Category: being a teacher

Be the change, being a teacher, being me, books, Student-centered

Join Me for a Chat About Passionate Learners!

Pernille Ripp

What a fantastic few days it has been!  From my book being released (gulp!) to people telling me they are loving it (even more gulp!) it has been incredible to finally get it out in the world.  So tonight, Sunday May 18th at 7 PM EST, please join me, the CEO of Powerful Learning Press Sheryl Nussbaum Beach, and my editor John Norton for a chat about the book, how to give the classroom back to students and anything else you may like to discuss.  There will even be prizes!

Here sis the official information, I hope to “speak” with you tonight!

Tweet about Passionate Learners!

Join Pernille, Powerful Learning Practice CEO Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, and PLPress Managing Editor John Norton for a one-hour Twitter chat this Sunday, May 18 at 7pm EST. Use the hashtag #plpnetwork to follow along and participate! During the Twitter chat, get a deeper look inside Pernille’s book Passionate Learners and be entered to win a number of prizes!

Register for Twitter Chat

Passionate Learners Live Webinar

Join author Pernille Ripp, PLP CEO Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, and PLPress Managing Editor John Norton for a one-hour live webinar on June 22 at 7pm EDT. During this webinar, we’ll take a deeper look inside Pernille’s new book Passionate Learners: Giving Our Classrooms Back to Our Students.

On June 22, find out how even the smallest changes can make monumental differences. Pernille learned in her own classroom that trusting yourself and your students and sharing the power of the classroom with them can lead to great teaching and learning even within the boundaries of our confining standards, testing obsessions and mandatory curriculums.

Whether you are just beginning or well on your way in your teaching career, this webinar can inspire you to break rules, take risks, and eagerly pursue your journey toward a classroom filled with passionate learners. Register for the webinar and get entered in a prize drawing!

Get Webinar Ticket

being a teacher, end of year, reflection

Do You Ask For Their Opinion?

Pernille Ripp
image from icanread

I went 4 years without asking those who matter most what they thought of my teaching.  I went 4 years without asking the tough questions, 4 years without opening up a final line of communication, 4 years afraid of what I might hear.  2 years ago I finally created the end of year parent and student survey, I remember it well.  I made it, took a deep breath, and then hit send.  I didn’t know what I would hear, what parents would tell me, but I knew I needed to ask.  The students were just as hard, the kids we teach are so good at telling us what they think we want to hear.  They are so good at not hurting our feelings, yet to grow as a teacher and person I had to get their honest opinion.  So I started asking them as well.

Now, even though this is my 3rd year asking, I am still afraid.  I work so hard all year trying to make the year the very best year for a child, yet I know I am human.  I know I mess up.  I know that I still have room to grow and things to work on.  And so, I continue to hit publish on my end of year survey.  I continue to send it out to parents and ask them to please help me grow.  I continue to read their answers, take them to heart and learn from them.  Even the tough answers, even the ones where I wish I had known earlier, where I wish I could change the past.  I read those too.  And the students with all of their feelings, their opinions, their advice; I read it, I reflect on it, and in the end I grow.  Even if it hurts, even if it reminds me that I am not perfect.

Do you ask for their opinion at the end of the year?  Do you make sure that those we make the biggest difference to have a way to help you grow?  Don’t be afraid, take the leap, and open up the discussion.

I am a passionate (female) 5th grade teacher in Wisconsin, USA, 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 Starting Today” can be purchased now from Powerful Learning Press.   Follow me on Twitter @PernilleRipp.

Be the change, being a teacher, being me, Student-centered

Passionate Learners – My First Book Released

Pernille Ripp

Two years ago, prompted by a blog post asking for ideas, I submitted a proposal for a book to Powerful Learning Press.  I remember thinking that I was way out of my league, that I had no right to submit anything, and who did I really think I was.  Yet, I knew from writing this blog and having many conversations with incredible people that some of the stuff I had written about had helped others.  I knew that there were many teachers out there wondering how they could change the way they taught, wondering if it was okay to break the rules?  So I hit send and then promptly forgot all about it, after all I was a new mom to twins and barely getting any sleep.  I took a leap of faith, hoped for the best, but resigned myself to the idea that no one would probably be interested.

Now, I see what taking a leap of faith can do for you.  Two years later the book that I asked if I could write, is being released.  “Passionate Learners – Giving Our Classrooms Back to Our Students” is out today!  The story that I hoped to tell about breaking the rules from within without alienating your entire support team, about working within a standards obsessed curriculum and still having students like learning, about assessing students without giving them grades is here.  That book that I thought I maybe could write has been written and is now ready to be judged by you.

So I hope you like it, or at least, I hope it makes you think.  I hope it offers concrete ideas that you can implement or help someone implement in their own journey to change.  I hope you will help me create more passionate learners around the world.

If you would like to connect with me, please reach out.  I can be emailed through p (at) globalreadaloud (dot) com

I also get to do a Twitter chat Sunday, May 18th at 7 PM EST

And finally I will do a live event on June 22nd 7 PM EST.  To sign up for this, go here

Be the change, being a teacher, being me, reflection

A Vow to Myself

Pernille Ripp
image from icanread

I look in the mirror, studying every flaw so that I can later point them out to my husband.  To make sure he knows that I know that I don’t look like when we first met, 13 years ago.

I see the flab, the stretch, the things that gravity have not been kind to and I squint, and I wish, and I wonder what can be done other than never showing any of these parts to anyone every again.  Because who wants to see this version of Pernille?  Who will ever think that this body is any good?  And then it hits me.  This body bore 4 children, 2 of them at the same time.  These arms that I am wondering whether I should show are the same ones that hold my children, that hug my husband, that allow me to do so many things.  These legs and my giant feet are what takes me through the world, that allow me to run after the kids, to rush to help, to climb the stairs to soothe a child with nightmares.  This face with its wrinkles, eyes that are tired, skin filled with imperfections is what I use to share my love, my laughter, my happiness with anyone who crosses my path.  This body is what allows me to be a mother, a woman, a teacher trying to change the world.

We are our own worst enemies.  We point out every flaw we can find and flaunt it to the world so that everyone will know that we know we are not perfect.  That others will know that we do not think highly of ourselves either, that we know we are nothing special.  We do it in front of our children so that they can learn that as grown ups  we are riddled with flaws that mean we are not as good as we once were.  We tear ourselves down so that others don’t have to.  We tear ourselves down so that we will not threaten others in their hunt for perfection.

We do this as teachers too, we get quiet when someone compliments us, mumble thanks, pass it off as if what we do is just something that happens and not something that we work so hard at.  We don’t point out our own greatness but will gladly share our flaws.  We invite others to criticize yet hardly ever share our strengths, our talents, our moments of glory that keep us coming back.  We reflect on our teaching and only see everything that we failed at, every mistake we made, every thing that we wish we could change, and don’t see all the good that we do every single day.

This is my vow to stop.  This is my vow to allow myself to feel good.  Not just about my body but also about what I do.  I work hard at being a good mom, I work hard at being a good wife, I work hard at being a good person, I work hard at being a good teacher.  I will not wait for others to point out my moments of greatness, I will look for them myself.  I will not stand in front of a mirror and tear myself apart anymore.  The negativity stops with me and it stops today.  Who is with me?

I am a passionate (female) 5th grade teacher in Wisconsin, USA, 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 Classroom Back to Our Students Starting Today” can be pre-bought now from Powerful Learning Press.   Follow me on Twitter @PernilleRipp.

Be the change, being a teacher, Reading, Student-centered

Who Cares About Reading Strategies?

Pernille Ripp
image from icanread

I saw him reading that bright green book, I snuck a closer look and recognized the cover.  “Guinness Book of World Records” was perched on his lap.  After independent reading, I asked him if he had any chapter books to read too.  I don’t mind Guinness but I love when students have a little bit of everything to read.  He told me no, and when I asked him why not, he said, “Reading is not my thing.”

This student has been taught every day in reading strategies.  How to comprehend, how to figure out themes, how to connect and draw meaningful conclusions.  He has diligently written post-its showing some thoughts, he has spoken to others about the books.  He has discussed goals with his teacher.  And yet, he doesn’t love reading, he doesn’t even like it, nor does he feel he needs to.

So then what does it matter if a student can tell me about theme?  What does it matter if a student can give me text evidence?  If there is no love of reading then what do we need reading strategies for?  Sure, students may be  equipped to move on in school and figure out the texts given to them.  But the child who does not like reading will not reach for books to enlighten them, or books that will challenge them.  They will not reach for books to transport them.  Books will not be a needed companion.  They will be okay with reading not being their thing and continue on that path.  And I am not okay with that.

Who cares about reading strategies and teaching them if we are not uncovering at least a like of books?  If we are not helping our students discover a book that they want to read, not because I told them to but because they want, whether it be fiction, nonfiction, or audio?  Who cares about theme if a child thinks reading is torture?  Who cares about connections when the most important one; the child connecting to the book, is missing?

Yes, we should teach students to be better readers but we should also help them uncover a love of books if it is missing.  We should be professing our own love of books and urging them to find the right one that may convince them that reading bears value.  Every year this should be our biggest focus, not the reading strategies, they come after.

I am a passionate (female) 5th grade teacher in Wisconsin, USA, 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 Classroom Back to Our Students Starting Today” can be pre-bought now from Powerful Learning Press.   Follow me on Twitter @PernilleRipp.

 

being a teacher, reflection

What Happened to the Spirit of Teaching?

Pernille Ripp
image from icanread

I became a teacher to help students grow.  To help them face their challenges and conquer them in meaningful ways.  To help them figure out who they were and where they fit into this world.  I became a teacher to teach, in the truest sense of the word.  Not to trust a computer to do my job.

With the craze of data collection and the push for more and more tests to gather even more data, I cannot help but wonder what happened to the spirit of teaching?  Where is our push for better teaching, not just based on data, but rather on the spirit of the child that stands in front of us?  Why is it common that a teacher’s intuition or a teacher’s experience with a child  takes second place to what a computer or an anonymous test grader thinks?  What happened to us being trusted as professionals?  Can a computer or a bubble test really tell us more about a child that than what we already know?

I am not dismissing data as a whole but rather the seemingly absurd way we push for more and more as if the computer can unlock the secret to all that a child needs to grow. What happened to the notion of the whole child as a learner, of the child being on a journey to become a person, not just a worker?  I know my students will one day have jobs, but right now they have a life to explore.   A life to create and a person to grow into.  Where are we leaving room for that in our curriculum?

I wonder how we can move into meaningful data collection.  Whether that is an oxymoron in itself.  Is there room for the child on our data walls?  Or has the data itself swallowed the child and they have just become a statistic.  A name to be moved up and down a wall, despite what a teacher might say.  What happened to teaching?

I am a passionate (female) 5th grade teacher in Wisconsin, USA, 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 Classroom Back to Our Students Starting Today” can be pre-bought now from Powerful Learning Press.   Follow me on Twitter @PernilleRipp.