Category: being a teacher

advice, assumptions, being a teacher, being me

The Mighty Will Conquer If We Let Them

Pernille Ripp

Augustine, our youngest, was born 10 weeks early.  Weighing in at less than 4 pounds, unable to breathe by herself, we were told the consequences her hasty arrival might have on her. We were told that there might be blindness.  We were told there might be attention issues.  We were told there might be learning disabilities.  We were told that some of her deficits would not show up until she was much older, surely lulling us into a false sense of security.  The problem is; nobody told her.

So when she left the hospital at 5 pounds, 4 weeks ahead of schedule, she didn’t care what her plan should have been.  When she started to crawl at the age of 7 months, she didn’t care that developmentally her age was 5 months, and 5 month old babies shouldn’t be crawling.  At 11 months she shouldn’t have been walking.  At 13 months she shouldn’t have been trying to make words.  She shouldn’t have been trying to run after her siblings or do what they do.  She shouldn’t be so small, yet be so mighty, that even the NICU doctors can’t believe how ahead she is.  No one told her that she should slow down, act her age, stop developing, stop getting ahead of where she really should be.  We may have been told what to expect but we didn’t have to believe it, and really Augustine made that choice for us anyway.  Yet, we also had a choice as parents when we took her home; treat her with the expectation that life would be harder for her or treat her the same as our other children.  The choice was easy for us.

I think of the labels we place on our students, of the expectations we have based on our casual judgments.  How we label some students slow readers, struggling writers, or problem students.  How our report card comments, parent/teacher conversations, and casual references become the labels that our students define themselves by.  No child comes to school thinking they cannot achieve their dreams, school plants that seed in their heads through the expectations we set.

Augustine serves as a daily reminder for me that we can expect our children to soar or to fail.  That we place limitations on our students based on our own beliefs of their capabilities.  That we can create more obstacles for them than there was before.  That how we handle them, how we speak to them and about them can determine the path they take in life.  I wan tto make sure my words set high expectations, that my words will help students achieve, not lessen their dream, not change their focus to something more within reach.  Augustine is conquering the world with us cheering her on; doesn’t every child deserve that same chance within our schools?

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.

assumptions, attention, being a teacher, being me, student voice

All Hail the Kids

Pernille Ripp

I never thought I would be the parent of a child who couldn’t pay attention.  Who had a million ideas in her head except for the one she should be focusing on.  Who tries so hard to look you in the eye yet can only last for a few seconds because that thought she just had is just so amazing and she has to tell it you right now.  Even though you are talking.  Even though now is not the time to interrupt. I never thought my child would struggle with reading.  I never thought my child would struggle with sitting still.  I never thought she would be like this.  After all, I did what good parents do.

Yet, here she is, in a school that embraces her wholeheartedly and yet those amazing qualities she has; her imagination, her need for movement, her sense of righteousness and independence don’t seem to always fit in a school day’s work. She doesn’t really fit the system’s definition of what good girls do.  Because good girls pay attention when asked.  Good girls look you in the eye.  Good girls are friends with everybody.  Good girls know how to do school.  Good girls are teacher-pleasers, peacekeepers, and direction followers.  Not wild girls with crazy hair, incredible ideas, and a need to go go go. Thank goodness her teacher loves her.

My child doesn’t fit the mold of what a girl should be and yet she amazes me.  The stories she tells are far-fetched and fantastic.  The way she carries her emotions and feels others’ pain.  How angry she gets when she feels the world is against her.  How she declares everyone her best friend.  She doesn’t know what good girls are supposed to be like, and I hope she never does.  Because in her I have found an independence I never knew a child could have.  In her I have found the realization that not all girls will act like girls, but they will still be good.  And also not all boys will act like boys are supposed to but they will still be good boys.

All hail the girls that break the mold.  The boys who dare to defy.  The kids who make us worry and yet continue to captivate us when we wonder what they will do next.  There has to be room in our schools for them.  Not just the kids that are easy to teach.  Not just the kids that do as we ask.  All hail the kids who are themselves in a world that tries to define them.

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, education reform, student choice, student voice

Not All Students Want To Change the World

Pernille Ripp

“But I don’t want a voice to the world…” he stands with a determined look on his face, expecting me to challenge his decision.  “They don’t need to see what I write or what I have to say,” he continues, “It’s none of their business…”  And with that, my students have once again challenged my assumptions and I need to change the way I teach.  Again.

So what else have my students proved me wrong in, well quite a bit, but here are the biggest.

Not all students want a voice.  From 4th to 7th grade I always have students that don’t want their private thoughts, work, or writing published to the world.   Never assume that every child wants their work published or shared, ask first, we would expect the same thing if it were us.

Not all students want to make.  I thought when I started doing more hands-on learning that all students would jump for joy, and while some certainly do, there are also students who go into absolute terrified mode when presented with anything abstract.  Those kids need to fit into our innovative classrooms as well, so offer choices in how they learn, don’t just assume they want to create something from nothing or do their own version.

Not all students want choice.  Some kids just want to be told what to do, not always, not on everything, but some kids need more structure or support through some things.  If we only cater to the creative child who relishes freedom then we are not teaching all of the students in front of us.

Not all students want to change the world.  While we may shout about empowered students and how they are going to change the world, not every child wants to change the world, they just want to be kids.

I have learned that while I may love to change the way education is done in classrooms around the world, I need to make sure I don’t disenfranchise students more by assuming they all want to learn like I do.  So make room for all of the learners in your world, support them all as they grow, and don’t judge.  Push them forward but be gentle in your approach and ask the students first.

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.

assessment, assumptions, Be the change, being a teacher, education reform, No grades, student voice

What My Students Told Me – Students Take on Grades

Pernille Ripp

I thought teaching 7th graders would mean that they had a cool distance to school.  That they knew that the grades we give reflect the work they do.  That a report card is not meant as a slap in the face, but rather a tool to be used as they grow toward their goal.  I thought that moving from letter grades to standards based meant students would get it better, would embrace the chance to see what they needed to focus on and then work harder to master their deficits.  Yet again what I thought has proven to not be so, so when I asked my students their thoughts on grades so that I could add their voice to the re-publication of Passionate Learners, I had to take a moment to digest what they told me.  It wasn’t what they said about whether teachers should grade or not, it was how they reacted to the grades they were given.

Once again, I am the mouthpiece for my students, they asked that I please share this with the world in the hope that it will inspire change.  In the hope that it will inspire discussion, that we will take their thoughts and use them to push our own.  So what my students wish teachers knew about grades is simple, yet significant.  I hope it makes you think.

That they feel they have little to no control over what grade they get.  Even in a standards-based grading district, where I ask them to show me mastery with deconstructed standards using rubrics we have created together, they still feel that they have little control over how they are assessed, and more importantly what that assessment means to them.  Now imagine how students feel when they haven’t created the rubric, self-assessed, or deconstructed the standards.  They don’t understand the rubrics we give, they don’t understand at times what they should know to be labeled proficient.  They don’t understand the number they are given.  They crave feedback and conversation, rather than a number or letter.  They crave classrooms that relish growth, failure, and attempts at learning.

That grades means they are done.  The minute we grade something, they are done with it.  It is the signal they need to move on, no matter that I teach in a district that allows and encourages re-takes for everything.  If we want them to continue working on something then we should give feedback but no scores.

That grades sometimes become the one thing that their parents look at, nothing else.  The minute a grade is placed on something that is all their parents can focus on.  Their parents don’t always care about the effort, they don’t always care about the growth, just what the final result is.  The conversations then centers around reaching the “3” or the “4,” to get that A, rather than what they learned, how they liked it, and what they are working on next.

That a grade tells them whether they are smart or not.  We may say that grades are in their control and that they don’t reflect how smart they are, but they are not listening.  If you get good grades, you must be smart, if you don’t well then you are dumb.  Grades are leading them to a fixed mindset, rather than the growth mindset we are all hoping for.

That publishing honor rolls or GPA’s mean that their private learning is now public.  We may see releasing these names as a way to celebrate their learning, but many of my students says it just creates a divide.  And it’s not the students who are not on honor roll that said this to me, no, over and over it was the students that made it.  They didn’t see their accomplishments as anyone else’s business.

That grades are for the future, not for the now.  So many of my students reported that grades mattered because they want to go to college, and while at first I found this to be great (they care about the future!) I soon realized that this is so far from the purpose of what school should be.  Students should keep an eye on the future, yes, but they should also keep an e eye on the now.  They should be focused on the learning journey they are currently on and be excited to see their own growth and how it will help them right now, not 6 years from now.

Once again, my students are pushing me to change the way I asses in the classroom.  While I strive to give them meaningful feedback, I have slipped from my ways.  That’s what happens when you teach more than 100 students.  Yet, the numbers I am so carefully doling out are not helping them grow, so I am not doing my job as their teacher.  My students are making me a better teacher, imagine if we asked all of our students what grades means to them?

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, Be the change, being a teacher, being me, Passion, Personalized Learning, student voice

What Story Are You Telling?

Pernille Ripp

My students told me to stand proud.  To make sure I made eye contact.  To speak up and smile.  Maybe play music and crack a joke.  To do all of the things I ask them to do every time they speak.  “Tell them what we tell you…we need to change school, no joke”

I stand today, privileged to speak to other educators about the way we do education, about the things we may want to change.  I stand today ready to carry my students’ words out into the world.  I stand today, nervous and with butterflies in my stomach, knowing that those things my students tell me day after day now have an audience to be passed on to.  I don’t want to let them down.

Yet, I am not alone.  All of us that write, all of us that speak, all of us that go out and discuss education whether globally or locally, we carry the words of our students with us.  We carry the awesome responsibility that comes with being in classrooms or schools every day.  We carry the knowledge of what may work work and what definitely doesn’t.  We carry the words students give us so that they have a voice.  We carry the stories of our students and what they do every day.  We carry their words when they can’t.

So before we speak of THAT kid that drove us crazy.  Before we speak of THAT class that just wouldn’t listen.  Before we speak about THAT school that didn’t work; remember that we choose what the narrative of education is.  Remember that within our words we carry all of their words, all of their thoughts, all of their hopes.  We just have to decide what we share with the world.  We decide what story is told about education; one of frustration or one of change.  The choice is always ours.

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, assumptions, authentic learning, Be the change, being a teacher, education reform

What I Need to Change

Pernille Ripp

I was going to write about all of the things we have been doing to try to break down the barriers to poetry in class.  All of the eye rolls I have been seeing, the grunts and groans.  The many “Roses are red…” poems I have sen in the last few days as I ask them to write me a poem, any poem, just write something.  I was going to write about how many of my students hate poetry because of all of the rules we have forced upon them in our pursuit of helpfulness and understanding.  I was going to write about how my students are slowly inching further away from a disinterest or total hate to a small interest or even like when it comes to listening to poetry.  Writing it is an entirely different battle.

But I decided that this was bigger than that.  This moment, in our classrooms, is bigger than that.

It is not that my students are the only ones that hate poetry.  In fact, some of them do, some of them don’t.

It is not that my students are the only ones who hate writing.  Hate reading.  Hate book clubs.  Hate English.  Some of them do, some of them don’t.

It is not that my students are finally expressing their hatred not to be mean or out of spite, but so we can do something about it.

It is not that my students are different from most students.

It is more that I have had the same conversations every year.

It is more that every kid has something they hate about school because of choices I have made, choices we have made, when we decided to teach a certain way.

It is more that student curiosity seems to have been drowned out by our carefully planned lessons.

That inquiry and critical thinking have been buried by the pursuit of the one right answer.

That we have taught students that school is black and white while life is multicolored.

That we tell them to sit still so much that they forget their own voice.

That we make all of the choices for them and then get frustrated when they cannot create on their own.

That is what I need to write about because that is what I have discussed with my students.  That is what teaching poetry has revealed so far.  That is what I need to change.

Who knew poetry would be the place my students found their voice.

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.