being a teacher – Page 109

aha moment, being a teacher, being me, MIEExpert15, teachers

If My Mother Had Listened to My Teacher

January 11, 2015 Pernille Ripp

If my mother had listened to my teacher she would have realized what a horrible child I was. How I should be kept away from others. How I should not be with children my own age because I would corrupt them. How I was doomed to live a life of solitude because no one was safe around me.

She didn’t.

If my mother had listened to my teacher she would have realized how little imagination I had except for the morose. That my stories lacked depth, that my personality was dull. That writing was not my strength but something I could maybe get through if I just understood what it meant to follow the rules a bit more.

She didn’t.

If my mother had listened to my teacher she would have realized that I was far too outspoken. That I never put my hand down and I needed to learn to be silent. That yes having an opinion was great but listening was better. That it didn’t always pay off to fight for what you believed in if it meant disrupting the peace.

She didn’t.

If my mother had listened to my teacher she would have realized that there was something wrong with me. That I was special but not in a good way. That I may be smart but I didn’t use it for anything good. That other children couldn’t learn from me. That I needed to hide what I knew so that others wouldn’t find me odd.

She didn’t.

If my mother had listened to my teacher she would have realized that I had spunk. That I had nerve. That I had worth. She would have realized that I was creative, that I was a hard worker even if I couldn’t get something. That I was smart. That I had friends, that I could be a leader. That although I was not quite the person I wanted to be yet, that some day I would get there.

She did, because she already knew those things. I was the one that didn’t.

There are so many things that we tell parents every day, what will be the things that they choose not to listen to? What will be the things that a child carries with them the rest of their life?

I am a passionate teacher in Oregon, Wisconsin, USA, 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. First book “Passionate Learners – Giving Our Classrooms Back to Our Students” can be purchased now. Second book“Empowered Schools, Empowered Students – Creating Connected and Invested Learners” is out now from Corwin Press. Follow me on Twitter @PernilleRipp.

being a teacher, MIEExpert15, student choice, student driven

Feb. 5th Show the World What the Life of A Student Looks Like – #Studentlife

January 8, 2015January 15, 2015 Pernille Ripp

As connected educators, we do a lot of sharing what our days look like and in extension the day of our students, yet how much of what we share truly gives an entire picture of what it means to be a student these days? After reading Grant Wiggins’ blog that detailed what an ed-coach found after she followed two high school students around, I cannot help but wonder if we really know what it feels like for our students? If we really understand what a full day looks like for them? And more importantly what we possibly can change to make their days better. So inspired by the hashtag #principalsday that occurred on Twitter, I think it is time we do the same for the students.

Details

On February 5th, I invite students across the world to share pictures from their regular day using the hashtag #studentlife. Students (or teachers if students are too young) can use Twitter, Instagram, or whatever social network site they choose to share these slices of their life. What I hope for is a wide variety of images with or without commentary that will allow us educators to see what happens in our students’ days, not just what we think happens. If you feel like it, you can also have students do this before February 5th and compile their answers into something that can be shared. This is what I will do using our blogs.

How can you participate?

Share this challenge with your students and invite them to join, remind them to use the hashtag #studentlife.

Add your information in the form below or in a comment so that I can share your students’ slices with the rest of the world.

Tune in on February 5th through Twitter or Instagram to hopefully see what our students’ days look like.

Help me spread the word on this please, I think it could be really powerful for all of us to see what students really go through in a day in our schools.

being a teacher, education, learning, Passion

Every Workshop I Attend Should….What Attendees Wish We Knew

January 7, 2015 Pernille Ripp

With a cold day declared today, I found myself at the local coffee shop furiously trying to prepare for the conferences I am lucky enough to present at this spring. I have never been invited to speak at conferences before this year, so the pressure I feel is mounting. I want people to be inspired. I want people to feel it was worth their time. And most importantly, I want people to leave with ideas that they can implement the next day, not just the next school year. I don’t know why I find it so nerve wracking to speak to other educators when I teach students every day, and yet it is exactly those experiences I need to rely on. I would never lecture for 45 minutes or longer to my students, so why would I do it to adults?

To make sure I was on the right track, I tweeted out the following

As always, I was not disappointed. There seemed to be several themes that immediately jumped out at me, and it turns outI was right, people attending conferences do not want just to sit and get, they have very big desires for what they will leave with.

So for all of us gearing up for spring workshops/presentations or any kind of professional learning opportunity, listen to what educators around the world had to say.

They want choice! No more forced professional development with only one choice, with in-district experts there is no reason to limit the day. Sure, bring in outside speakers, but don’t forget about your local talent; those teachers within your district that know a lot too. Get as many sessions as you can muster and offer a wide variety so that all minds can be at least somewhat satisfied.

They want to connect! Sitting in a room with like-minded people and just speaking to them is not something we get to do very often. So please offer time to discuss, share ideas, and inspire each other. As one teacher wrote, “Allow more time for me to talk with other attendees.” Offer them a chance to become connected educators. Brilliant.

They want to be acknowledged as experts too! We tend to elevate the speaker to the one with the most knowledge, and while this sometimes is true, we can never forget about all of the knowledge there is in the room. So find a way for others to share what they know and acknowledge their expertise. No one wants to feel inferior or that there experience doesn’t have merit just because they are not the presenter.

They want practical ideas! They want something they can go and try the very next day in school without a lot of preparation or extra stuff needed. They also want long-term ideas that they can implement over time. So make sure to offer a mixture of both.

They also want to be inspired! We go to conferences to become better, so being inspired and having our passion re-ignited is vital. Use the opportunity to lift up rather than break down, there are indeed many things that should be changed in education but don’t forget about all of the good. I would rather start from a place of hope than a place of fear or anger any day.

They want the focus to be on students! As presenters we shouldn’t be there to just highlight the work we do, but rather keep the focus on the students. What we are doing, after all, is to make the lives of our students better. So make sure your presentation discusses the way students have gained from whatever topic and share their voice through quotes, video, pictures or even bringing a real live student in. They are in the end why we teach.

They want it to be fun! I learned a long time ago in my classroom to have fun with my students as a way to get the learning across, yet I tend to forget this in my presentations, I get too nervous I suppose. Yet professional development needs to be fun, energetic, passionate, and exciting. Find a way to lighten up the learning a bit, this also allows you to offer participants a way to get more hands on with things.

Once again, the people I connected to helped me push through and really sharpen the focus of my upcoming presentations. The next month will allow me to hopefully create an experience for all the people I am lucky enough to work with in the coming months. If you are interested in seeing where I will be or having me speak, please go here.

And now it is your turn. Please finish the sentence…Every workshop I attend should….

being a teacher, education, ideas, MIEExpert15, Passion, writing

5 + 1 Simple Ideas to Make Writing Fun Again

January 2, 2015January 2, 2015 Pernille Ripp

Over and over their comments come.

“…I hate writing…”

“…Please don’t make me write…”

“…Writing is soooo boring…”

And with each comment, I am grateful for my 7th graders honesty and also very, very challenged. How do you make writing fun again when all of the joy has disappeared for some? How do you make writing something students want to do, or at the very least don’t hate, when you have a curriculum to get through? How do we continue to inspire students to become writers, even when facing so many old writing demons? Two weeks off have given me some time to think, so here is what I have realized.

Writing cannot be for me. Writing has to be personal and for an audience. Not a made up one, although they can come in handy, but an actual real live audience that will give feedback on the writing. Whether it is for a class across the hallway, the local paper, or any connection you can make; establish a purpose and then have that audience give feedback. My students’ writing grew immensely when they knew they were writing for “real” kindergarten and first grade classrooms. This also is why we blog, they know people are reading their writing.
It is okay if they don’t write. I forget that I only write when I am inspired and how hard writing is when it is “on demand.” Yet, on demand writing is what we ask students to do every single day and we expect it to be great writing! Sometimes, we just need time to think, to ponder, to reflect, to doodle, to stare into nothing. Not every day, because yes there are still things to cover, but we seem to have forgotten that a lot of writing happens in our head before anything is even written down. So allow students to think, help them along if they are stuck, allow them conversations and to look outside of themselves for inspiration. Yes, this takes time away from covering curriculum but writing needs to be less forced and more organic.
Know when to publish, rather than revise. We get to so caught up in having students continually revise that sometimes we forget to just let a piece go. Even if it is not perfect. Even if it is not finished. Too often we force students to revise, edit, and revise some more so that we can see their best writing for every single piece, yet writers don’t do that. They pursue their best piece, abandon others, and sometimes circle back. We have to offer students an opportunity to decide when something is finished and then let it stand by itself. Even if that means publishing a blog that is not their best writing, even if it means showing me unfinished work.
Allow for 5 minutes of free write. I plan on incorporating 5 minutes of free write into my tight 45 minute schedule. Just as I devote 10 minutes to read independently, I have to devote time for them to just create, think, and possibly write something. Whether it is a story, a journal, a doodle, a poem, whatever it is, they need the time to get into writing mode. This will not be graded, nor will it be read by me most days.
Enough with the grades. I am not a fan of letter grades or even scores when it comes to all writing. Yes, there is a place for teaching writing through final feedback, but we tend to get so grade heavy that students can’t see any of the progress they have made, nor the feedback they are receiving. As one of my colleagues told me regarding her writing experience in high school, “…There was so much red pen on my papers when I got them back, I just threw them away without reading any of it.” That’s what an overabundance of grades and feedback can do. Instead, have students pick a piece they want graded and have them explain why this represents them as a writer. Our lens should be on providing specific and short feedback that can boost their writing skills, not continually grading their practice writing.

And yes, as always there is a plus one…

6. Use different types of writing tools. This idea is stolen right form Kindergarten, still has merit with our older students. Why not have them write on post-its, big posters, or anything else that can take some writing? Why not bring out the markers? The sparkly pen? The paints? We get so confined in what constitutes writing that we forget to have fun with it, and while this is a superficial fix that will lose its luster, it can still inject the beginning push for writing to be viewed as fun again.

On Monday, I plan on having students critique my ideas. They are, after all, for their educational benefit. I will share what they say but in the mean time, I would love to hear from you; what has brought back life in your writing with students?

being a teacher, classroom expectations, new year, our classroom, Passion

Why Not Treat Them Like They Want to Be In Our Classrooms?

December 29, 2014 Pernille Ripp

I bartended for many years before and after I became a teacher. Something about the hours and the people appealed to me and it is even how I met my husband; he was a bouncer and I was behind the bar. I remember seeing the same people come in weekend after weekend. Not because they had to. Not because there was anything special going on. Not because the drinks were fantastic. Instead it was because of the people who worked there. The people who made the place special. The people who knew you, who knew what you liked, who asked about your family, who made you feel cared about. They made the experience special.

Why am I bringing this up? Because in our classrooms we make the difference of whether kids want to show up or not. We already know they have to be there, but our relationship with them is what can determine whether they want to be a part of our classrooms or not. It is our attitude, how we greet them, how we treat them, that will make the difference.

So when school starts again, offer them the attention they deserve. Ask about more than homework or work habits. About more than what is happening at school. Look at them when you speak to them. Seek them out for conversation. Listen. Remember. And share yourself.

We know it is about the relationship. We know a successful education can hinge on personal relationships. Why not treat the students as if they don’t have to be there but instead want to be there? Why not treat them like we would our favorite customer? It’s amazing how much a smile and a few lines of conversation can do, don’t forget that.

I am a passionate teacher in Oregon, Wisconsin, USA, 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. First book “Passionate Learners – Giving Our Classrooms Back to Our Students” can be purchased now from Powerful Learning Press. Second book“Empowered Schools, Empowered Students – Creating Connected and Invested Learners” is out now from Corwin Press. Follow me on Twitter @PernilleRipp.

being a teacher, MIEExpert15, Passion, projects, student choice

Our Epic Nonfiction Project

December 14, 2014December 15, 2014 Pernille Ripp

I don’t share specific lessons on here often but this time I have to because this one has just made the last 6 weeks, yes 6 weeks, fly by. Not just for me either, most of my students that reported on their survey that they hate writing but love this project. So without further ado, let me tell you all about our rather epic nonfiction picture book project.

The goal of the project is rather simple; create a 30 to 50 page nonfiction picture book meant for a K or 1st grade audience on anything you wish. Throughout this project we have been able to successfully marry tech tools with writing, as well as using Skype, Twitter and other interactive tools.

Why this project? Because within it we have been able to work on:

How to take organized notes in a way that works for them.
How to write a paragraph and all of the myriads of lessons that are attached to that.
Grammar! Spelling! Punctuation!
How to find legal images.
How to cite sources, including images, books, and websites.
How to uncover reliable sources (yes, there is a place for Wikipedia in our research).
How to search the internet better.
How to conduct market research using Skype to ask K or 1st grade classrooms what they want to read and how they want to read it.
How to rewrite information in our words.
How to do design and layout on a page to make it inviting.
How to create good questions.
Exploring our own interests.
How to write assessment rubrics.

I had a hunch that it would be a success, but I didn’t know how much. Yet the conversations that have happened within our room have been incredible. The hush that falls over the room when 26 students are all intently researching, writing, and quietly conferring with me or friends have been amazing to witness. They get it. They know what their purpose is. They are writing an authentic piece for an authentic audience who not only is guiding them forward but will also be providing feedback once it is complete.

So a few details about the project:

This is a 6 week long project, anchored by a 10 or so minute mini-lessons every day and then work time the rest of class.
Mini-lessons have centered around how to take notes ( I showed them 3 different ways), how to research well, how to write paragraphs, how to rewrite information, and anything else we have had to address.
Students were able to ask questions to K and 1st grade classrooms via Skype to do market research, they are also asked to do a live interview with a child ages 5, 6, or 7 and incorporate that feedback into their project.
I reached out through Twitter and Edmodo to find classrooms that will assess the final product, they are asked to fill out this Google form with their feedback.
Students created their books in Google Presentations for easy access for all (we checked out Chromebooks), as well as easy design and layout.
To see all of my handouts and resources, go to my classroom’s English Resource Page where all the nuts and bolts can be found.

Why have we loved it so much?

Using Skype in a meaningful way to interview the audience we are writing for got the students on-board and excited right away.
Audience became an ongoing conversation and what we kept in the back of our mind throughout the process.
It allowed me to really dig in with each student through mini-conferences.
I was able to cover basic grammar over and over without the students finding it repetitive.
Students were in charge of their project starting with the choice of their topic to what they would write about.
It is an authentic project, not just being written for me.
Plagiarism is easily circumvented because students have to simplify the language of their research.
We were able to meaningfully collaborate between English and their Tech Tools class.
Students have been able to finish the project within English class if they spent their time wisely.
We were able to delve into nonfiction in an exciting way, students sometimes hate nonfiction because they find it boring, they forget how much of our life is surrounded by nonfiction and how much fun it can be.
And yes, it covers 4 of the 10 standards I have to cover which should never be the only reason we do something but is still a reality of my day-to-day.

Tomorrow they hand in their projects. They will present by having them run on Chromebooks and students doing a gallery walk, that way we can show off all of them within our 45 minutes. Then students will self-reflect as always and I will spend a lot of winter break poring over their hard work and assessing them. I can’t wait.

Thank you Corinne for allowing me to share your finished project

I am a passionate teacher in Oregon, Wisconsin, USA, 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. First book “Passionate Learners – Giving Our Classrooms Back to Our Students” can be purchased now from Powerful Learning Press. Second book“Empowered Schools, Empowered Students – Creating Connected and Invested Learners” is out now from Corwin Press. Follow me on Twitter @PernilleRipp.