a teacher, global, global read aloud

On Global Collaboration and Projects You Can Join

October 5, 2016October 5, 2016 Pernille Ripp

I started the Global Read Aloud in 2010 not knowing what it would become, not knowing how it would truly make the world smaller, connect many children and change my own life. I started it with a simple need in mind; more global collaboration and connections for the students I was teaching. I knew that the power of a great read aloud could not be disputed, I knew what a read aloud could do to to foster community. I knew what the right read aloud would do for us as readers, as thinkers, as human beings. And so I started a small project that since 2010 has taken on a life of its own.

This Monday we kicked off the 7th annual Global Read Aloud. It was the day that I gave up on my Twitter account pretty much. There simply was no way for me to keep up. With more than 937,000 students participating this year, give or take a few, I do believe we may be one of the largest, if not the largest, globally collaborative multi-day student project in the world. I cannot help but stand in awe of the number. Stand in awe of this little idea that grew into something more than I could imagine. But not just for the sheer number of children involved, but more for the lives that it is changing. For the experiences it is creating. I stand in awe of the invisible lines stretching around the globe as students connect, discuss, and share who they are with others who happen to be reading the same book as them. Imagine a world that is truly becoming more connected and you have the vision of what the Global Read Aloud is doing for the world. And my project is not alone. Other dreamers and thinkers are seeing the need for projects to unify children around the world, for better learning opportunities that include bringing the world in and the students out. We can certainly create our own, I do all of the time for the sake of my students, or we can join in on these pre-existing projects to make the world smaller. To make the world kinder. To make the world more empathetic.

Global collaboration and the way it shapes student learning experiences should not be something we just do once in a while, it should be often, it should be meaningful. It should be something our students come to expect not as something new and flashy but as something necessary for them to discover who they are as learners. Our students have a voice, they have a need to learn about others, they have the right to not just experience our differences but to know what makes us all so similar. Global collaboration provides us with our starting point, these projects become our starting point as we try to bring the world in.

To see the global projects I know of and that others have graciously shared, please access this padlet. If you know of others that should be on here, please add them. At least this is a start for what is out there.

https://padlet.com/embed/1zqnmichpq6w

Be the change, being a teacher, being me

One Small Act

September 30, 2016 Pernille Ripp

In this world that seems more divided than ever.

In this world where headlines scream more about the bad than the good.

Where stories of goodness and kindness seem so far and few in between.

Where we read of suicide caused by bullying, of children that feel so lonely. Of adults who are not sure where they fit in so they stop trying altogether.

In this world where wherever we turn we seem to be reminded of all that is wrong with the world, we need our classrooms more than ever.

We need spaces where kids feel that they belong, feel that they the prevalent voice is one of kindness, not of tearing apart.

We need opportunities to make the world smaller, more understanding, more of all of the good.

Today, in our classroom, as a child stood frozen in fear of public speaking, another child got up quietly and stood right beside him. Stood there and coached him gently, let his presence be known and tried to speak him out of his fear. I stood there with tears prickling my eyes, knowing that no one had told that child that to be a friend meant to stand beside someone, to be a friend meant to be there in times when we might not seem as needed.

As the rest of the class sat quietly, we moved on to another thing. But this moment of a simple act of kindness is one that I will remember for a long time.

This world may seem like it is slowly self-destructing, but our kids, our future, they can still change it; one small act of kindness at a time.

Be the change, being a student, being a teacher, student choice, Student dreams

The Worst Class in (X) Years

September 14, 2016 Pernille Ripp

No child should be defined by the actions of a group. @pernilleripp

My last year as a 5th grade teacher we were warned, in a friendly way ,of course, as these warnings tend to be. “Oh, you will have your hands full…” Oh, THAT group is coming up.” My team and I had seen these kids come up through the years, that is the beauty of elementary school. Yes, we had seen the tantrums, the fighting, the crazy behavior that made many label this group as the worst in (insert however many) years. But we also had seen the kindness, the energy, the fun that these kids projected and knew that while we may have our hands full, the year with them would be a year where we would always strive to look for the good, rather than the bad because although the bad was so easy to spot, it should not define a group of kids. Sure there were days where we could not believe what was going on but what I remember most about that year was how incredible the kids were. How much fun we had. How there were these incredible lows but also days that were some of the best of my teaching career. My team would agree with me on this. Yes we had THAT group but also loved THAT group.

Every year since then I have taken that same pledge; to always look for the good first. To always praise, to always point out how great of a group this group is. To change the group narrative in some small way. To always assume that this will be an incredible year no matter the reputation of a group. I think it is so easy to fall prey to the notion of the worst class ever. I think it is so easy to just want to get through a year as quickly as possible, I know there are days that seem never ending where we question everything we do. Yet when we do, we forget something very important; not every kid is going to have a bad day every day. Not every kid is going to have a bad class every class. Sometimes it may seem like this is the toughest day yet, but that too shall pass and just like we hope for a better day tomorrow, so do the very kids we teach.

When we let the actions of a few define an entire group, we are dismissing the individuals that make up that group. We are dismissing the kids that come to school hoping that today will be a good day. Hoping that this is the year they can finally escape the reputation that seems to follow them. As a parent I shudder at the thought of my own children’s class being labeled as the worst in however many years, because how do you ever change that? How do you stop a child from believing that they are horrible when that is what they hear whispered?

So today, much like every day, I will look for the good. I will praise the kids for all of the amazing things I see and yes, there may be ill decisions and tempers flaring, but those will be handled on an individual basis. I will not let the actions of a few tell the tale of the whole. And I will tell my kids, much like I do almost every day, that I have the best job in the world, that I cannot wait to come back tomorrow even if today was tough. Because it is true. We get to teach and teaching is only for those who can see the good in kids, no matter how much a child cannot see it themselves. We get to teach, which means that we d believe that this is the year a new narrative can be written. That this is not how a year will be.

No children should be told that they are a horrible group of kids. They are kids period. And we owe it to them to see beyond their reputation and re-invent their group identity. That is why we teach, that is why we have the best job in the world.

Be the change, being a teacher, being me

Perhaps This Will Be the Year

August 28, 2016August 28, 2016 Pernille Ripp

May we never be the reason that a child hates school...

Perhaps I will have bad days this year. Perhaps I will have a lot.

Perhaps I will not reach them all, nor even know when I am not.

Perhaps this will be the year that I will think of in years to come when I tell the stories of all of the things I should not have done. Of all the mistakes. Of all the failures.

Perhaps this will be the year of tears, of doubt and anger as I drive home eager to leave it behind.

Perhaps this will be the year where I rethink everything, much like I have in the past, but not because I want to but because nothing works.

Perhaps this is the year where all of my school nightmares actually do come true and I will have no control, nor any desire to keep on teaching.

Or…

Perhaps this will be the year where more of our crazy ideas will actually work.

Where those dreams I had on long summer nights actually happen just like that.

Where every child feels seen.

Where every child feels heard.

Where every child feels they matter.

And this teacher feels the importance of their work.

Perhaps this will be the year that I go home eager to share the stories of the wonderful students I teach and all that they can do, much like I have in the past.

Perhaps this will be the year that I don’t want to end, because this is the year, this is the year…

Perhaps this will be the year that I will always try to duplicate, to pine for when things get tough.

Perhaps this is my year. The year I have always hoped to have. Perhaps I will finally be enough.

I just don’t know until it starts and then until it ends.

I just don’t know until they come and we begin.

But I do know that I can choose what year I think I am going to have. I can choose the perhaps to remember.

I can realize that I can be the difference between a child loving school or hating it and never forgetting that immense responsibility.

Perhaps this will be the year where I cry but also laugh, but I know for a fact that this will be the year where I tried.

Because we always have a choice.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my 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.