Category: being a teacher

Be the change, being a teacher

She Wants to Teach

Pernille Ripp

photo (15)“Mom, I have an idea…”

Thea reaches for the marker and starts to write her ABCs on the whiteboard behind her.  She is with me in school today for take your daughter to work and has been thinking hard the last few minutes.

“When the kids come back I’m going to teach them their ABCs…” she states, as if this is the most brilliant idea ever.

So I tell her it is time to go and she furiously scribbles a few more letters on the board.  We get the kids, they settle in, and Thea marches to the front of the room as if she was born to be there.  She waits and then points to a letter.  “Umm, what’s this one?” she says.  Hands shoot up as the kids grin.  “You!” she points to one of my students who gets it right and Thea quickly tells them good.  The next five minutes Thea is the teacher.

I stand back, feeling my heart break and swell at the same time.  I have joked with others about how Thea wants to be a teacher and today she has once again shown me that it seems to be in her nature.  That teaching may just be her calling as well.

I want to shake the dream out of her head.  I want to stop her from becoming a teacher, from choosing this profession that can be so life consuming.  I want to stop her from picking a job that will mean working the longest days for little pay.  That will mean worrying at night about things out of your control.  Worrying about test scores and politicians and how they will affect your life.  Worrying about whether the parents like you, whether the students are learning, and whether you are truly prepared.  Whether you are everything you say you are.

And yet…

My little girl wants to teach.  She wants to be a part of a life that changes the lives of others.  She wants to be an influencer, someone who molds and shapes.  She wants to make a difference by helping others become what they dream to be.  She wants to teach and I couldn’t be prouder.

I couldn’t be happier.  Even knowing she will face heartbreak.  Even though I know she will have days where she wants to pull out her hair, shut the door, and give up – she wants to teach.  She wants to be a part of that.  She wants to change the world.  She wants to make a difference.  For now anyway.

She wants to teach.  And the world will be better for it.  So why should I stand in her way?

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, end of year, students

Stop the Hurry

Pernille Ripp
image from icanread

“Look at this, mom!”

Thea is jumping from stone to stone on the pavement next to me as I am walking in my straight line sticking to the sidewalk like a proper adult trying to get where we are going as fast as possible.  Never mind that it is a Saturday, never mind that it is beautiful weather, never mind that we have the time.  I want to get there fast just because we can.

At first, I think to tell her to hurry up, to come walk by me so we can get there faster.  I go to reach for her, but her expressions stops me; pure joy.  She is not just getting somewhere, she is exploring, balancing, laughing  – she is on an adventure.  And the extra  2 minutes it takes us to get to our destination are quickly forgotten as I watch her leap.

How often do we tell students to hurry up in our rooms?  How often do we tell them to stick to the path, to get to the destination with an eye on the end and never taking the time to expand the journey?  How often do we stop to explore, to “jump from rock to rock” within a topic simply because we are curious?  Simply because it might be an adventure?

Every year I try to find time for the self-driven exploration within my room but every year by about April I feel like we have to quicken the pace.  Like we need to walk faster to get to our end destination.  But not this year.  This year I want to enjoy my final weeks with my kids, my final weeks as a 5th grade teacher.  I want to not just watch the kids explore, but explore right along with them.  We will still get to our destination, we always do, but we will take the path they want as much as possible.  We will find the time to try, we will make the time to laugh.   I want to see them love learning as much as I do.  And that won’t happen if I keep telling them to hurry up.

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, new year

Does Your Vision Show?

Pernille Ripp
image from icanread

I have a vision for my classroom every year.  One based on experience, but also on hope.  One that speaks to the bigger goals, those outside the curriculum, those outside the standards.  We focus on courage, passion, and dreaming.  On embracing our mistakes.  On bringing the world in.  On becoming better people.  On focusing on each child as if they are the only child there.

Thursday morning I officially accepted a 7th grade English position in the Oregon School district here in Wisconsin.  I accepted nervously, what do I know about 7th graders?  And yet, every time I interacted with people from this district I thought of how well my own vision for the classroom fit into the district’s vision for all students.  When I spoke to teachers they spoke of the focus on each child.  When I spoke to parents, they spoke of the creative opportunities given all kids.  Wen I spoke to administration, the passion shone through.  Sure, it fits with their mission statement, but they are also embodying it in everything they do and everything they say.

We get so wrapped up in our mission statements that we sometimes forget about the passion, the curiosity.  We carefully select words that we hope represent what we want to say  and yet often the people representing the district; teachers, parents, students are not mirroring the message.  They aren’t living it because other things have taken their time and focus.

So look at your own classroom, your school, your district.  Are you proof of the passion?  Are you proof of the vision?  If not, why not?  What is holding you back?  In the end I gave a resounding yes to their job offer because I didn’t have to ask what their goals were, what they were passionate about, they had already shown me. Are you?

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, being me, Reading, reflection, students

Why It Matters to Be Passionate About Reading

Pernille Ripp
image from icanread

“…I used to hate reading, it wasn’t cool, you know?  But then when I heard you were my teacher, I was kinda excited because in your room it was ok to like reading.”

He speaks these words to me as if they are no big deal.  To him they probably aren’t, just another conversation with his teacher.  But in my heart and mind, these words mean everything.  These words are why I am so passionate about books and about kids loving books.

I chose to finally unleash my passionate reader last year, thinking it might make a difference in my classroom. Little did I know just how much of a difference it would make.  We are a reading classroom now.  Not that we weren’t before, but not like this.  Not this excited, not this engaged, not this immersed.  Reading is cool in my room, something that matters to 5th graders.  Reading is what we do.

When I pull out a new picture book, the kids cheer.  They laugh, they comment, they re-read.  When I bring in a pile of books, I have to step out of the way while my students grab the one they have to read now and others scramble to make signup sheets so they can read it next.  All it took was for me to be passionate.  All it took was for me to share that passion.  (And of course, incredible books).

We wonder whether passion matters in education and in reading in particular.  Do teachers really need to be readers themselves to teach reading?  I am here to tell you it makes the biggest difference.  Children who have long given up on school can find solace in books.  Books build connections.  Books build memories.  When we are passionate readers ourselves we are actively sharing our lives, our connections, our feelings, with the kids that we hand books to.  When we go all out in our love of reading, we show kids that it is okay to be a reader.  That it is not something to be ashamed of.  Not something to hide.  But rather something that should be embraced and shouted from the rooftops.

So when students come to me and tell me reading sucks, or reading is uncool, I am not afraid.  Nor am I upset.  They just haven’t found the right book, they just haven’t laughed at the right read aloud.  They haven’t experienced the magic of reading a picture book as a big kid.  They just haven’t had that moment where everything disappears and all that matters is the book.  And that’s ok, hopefully, this year will be the year.  Hopefully this year they will find their passion.  Because I am not giving up on them.

PS:  Have you heard about the Global Read Aloud?  The books for 2014 were just chosen and I promise this year will be amazing.  Connect your students to the world through a shared read aloud, after all it only takes one book to connect the world.

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, being me, reflection, students

We Carry It With Us

Pernille Ripp
image from icanread

There are moments in teaching that makes my heart heavy.

Whether it is the disappointment faced by a student rejected.  Or the sorrow that weighs down some of my students as they come through my doors.  The uncertainty some face.  The anxiousness that travels with others.  The sadness, the lost joy.  They bring this along, into our rooms, and it becomes one more thing we have to address and work around.  One more thing to add to our day and to our hearts.

We don’t leave those worries or fears of our students behind when we close our door.  They travel with us in the car.  They walk in through our front door, trailing us into our homes as we worry whether that child will ever be okay.  Worry whether that child will have something to eat or will be back the next day.  Worry about what that child may do that night.  We push them aside and focus on our own lives but they stay in our hearts as the hours go by.

Sometimes those worries wake us up at night and we remember to  hug our own kids a little more, tell them they matter a little louder.

So we return the next day with our hearts still heavy, not sure what to do other than to love those kids as if they were our own.   When a new worry shows up we make room for that one as well.  We carry it with us because we are stronger than the children we support.  We carry it with us so that they are not alone.  We carry it with us so that maybe, just maybe, they will find a moment of relief.

I may not be a superhero but when it comes to the children in my life, I have super hero strength.  No child should have to carry their worries alone, that’s why I am there.  And that’s why I teach.

 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, Student-centered

You Mean We Just Get to Learn?

Pernille Ripp
image from etsy

The students look a bit confused as I finish speaking.  I wait a second and then ask them if they have any questions.

“No project?”

“Nope.”

“Nothing to present?”

“Not if you don’t want to.”

“Can we present if we want?”

“Sure, if we have time.”

Then smiles, murmurs, and whispered comments.

“Ok, Mrs. Ripp, this sounds fun.”

I have just told the students about our new resource time schedule and how I have built in project time – a  30 minute time block once a week for each child where they get to just learn something.   Not time to create a presentation, not time to think of how they will share what they have learned, not time to work on homework, but just pure, self-regulated learning for the fun of it.  Learning driven by their curiosity.  Learning driven by their desires.  Not genius hour even, just soaking in knowledge.

We decided as a group we would have an overarching theme every week, a common theme to get excited about, so geography will greet us next week.  The students can create if they want or they can just soak in knowledge.  They can work by themselves or learn with a friend.  They can decide what part of geography they want to learn out of need or out of interest.  I don’t set the direction, I don’t set the tone, I don’t tell them how.  I give them the time, they pick the tools, they push themselves.

I can’t wait to see what they learn.  I can’t wait to see what they do.