being a teacher – Page 105

We seem to think that all students want to just be left alone to make and create. That if given the choice, the students would love school so much more if we just provided them with big picture goals and then let them meander along their own path to get there. That they need time to just think and do, without too much interference from the teacher. That if we give them enough tools and enough freedom then their inner passion will be awakened and they will discover their destiny. That school is breaking the creative spirit of all children by not providing freedom and that we must get back to making all of the time. Yet is this true? Is this really what all children need?

I bring this up because it seems that in our voyage to overhaul school we seem to be going to a new extreme; one that assumes that all students want to make. That all students are passionate artists held back by the confinement of school. I am not sure this is true though, at least it isn’t, according to my students.

My students are telling me that they want choice all the time, but that one of the choices should always be to follow a path set forth by the teacher.

My students are telling me that they would like to create sometimes but that other times they need ideas for what they can create.

My students are asking to not be left alone at all times. That they need guidance and vision, that they need help, because they don’t know always know where they are going or what they are trying to do. Sometimes they don’t need me right there, but sometimes they do.

My students are telling me that for most of them it is not enough to just know where they need to end, but they need to know how to get there as well. And that is my job, their job, and why we are in a classroom.

My students are telling me that a teacher’s job is to teach and that they would like to to learn and sometimes that means sitting and listening, not doing, not inventing, not creating. That constantly making is exhausting, and not in a great way. That there must be balance in all of our classrooms.

That doesn’t mean that they are broken. That doesn’t mean they will not be successful adults. That does not mean that school somehow has robbed them of their creativity or of their voice. It doesn’t mean that we have successfully indoctrinated all students to believe they are un-creative, it simply means that they are kids learning. That they are kids who want to experiment but not be on their own. That we need to ask our students and then listen to what they all say and then cater our teaching to reach all of them. Not assume they don’t need us anymore. Not assume that school will only be a place that holds them back unless we remove all constraints.

Once again, we must make school about the kids we teach not the kids we think we teach. Those kids need us, all of us, all of the time. And they may need us in ways we don’t realize, our job is to figure it out and then stop assuming they don’t mean what they say. When they say they want a teacher to teach them that is not inherently bad, it just means they are not quite ready, and that is perfectly ok.

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. I have no awards or accolades except for the lightbulbs that go off in my students’ heads every day. The second edition of my first book “Passionate Learners – Giving Our Classrooms Back to Our Students” will be published by Routledge in the fall. 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, being a teacher

Going Beyond the Standards

April 1, 2015April 1, 2015 Pernille Ripp

I sat in my empty classroom on Monday, spring break just started, and looked at what I have to cover in quarter four of 7th grade English. What the standards tell me a 7th grader needs to know. Great things, and yet…We need to get back to the basics. Somewhere in the mad rush of trying to cover everything within the 45 minutes that strangle our English class, we seem to have lost touch with what English is really all about; amazing books, deep conversations, and writing, so much of it so that we lose our fear of being bad writers and just start to embrace the process.

So as I looked around at the empty chairs, I knew exactly what to do. Monday morning we will start with a circle, a to-do list of dreams facing the students. I will ask them to discuss expectations and rules, I will ask them about their thoughts on what the standards say we need to get to and then I will ask them this is this quarter to please

Find one poem that speaks to you

Read one amazing book that you must pass on to someone else

Write something that makes you proud

And have a deep conversation with someone face to face

Those are the opportunities that I need to create, those are the things that matter. Beyond the standards, beyond what we need to cover. We need to have incredible experiences in English, not just survive the last quarter. Our students are bigger than the standards we teach. What are your plans for after the break?

being a teacher, being me, connect, connections

There Is Not Just One Right Way to Be A Connected Educator

March 28, 2015March 28, 2015 Pernille Ripp

I am a connected educator, whatever you think that term means. To me it means that at any given moment I have access to thousands, if not millions, of teachers around the world that can help me further my practice. I got those connections because I chose to use social media. I leverage Twitter every day to learn more about being a better teacher. I blog to get further discussion. However, I also work diligently on connecting with people at my school and in my community. I use those people to further my craft every day. So I get that being a connected educator is a great thing, but when we discuss what being connected means to teachers and use exclusionary terms such as saying that you have to use social media to be connected, we are doing nothing for the good of getting people connected. Instead we sound like a bunch of jerks. If we want people to get connected then we have to realize that while the way we are connected may be the most brilliant thing that ever happened to us, might not work for others. And that doesn’t mean they can’t be a connected educator.

Yes, I believe in the power of social media, but no it is not the only way to be connected. We cannot say teachers are not teaching well if they are not connected via social media. Or that they are harming their students. Or that their methods are antiquated. You can be connected using non-social media tools, like Skype, like email, like texting, like meeting someone for a cup of coffee.Who am I to say that my way of connecting, using Twitter or another social media platform, is somehow better than that? That my connections are worth more? Yet, that is what I see happen again and again. For what purpose?

If we are trying to get educators to be more connected, which I absolutely agree with, then we have to realize that those types of connections can happen in many ways. I would even say that some of my best connections are those that happened without social media being our link. Not all of them but some of them. Why not give credit to those types of connections as well rather than only the ones that happen on social media? I know several teachers who are connected on social media and they have not used it for the amazing things we assume everybody does on these platforms. Somehow we have invented a fake reality where all teachers who use social media are amazing.

In the end, it doesn’t matter as much HOW we are connected but rather that we are. I agree that teachers choose to be in isolation in this day and age, but we cannot claim that using social media to connect is the best way for all. That simply isn’t true. Connections help us grow when they matter to us. Not because of how they happened. Let’s not lose sight of what the greater goal is; to get more teachers to be connected. Let’s not think we know how to do it best, but rather offer multiple ways for others to connect. We need to stop saying there is only one right way, it doesn’t help our purpose.

aha moment, being a teacher, Passion, students

The Problem With Taking Notes on Students

March 19, 2015 Pernille Ripp

I remember the binder at the end of the year; probably weighing 10 pounds, spilling out with papers, tabs missing, scribbles everywhere. I was ready. I had the proof; proof of every single reading conversation that I had had with every student. Every goal we had set, every challenge we had overcome. The proof was in the binder and that binder was amazing.

Then I moved to 7th grade and I made 5 binders. Tabbed for each student. Ready with my goal sheets, my conferring template and my ever trusty clipboard. No longer did I need to take notes on all subjects, just two, and boy did that seem daunting, but I figured I needed to gather as many notes as possible because that is what good teachers do. Those first few weeks as I got to meet my students I used it every day. Called them up, flipped to the page, asked them the questions, wrote down, had them wait while I was still writing, finished up, wrote some more, called the next one up. In 10 minutes of independent reading time, I got through 2 students, at the most. With 116 students total, I didn’t know how I would ever keep up. How would I have all of the proof that I needed to show what I was doing every day with my students? How would I find time to take all of those notes? How would I be a good teacher.

Now I think I know the answer; I couldn’t. And I don’t have to. The thing is, you don’t need to take notes every single time you meet with a child. You do not need to document every conference, every small conversation. You don’t have to walk around with a binder or with a clipboard noticing every little thing and documenting it for all eternity. What you need to do instead is notice the big things. Find proof for the things that you would want to assess or share with someone else. Check in where a child is on their journey once a week and allow yourself to know that that is enough in most cases. Have enough to fill one sheet with really great observations and find your peace within that.

During a conference with a child, put the pen down and focus on what they are telling you. Look them in the eye and listen. Jot a line down when they are done if you want but don’t beat yourself up if you don’t. Allow yourself time once a week during independent reading or whenever you can and write down notes on all of the students. What have you noticed this week? Where are they at now? What is next for them? Then ask the students to reflect as well, give them a goal sheet to fill out and do it as a class. Ask them three simple questions: How are you better at whatever this week? How do you now? And what will you work on next?

I used to think that I needed proof of every single thing. That in case someone stopped by to ask what I did as a teacher I had to be ready. Now I know that it is not the quantity of information that matter but the quality. So join me in resisting the urge to document every single thing. Focus on the big things, the necessary, and look at the kids instead.

aha moment, being a teacher, Passion, student voice

Another Failed Lesson Thanks to My Students And Me

March 12, 2015 Pernille Ripp

It was meant to be easy. It was meant to be epic. It was meant to show off what I thought I already knew; how my students had mastered everything there was to know about theme, evidence, and how to do a great presentation. Yet, a few presentations in on Tuesday, it was pretty clear that this was not epic but instead a massively big failure. And I got upset. After all, these kids have had 2 months to work on this as they have been in book clubs for that long. All I had asked them to do was choose their book, discuss and read at their pace, and in the end create a book talk in whichever format they chose. I gave them plenty of time and plenty of choice. What could be so hard about that?

While some rose to the occasion, most did not. Yet instead of assuming that I knew why this had turned so awful, I asked them what happened. A few in each class bravely raised their hands even though they knew I was upset…

“We weren’t sure what you exactly wanted…”

“We felt overwhelmed by how long we had to do it…”

“Our group didn’t work so well together so we got distracted…”

“We didn’t put in much effort…”

“We didn’t think you would get so upset…”

“We had other things to do…”

And they waited for my reaction, expecting me to get madder. Yet as I looked at my students, I couldn’t help but just be a little bit proud of their answers. Sure I was upset over all of the wasted time, how they hadn’t stepped up to my expectations. Yet here they were, class upon class, with the guts to tell me that they didn’t think it was important. That they didn’t think I would care as much as I did. That they pretty much dropped the ball and now had to face the consequences. And I realized in that moment, that this lesson wasn’t about theme, opinions, or even how to be a great speaker. It was about guts and failure; having the guts to embrace their failure, discuss it, and actually learn from it.

How often do our students actually tell us the truth when it comes to their own mistakes? I know we talk about modeling and embracing our failure, but do our students actually pick up on it and do it as well? Not often enough.

The next day, we watched Diana Laufenberg’s amazing TED talk on learning from failure. Not what I had planned but it was what we needed. My students loved her message; yes to learning from failure, yes to allowing students to fail, in fact, they got pretty passionate about it, started to argue why school doesn’t let them just fail so they can figure it out. I chuckled a bit and then reminded them; many had failed the day before. Here was their chance to show me everything they knew. To not let one presentation define them. Silence. Then it clicked. Not for all, but for many.

While I had huge dreams of of the great content that students would have shown me on Tuesday, I am now thankful they didn’t. They needed the freedom to fly and to fall. They needed the freedom to to not care, to push off, to procrastinate. Because I can preach about failure, I can preach about personal responsibility. I can even preach about letting them try and picking themselves up when they fall. Or they can experience it. We say we want kids to be afraid of failing and yet still try, yet how often do we have opportunities for just that? My students taught me again. It is because of them I want to keep trying to be a better teacher and that includes having lessons fail in the most epic way.

being a teacher, Passion, Personalized Learning, student choice

What Personalized Learning Is Not

March 11, 2015March 10, 2015 Pernille Ripp

I seem to have become an advocate for personalized learning, it wasn’t intentional, nor do I think I am good one for the cause. I believe in creating passionate learning environments where all students have a voice. So the more discussions I have the more I understand where the hesitance to personalized learning, or any seemingly new initiative that crops up, is stemming from. Because much like any great educational idea, this idea of personalized learning seems to have become twisted into something it is not.

I believe in personalizing learning for every child. That doesn’t mean a system, a plan that can be found in a book, or even mapped out for the world to replicate. They don’t teach the kids I teach so they have no way of knowing what they need. That is my job as a teacher to figure out by asking the students.

Personalized learning does not mean to let go, give up control of everything, and hope for the best. It doesn’t mean that every kid has to make something, invent something, or be creative for every assignment. It doesn’t mean we have to integrate more technology so that we can reach every kid. It doesn’t mean that teachers should just facilitate or guide and otherwise get out of the way. There will never be just one role for all of us to fit all of the time. Because personalized learning means to personalize which means to teach the kids we have right here, right now.

Those kids we have may want to invent.

Those kids we have may want to create.

Those kids we have may want no structure, to be able to show mastery whichever way they choose, as they tinker, play, and dream.

Those kids we have may want to integrate their own device whenever they can to show off their own genius.

Yet those kid we have may also need support.

Those kids we have may also need guidelines.

Those kids we have may also need a piece of paper with an assignment explained and a path to get from point A to point B.

Those kids we have may also need structure, an end goal that is shared with others, and a teacher that leads the way.

Personalized learning seems to have become confused with yet another rigid system where we assume that all kids want to make. And that is a shame because the minute we assume that ALL kids want anything then we are doing the opposite of what personalizing learning is. So don’t believe all of the guidelines, don’t believe that there is just one path to do it right for it means to reach all kids, to find a way to teach all kids, giving them what they need and being in tune with them when that need changes,

As a child, I would have hated being told to create on my own at all times and to somehow figure it all out. That was not what I needed then, nor is it what I want as an adult. Make sure in our quest to reach all kids that we don’t think there is only way to reach them. Make it about teaching them all, reaching all, and realizing that there is not one system for doing that because we do not just teach one child. Don’t buy the latest idea just because someone sai dthat this is finally the right way to teach, even if it sounds magical.