being a teacher – Page 102

aha moment, being a teacher, being me, Passion

What We Teachers Know

May 12, 2015 Pernille Ripp

I keep seeing the articles and posts stemming from the “What I Wish My Teacher Knew” movement, the latest one being an article where someone asked adults what they wished their teachers had known and how that possibly could have changed their lives. I am filled up by it. I get it, there are so many things that we wish others knew about us that may make our lives easier but here’s what seems to be missing from the stories; we teachers know a lot. And we carry that knowledge with us every single day. We carry the hearts and the dreams for all of our students, and sometimes that load gets really heavy, and yet we soldier on because that is our job. That is what we signed up for.

What we teachers know is that we can only control what happens within our walls. That as much as we wish we could adopt a child, feed a family, find a job, or even teach every single child every single thing they need, that the moment a child leaves our schools we lose much of our power. That the time we have is measured in school days not life times. Yet that doesn’t stop us from trying. I know teachers whose homes have become refuges for students misplaced by their lives, I know teachers who have a cabinet full of food in their classroom, so that no child will go hungry. I know teachers that stay up every night trying to figure out how to reach every single kid, how to create a positive learning and life experience for every student, ignoring the sleep they need until they feel they at least have an idea. A new thing that may just be the one thing that makes all of the difference.

Because what we teachers know is that every single second of our day matters. That every time a child speaks we should give them our full attention. We know that our students deserve nothing but the very best every single day, no matter what is happening in our own lives. We know that every child has their own unique struggles and we wish we could help fix every single one of them. And so we try, and we give everything we have, and we try to lighten the burden for the students, and even though we get so tired, so overwhelmed at time by the injustice of some children’s lives, we go back to school every single day so that at least they can see we care.

So before more people assume that teachers don’t know a lot, think of the good teachers you know. Think of everything that goes into their day, how they speak of their students, how they care for each child they teach. Think of that teacher that made a difference for you because they did know. Don’t forget that a teacher is only one person; human and with only so much power. We are the ones that beat ourselves up when we haven’t reached a child, helped them the way they needed, or somehow failed them. We try, we know, and we wish we could do more. Trust me.

I am a passionate teacher in Oregon, Wisconsin, USA but originally from Denmark, 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. The second edition of my first book “Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students” is available for pre-order now. Second book“Empowered Schools, Empowered Students – Creating Connected and Invested Learners” is out now from Corwin Press. Join our Passionate Learners community on Facebook and follow me on Twitter @PernilleRipp.

aha moment, Be the change, being a teacher, being me, believe, middle school, Passion, students

What I Have Learned Being a Middle School Teacher

May 11, 2015 Pernille Ripp

I thought I would be a great 7th grade teacher until I became one. Smothered in my own nervousness and excitement about so much change, I never quite fully realized what I was getting into. Luckily so because I am not sure, I would have said yes, if I had known just what this would hold. Yet through all of the ups and downs, the moments of sadness, the moments of frustration, the moments where I felt sure that I must be insane for going to school that day, there they were. Those crazy 7th graders with all of their emotions, all of their thoughts, all of their stuff that seemed to shroud them in mystery. Always there, always watching. Always poking away at the sense of security I had felt in my teaching skills. And I am so grateful that they did.

This year, and its not over yet, has taught me so much. When I tell people that 7th grade has been my biggest challenge yet, I am not joking, nor exaggerating. With their moods, and their doubt, and their sense of fairness, they have held my feet to the fire every single day, exhausting every teaching cell in my body. Yet, along with that exhaustion comes a few hard-earned lessons, for which I am forever grateful.

I have learned that when they say they don’t care is actually when they care the most. They wait for your reaction to see how to categorize you. They wait to see how their lackadaisical attitude will sit with you; will you be rattled or can you handle it?

I have learned that on the toughest days they will put on the bravest face, and only people who pay really close attention will be able to notice the subtlest of differences in their demeanor.

I have learned that when you think they are not paying attention, they actually are. That when you think they don’t care that you are there, they do. That when you think you have hit your lowest point as a teacher there is always a better moment coming your way, usually courtesy of something they just said or did.

I have learned that when I thought there was no way I would ever make a difference in their lives, they surprise me with their knowledge, with their passion, and with what they remember.

I have learned that relationships are above anything else, that it does not matter how engaging a lesson is, how fun a project may be, how much time you spent making sure everything was to their liking; if you don’t care about them, they do not care about you, or your lesson, or your project.

I have learned that it is ok to not be sure of yourself, to still put yourself out there, to get excited over picture books, to dance to ABBA in the middle of class, and to always, always, always have a smile on your face no matter how much you don’t want to. That’s what my incredible 7th graders have taught me; that I was not a good teacher until I taught them, and I still have a long way to go, but they believe in me, so it is time I start believing in myself.

aha moment, assessment, being a teacher, being me, MIEExpert15, Passion, Personalized Learning, student choice, student voice, testing

So It Turns Out I Am a Terrible Teacher

May 6, 2015 Pernille Ripp

It turns out I owe everyone an apology. Or at least a great big “I am sorry” to all of the people who have ever been inspired by this blog to change the way they teach. It turns out I don’t know what I am doing, at least not if you look at our test scores. You see, my students took our district standardized test, the one they take three times a year, and it turns out that at least for some all of my crazy ideas have apparently ruined their English skills. It wasn’t that their scores dropped just a touch, no, some lost hundreds of points in their comprehension skills; whole grade level disseminated by this terrible teacher. And there is no one to blame but me, after all, I am the one responsible for all of the teaching.

These tests are a funny thing really, they have a way of messing with even the most stoic of teachers. We say we don’t care what the test scores are and yet we cannot help but feel fully responsible for the negative scores. The positive ones, the ones that gained hundreds of points since January; those cannot possible be my doing, because I am teaching all of these kids. And not all of these kids are improving by leaps and bounds. So those great scores, they have to be a fluke, but those kids with the big fat minus next to their number, yup, I did that.

As I wrestle with my own feelings of ineptitude tonight, I have realized that who ever thought that teachers could be evaluated by scores that change so dramatically over a year, has never been a teacher. I could re-test my students tomorrow and guarantee you that all of them would have different scores. How a test like that can help me plan instruction is beyond me. How a test like that can be used to evaluate teachers in some states is even further out of my understanding. And yet it does, and we take it ever so personal because we care. We think if we had just tried a little harder, worked a little more then maybe we could have reached all of our kids, and not just the “easy” ones.

So I am sorry for ever thinking I could help change education from within. I am sorry that I have told others to give the classroom back to students, to create passionate learning environments where students not only have a choice, but they also have a voice. The test told me today that I am doing something wrong for these kids, because there is no way a 34 question test can be wrong, right? All I can say is that I am thankful to work in an incredible district with an amazing administration that sees beyond the test scores. That has faith in us and in all we do. That knows we are bigger than the test scores our students get, because if I didn’t, according to this test, I don’t have any business teaching some of them, or blogging about what I do.

being a teacher, being me, lessons learned, MIEExpert15, Passion

To the One Teacher Who Shaped Me the Most

May 5, 2015May 5, 2015 Pernille Ripp

It is national teacher appreciation week here in the United States. and all through the blog world I have seen the incredible letters of appreciation being shared. I have seen the words that praise, the words that show once again just how much of an influence a great teacher can have. And I am grateful because I too have had amazing teachers in my life, who believed that I had worth and who believed that I could make the world a better place. Great teachers are not in short supply, how grateful am I of that as my own children go to school.

Yet, when I think of the most influential teacher in my life, I don’t think of warmth, nor do I think back with kindness. The one teacher that shaped me the most was a terrible one. For five years, because in Denmark you are assigned a classroom teacher that follows you throughout the years, she made my school day awful. She went out of her way to make me feel different for all of the wrong reasons. One that I would not wish upon any other child. And yet, for her I am grateful because she taught me so many things that shape me today.

The worst teacher I ever had taught me that no teacher should ever be allowed to make a child feel bad. That no teacher should ever be allowed to teach if they don’t really like all children.

The worst teacher I ever had taught me that sometimes emotions can cloud our judgments and we no longer see a child in front of us but only see a problem. And it is up to us to change that not let it rule our actions.

She taught me that principals do not always know what happens behind closed doors, nor do they always believe parents. She taught me the importance of a principal who pays attention and a principal who asks questions, even the hard ones.

The worst teacher I ever had showed me what power we have over the acceptance of children in our classrooms and how we must always be a force of good, not a force of pain.

She taught me that sometimes friendships cannot be broken even under the influence of a powerful adult. She taught me that we as teachers have the power to plant ideas in the heads of students, and we choose whether those ideas are empowering or damaging.

The worst teacher I ever had taught me how we can build community or we can break it. We can protect the students in our classrooms or we can give bullies more reasons to pounce. We can single out, we can alienate, we can do everything in our power to make a child feel hopeless, or we can do everything in our power to make a child feel like they matter.

So while I have had many great teachers, it is to her, that I dedicate this post. To the woman who 20 years after I left her classroom still wondered why anyone could love me; thank you. You taught me exactly what kind of teacher I would never be. You taught me what real teachers do; they love every kid, no matter what. They protect the very children they teach. They embrace the differences, not make them weapons of destruction. So to the worst teacher I ever had, you were right; I was different and it is because of those differences I now get to change the world, one kid at a time. Bet you would have never seen that coming.

aha moment, attention, being a teacher, being me, Passion, students

I Challenge You to See Every Child, Not Just the Ones That Demand Your Attention

May 3, 2015 Pernille Ripp

…I remember thinking that the teacher in front of me probably had no idea I was even in their class. That my parents didn’t come to parent-teacher conferences because they heard the same thing over and over; Brandon is doing just fine. I was the just-fine student, the average kid, and teachers never saw me…

It’s Friday evening at our house and for the past two hours, my husband and I have been in deep discussion about race, education, being a foreigner, and what it means to be a kid these days. But it is these words that stick with me. The words about being the average kid who never got much attention. It is these words that have hung over me the past few days.

Because my husband is right, there are those kids that we do not see in our classrooms. Where entire class periods or days can go by and we have had little interaction with them. Where we struggle to really describe what they can do and how they should grow when we speak to their parents. The kids that are doing just fine, they don’t cause problems, they are perfectly challenged within our learning, they do their work, they sometimes raise their hand. And they fade away into the background of our classrooms as we focus on the outliers; the kids that demand our attention either for good or for bad.

Yet, those kids need us too. The sheer fact that there are kids that slip through our days should make anyone shudder. Every kid deserves to be seen, every kid deserves to be noticed. Every kid deserves to feel that their teacher knows who they are and what they can do. Every kid, even the just fine ones, deserves to be taught.

This year with 116 students, I have seen how easy it is to not be a part of a teacher’s day. I have seen how easily a child can go through their day so quietly that no one really recalls whether they were there or not. But I have also seen a school that tries to notice every child. It is not easy and there are days where we fail, but at the very least we are aware. In 7th grade we use a few tricks; I schedule small group instruction with all students, I use a clipboard with their names on it and track who I am speaking to, we send postcards to every single home to highlight the great things we see. And yet, there are days where I don’t recall whether a child came to English or not except for their attendance. And that makes me sad.

So my challenge to you is a simple one; notice all of your students. Find a system, a cheat if you will, and make sure that every single kid leaves thinking that their teacher knew they were there. That every single kid leaves every single class thinking that it mattered that they showed up. Yes, I know it is hard. Yes, I know that it will take more work than what we already do, but we have to. No child should think they are invisible. No child should feel like they don’t matter. No child should sit 20 years after they graduate and share the story of being invisible like my husband did. It starts with us, will you take the challenge with me?

being a teacher, being me, student choice

Are Just Teachers to Blame for Boring School?

May 1, 2015 Pernille Ripp

I have tried to change education. I have tried to re-ignite forgotten curiosity. I have tried to spread joy when I teach, when student learn, when we go through this experience known as school. For the past 5 years this has been my mission. I ask the students. I build community. I make it authentic, meaningful, personalized, passion-based, and many other educational buzzwords. And yet, today, one of my students asked my why no teachers ever made school relevant. Why school is so boring. And my shoulders dropped right along with my spirit, but just for a moment.

As I drove home, I kept coming back to the question the student asked, because it is a relevant one, yet I also realized that it is not that we aren’t trying. Because I am not the only one who spends hours every day trying to change education. I am not the only one who feels like they can do better and strives to always make it more than it has to be. I am not the only one who is trying to make it relevant, trying to make it worth student time, trying to make it meaningful. I see it every single day in the classrooms of my colleagues and on the teachers that share their stories. And yet, students continue to say that it isn’t and that we aren’t. And I am not quite at my wits end on those days, but I am inching closer, comment for comment.

So I ask, at what point can we stop feeling that it is all our fault? At what point can we realize not just as a society, but as human beings, that it is not just teachers that create the school experience, but all of the players; including students. That perhaps it is not just our fault when school is boring, although we seem to think it is. I know I take personal responsibility for when my students are not engaged, but perhaps I need to stop. Is there blame to spread? Or must we continue to carry this burden alone?

Perhaps, my question is irrelevant; who cares about blame when students are disengaged, but carrying all this guilt and responsibility is sometimes exhausting. I know I blame just myself when a lesson goes wrong, because to think it would be anything else seems sacrilegious. Still, though, it cannot just be the fault of the teacher, can it?