being a teacher – Page 127

We Make Kids Hate School

September 7, 2012 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

I think it is time I take responsibility for the damage I can do. Most definitely for the damage I have done to those kids that came to me loving school who left my room changed. Those kids that thought they were good at math until my long-winded lectures and explanations confused more than clarified, and in the end they did not know whether to ask for help or just pretend that they got it. I changed my teaching because of the damage I had done. I still change my teaching hoping that the students I teach will not leave my room hating school, but loving it instead, seeing it as the ultimate learning challenge to be embraced and celebrated. Not scorned, survived, or floated through.

So how do we make children hate school so much? I teach 5th grade and by that time certain subjects have already become hated for most kids. Math tops the list but social studies comes in a close second. Most love recess (which so doesn’t count), art, reading (not often writing) and science. PE is up there and as is music for the girls. But math and social studies, yikes. I think of how I used to teach math; lecturing at the students with hardly any time to actually apply. I thought they could go home and “practice” on their own time. Often we had so much to get through that questions were not always answered thoroughly and discussion was certainly discouraged; can’t you see we have a lot to do here? Social studies belonged to the textbook, to spice things up we would share the reading aloud of the text and I would try to catch students not paying attention so I could point out that they were not paying attention. Nothing beats a good old fashioned public embarrassment routine. By the time I was done with them in 4th grade they knew how to follow along in a textbook and fill out worksheets really well. Too bad the incredibly fascinating history we had just read about got buried in the disgust.

So what is so different now? Well, I don’t talk as much. That’s huge. In math I prepare just what is important, then showcase it, and we discuss, answer questions, and practice as we go. Time is given to finish pages in class and I never feel I have to assign it all if need be. If a students asks one of those questions that are just too hard to miss out on, we explore it and deal with the time constraint later. We pull out manipulatives and whiteboards whenever we can. We work together when desired and we move around when it makes sense. I stress that not all concepts are meant to be conquered that day and that the most important thing is growth; no longer rote memorization but application and deeper meaning. We discuss the similarities between concepts and how they are connected; I hope students see the red thread that runs through our year and why things are presented in this order.

Social studies starts much the same way; I don’t talk as much! And I no longer fool myself into believing that reading round robin style counts as interaction. Instead, the massive text book is used as a spring board for discussion. We find the key concepts and then we set off through projects to explore them. Students have choice in how they explore and often in what they explore within a topic. History is brought up to the now as we discuss the parallels we can see between the past and the present. Student questions are invited and we debate whether we would have proceeded the same way or anything else that needs to be debated. Student voice is as important as my own and so is their understanding of why we are where we are now in the world, how we got there, and that doesn’t come through rote memorization either.

So while not every kid that leaves my room falls back in love with school – sometimes the damage takes years to undo – I try to put them back on the path. I take responsibility for my own actions as a teacher and realize the damage I can do. I go to school every day with the mission for kids to love learning and to show my own curiosity and be a rolemodel for loving school. I go to school knowing that I can be the difference between love and hate and between further success in school or not. I hope everyone takes that responsibility.

behavior, being a teacher, community, new year

We Should Act Like Our Students

August 27, 2012 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

image from icanread

You can feel it when you enter. It hangs around you like a fog, enveloping you wherever you go, emphasizing the true nature of the school from your eyes. Climate, and particularly a bad one, surrounds you when you enter into a school and can quickly soak its way into any perception otherwise presented. It doesn’t matter how many smiles you get, if a school is suffering from a lack of community, those smiles will not be able to mask it.

We spend so much time and thought in how we will build the community in our classrooms, perhaps even in our grade level, and yet where is our thought to how we will build community in our school for the staff? At my school, we have new staff every year, and sometimes quite a bit, yet we assume that the community we have created in years past will just flow into the new year and welcome the new staff. What a strange notion! We know as professionals that community must be nourished and preserved throughout the year and that every year we start anew. So why does this not carry over into our staff development? In fact, often in schools we act the opposite of how we expect our students to act.

We ask our students to work in groups, yet often close our own doors during collaboration time.

We ask our students to branch out and meet new people, yet we often stick to the same familiar faces, making it hard for anyone new to feel like they belong.

We ask our students to discuss problems face-to-face, dialogue about issues, and come to an amicable agreement, yet we often speak ill of one another and shy away from conflict or confrontation.

We ask our students to work with new people and not always pick their best friends, yet we sit with those we know at our staff meetings and try to get into each others groups.

We ask our students to trust us as professionals, yet we don’t extend that trust to all of those we work with.

We ask our students to actively listen when we speak, yet we often bring work into meetings or have side conversations when someone speaks.

We ask our students to be up for the challenge, to embrace change, yet we roll our eyes and fight change whenever we can unless we are the ones wanting to do it.

We say this is a bully free zone, yet sometimes the bullies can be found amongst the teachers.

So we must focus on community and not just within our rooms. We must act more like our students.

advice, Be the change, being a teacher, education reform, new year

Who Is to Blame? Who Cares…

August 23, 2012 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

image from icanread

In the ever expanding debate on the state of education, it seems a lot of blame is passed around. Teachers blame parents, parents blame teachers, public schools blame society, charter schools blame public schools, and politicians, well they seem to blame everybody. Not a day goes by without another blaring headline of one side versus the other and frankly I am sick of it. I know there is blame to be passed, I know there is blame to be had, but in the end, who really cares?

Blame doesn’t do us any good. Blame doesn’t fix the problem. Yes, I can lament the fact that not all of my students have the same socioeconomic background, the same level of parent commitment, heck, I can get upset about their varying degrees of pre-school involvement, but at the end of my teaching day, none of it matters. What matters is what I do now. What matters is how I work with the students, with all of their background, and how we keep them successful from there. Blame is great to discuss, it can get us all riled up, it can get us more invested in the debate, but really it takes our focus off of where it should be – what we can do in education with the students we have.

So this year, I am going to try to step out of the blame game. Yes, I know there are many ills in our public schools and society in general. Yes, I know poverty is a major factor in many students’ lives. Yes, I know that I cannot control what happens outside of school or what happened before they became my students but I can control the now. I can play a part in what happens starting September 4th and for a whole school year within the walls of our classroom. I can focus on the students as I have them, rather than the blame I would like to assign. I am going to take my energy off of blaming and place it back with my students. I will continue to work and fight for change. I will continue to be a voice in the debate. But I will not continue to just pass the blame and do nothing. Are you with me?

being a teacher

Have You Been Using Adobe at School?

August 10, 2012 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

Adobe’s annual contest for educators that use their products was just launched this week. So why not submit your best projects, lesson plans, curricula and tutorials to the 2012 Educators’ Choice Awards.

The 2012 Educators’ Choice Awards will honor and reward Adobe Education Exchangehttp://edexchange.adobe.com/pages/home members who submit the most innovative teaching and learning materials. The Adobe Educators’ Choice Awards feature distinguished judges who will select the finalists, voting by members (who will select the winners), and amazing prizes, including laptops, iPads, and Adobe Creative Suite 6 software for you and your classroom. The contest began this week and the submission period ends October 5, 2012. Educators in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand are eligible to submit entries in three categories including:

Primary/Secondary Education
Higher Education
Creative Suite 6

Enter or get additional information on the 2012 Educators’ Choice Awards here. For inspiration, view last year winners. Follow @AdobeEDU, #AdobeEDUAwards for the latest updates about the awards. Get creative and win big!

being a teacher, blogging, connections, journey, reflecting

Not All Teachers Have to Blog or Even Be On Twitter

June 14, 2012 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

Image representing Twitter as depicted in Crun...

Image via CrunchBase

I see a lot of posts and discussion about how we wish all teachers would get on Twitter or how all teacher should start a blog, and at first, I was a believer. I know how much I have benefitted, in fact, how much my life has changed, because of blogging and Twitter. And yet, now I falter on the belief of blogging and tweeting for all.

Blogging for me opens up a conversation that I don’t have the time for to have face to face some times. It opens up debates, new ideas, and inspiration that I often cannot find in my every day doings. However, it also removes me from seeking out those opportunities to have those same discussions “live.” That doesn’t mean everyone responds that way, but I think many of us do. Blogging is a tool for deep reflection, even though it is a public one, it is a time for me to put myself out there and to sort through what it is I really mean. And that doesn’t work for everyone, and why would it? We all have different comfort levels in how we share ourselves.

So instead of syaing that all teachers should blog we should hope that all teachers reflect. Whether it is through a blog, throguh a conversation, through a journal; the reflection is what matters. The reaching out to others and having those courageous conversations, putting yourself and your ideals out therefor debate, that is what matters. Not whether you blog or not.

The same goes for Twitter. I love Twitter because I can connect with others, easily, on my time. Yet you can connect in other ways. Twitter is not the only way you can learn something and again here I think it is the act of connecting that makes us herald Twitter as the best PD for teachers. It is not Twitter that does the professional development for us; it is the way we use it.

So no, I don’t think all teachers should have a blog. I don’t think all teachers should be on Twitter. But they should all be reflecting and connecting somehow, somewhere, with someone.

being a teacher, control, education reform

Forced Education is Not Cruel and Unusual Punishment

June 12, 2012 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

Image from here

An interesting debate has been sparked in the comments section of my post “Not Grading is Awful” on the Cooperative Catalyst, with some people stating that forced school is inhumane. I have been pondering this for a bit and I must say I disagree; having an educational system that is mandatory is not inhumane, not having one would be. And neither is forcing courses on students, it all comes down how those courses are taught, which incidentally is something we do have a bit of control over.

Now I know that we are tied to standards and district regulations, the politicians are breathing down our neck to raise test scores and there are, indeed, major flaws within our educational system, and yet…There are many things we can change within the public school setting. I did. But back to the original point that forced courses or mandatory education is cruel and unusual punishment and that students should have a free reign instead over what they study and how. I disagree. I think students should be expected to take certain classes simply because education is what rounds us out at human beings. Particularly in the primary grades. I loved climbing trees as a child and could have spent most of my days outside roaming around with my knife, and yes because of school I couldn’t pursue that all day, however, that childhood passion would certainly not have led me down the path of teaching. Instead going through school and having a foundation to do further studies on led me to where I am. Children may have the curiosity to explore, and that should never be stifled, however, we must support that curiosity with basic common knowledge and a well-rounded worldview.

So some may argue that there is no point in knowing historical facts that do not directly relate to whatever we end up pursuing as a career. Some may argue that much of math is arbitrary for most people who simply do not end up using it. Some even say that grammar and how to write an essay is superfluous knowledge that does us no good. I disagree. I think all of these lead us to where we end up. I think knowledge as a whole is needed to be a citizen, to be a knowledgeable member of society, to be respected and accepted. So I may not remember all of the days of grammar drilling, or spelling lines, or even math facts, but I see the result of them; me teaching it to my students but trying to make it more interesting.

I think we sometimes mistake the whole notion of education for all as flawed, where instead we should be focusing in on the parts that are. Drill and kill, sometimes that is a necessary component. Teacher talking, yep that too. However, how we teach becomes just as important as what we teach. And that is something we all have control over in this endless debate of education policy.