Category: being a teacher

being a teacher, end of year, ideas, projects, students

What Do You Do in the Last Few Weeks of School?

Pernille Ripp
Some teachers start a countdown, others do a lot of reading.  We instead have quite the to-do list to get through before my fabulous 5th graders get to graduate.  So beyond the culminating projects we have going on, here are some things that are keeping us busy:

  • Writing thank you letters.  This often overlooked skill is something I put a lot of value in so every year we take the time to thank all of the teachers and people that have helped us have a successful year.  I love slipping these into people’s mailboxes.
  • Write Dear Future Mrs. Ripp’s Students letters.  Every year I have my class that is leaving write letters to incoming students.  This is way for them to give them top insider information, get them excited and I get to peek at what meant a lot to them in the year.  I love handing these to my new students and seeing what they gain from them.
  • The Top 10.  We brainstorm all of the great things we have loved doing through the year and fill a white board with all of them.  Students then vote for the top 10 things of the classroom and a committee makes a huge poster for me to put on display for the new year.  Again, this is a sneaky way for me to see what really stuck out to students and incoming students cannot wait to figure out what the different things are.
  • Clean the library and review the books.  Not only do students help me get all the books back in the baskets they also get to rate all of the books.  If they would not read a book they place it on the carpet and other students can rescue it.  However, if no one comes to its rescue that books is given a new home.  
  • How to Flourish in 5th Grade videos.  My students have been busy writing scripts, rehearsing them, filming and soon editing videos for the incoming students on a variety of topics ranging from internet safety to how to transition to math (we switch classes).  I love seeing what the students wish they had known and also having them use some amazing Adobe software to edit their videos.
  • Give me your favorite memory… Another committee project where every student has to add their favorite memory to a video.  Again students are in charge of making this and I show it in the last days.
  • My favorite thing about…Every student has to a favorite thing about 3 other students on video.  We then edit it together to make a montage of all the things we have loved about each other.  This is always very secretive and students don’t know who has them.
  • Look at our time capsules.  At the beginning of the year we do a time capsule with our favorite things at the moment and we also see how tall we are.  At the end we remeasure and laugh about how much we have changed or not.
  • Give me your feedback.  Students do a survey rating all of our classes, ranking their favorite assignments and their least favorite.  They also give me advice and constructive criticism on what I should change.
So there are just some of the things we have to do.  Like I’ve said there is a lot going on in 5th grade and every day counts.  I used to have students write letters to their new teachers as well but it doesn’t work so well with the transition to middle school, however in other grades it probably would.

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attention, behavior, being a teacher, punishment, students

A Student Gives Up And I Get Even

Pernille Ripp
His head was down, hoodie pulled over his eyes.  The frustration radiating out of him, the dry erase board lay there untouched, unwritten, and I thought to myself, “again?  Seriously…”  And the irritation in me kept growing.  This kid who obviously didn’t get what I was teaching had just given up, how dare he.  So I coaxed, I goaded, I even raised my voice a little trying to let him know that the choices he was making was not going to help him learn anything.  That I needed to be the center of his universe for him to understand it.  That we were not going down this road again today.

In my mind I knew I was going to have “the talk” with him once class was done.  I was going to tell him how unacceptable his behavior was, how disrespectful, how I would be emailing mom and speaking to his homeroom teacher.  I was going to give it to him good too because all I could see when I was teaching was that head down, hoodie up and that just wasn’t acceptable.

When class ended, he approached the table and I looked up and saw his look of sheer resignation, the, “Uh oh I am going to get it now and I don’t care because I just don’t get it”  attitude streaming from him.   So I said, “I noticed how tough math was for you today, how you had given up…” and I hesitated, noticed his downward glance.  “So I want  to thank you for continuing to try, for not thinking I was crazy in my explanations.  Please keep reaching out for help and I will try to get to you as soon as I can.  I know you can learn this, don’t forget that.”

Eyes up, shoulders back, and out he walked from my room.  Who knows what Monday will bring.

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being a teacher, collaboration, control, trust

Don’t You Mentor Me! Will Teachers Ever Embrace the Role of a Coach?

Pernille Ripp
This year I was asked to mentor a new teacher in our building and although I willingly accepted part of me trembled just a little bit with fear.  See being a mentor implies that you know what you are doing and since I keep changing what it is I am doing, I don’t know if I fall into that category.  However, I also knew that I wouldn’t be a mentor to a brand new impressionable teacher but rather to someone who actually has a year more teaching experience than I do.  So it wasn’t a case of me spilling my infinite wisdom of how to thrive in your first year of teaching, but rather to communicate ideas and offer discussion opportunities to help us both.  So being a mentor has been a reflective practice, mostly because Mark has given me as much food for thought as I hope I have him.  At the same time though I know that I have not fully acted as a mentor because I am afraid to step on toes, not that he would mind, but I just don’t feel right.  And I don’t think I am alone.

So what is our problem with mentors or coaches in education?  Why do we like the idea of them as long as we are not the ones being mentored?  We tell our students to work together, to learn from others, and yet our defensive hairs stand up on our necks the minute someone mentions a coaching or mentoring opportunity involving us.  I happen to know that I have a lot to learn and yet the reaction even comes from me; what do you mean you are going to teach me something?  I am doing just fine on my own, thank you, take your concern to someone who really needs it.

Perhaps this is our achilles heel as a community; the inability to take advice or have a discussion on how to improve ourselves.  Sure we say we want to get better as teachers, but often that means on our own, not with someone coaching us.  We, of all professions, should be embracing the very nature of the coach or mentor, or whatever you want to call it.  We should celebrate when we actually have the opportunity to learn from others, with others, and yet most of us get defensive instead.  Are we just too competitive to take advice?  Or have we lost our sense of trust when it comes to others wanting to help us?  Do we really think that we are doing our very best teaching every day?  I, for one, do not, just look at yesterday’s post, but still why I am not asking people to come in and discuss my teaching?  Why am I not the one out soliciting feedback from my local colleagues?  Why do I hide behind my classroom walls as much as anyone?

So how do we build the trust?  Where do we start as a mentor or as a coach or whatever other title may be bestowed upon us?  Can teachers ever learn to trust each other enough to know that we are are here to be be the best teachers we possibly can be?  I just don’t know but I hope someone else does.

For a wonderful perspective on lessons learned from being a coach, please read John T. Spencer’s post “10 Things I Learned From Coaching.”

being a teacher, failure, mistakes, students

When We Admit Our Faults Or When Math Blows Up in Your Face

Pernille Ripp
I admit it; math today was a mess.  I had done my preparation, I had created my lesson, I had everything ready and then in the middle of it; breakdown.  The kids were getting antsy, my explanation didn’t work, and finally it dawned on me ; I was not making sense.  Mortification, terror, and just a little bit of embarresement.  You see, I hadn’t taken the time to fully understand the concept being taught.  I had prepared, sure, but I hadn’t figured it out on my own.  I had just follwoed the prompts of the books and copied the words thinking that I understood when in reality I didn’t.  In fact, I wasn’t even close.

So when students started asking questions, there I stood with a choice to make; do I admit my faults or do I pretend that I know what i am talking about.  I swallowed my pride and admitted it,”Sorry, but I have to figure this out first before I teach it to you.”  The kids went quiet.  “I don’t want to teach it to you because I will teach it wrong, so let’s get back to it tomorrow when I have had some time.”  Then the kids sighed in relief.  “Good Mrs. Ripp, because I was really confused…” and the energy immediately returned to the room.

After school today, I sought out a colleague and I asked them to walk me through it and explain it like they did to the students since the book just wasn’t clicking for me.  And as he patiently explained it, I realized once again how our students must feel when something doesn’t make sense.  I realized how important it is for us to figure our curriculum out before we teach it to students.  I realized how crucial it is for us to admit when we simply don’t know. 

Sure my lesson tomorrow just a got a little more crowded, but in the end, it is worth it.  I didn’t wing it, I didn’t fake it, I presented it as a true learning moment in which the teacher didn’t know, and then I figured out how I would learn it myself.  In the end, when I admitted my fault, I learned more, and that lesson is something worth passing on.

being a teacher, being me, communication, contest

We Are Only Human, Why Do We Forget That?

Pernille Ripp
Being a blogger, a teacher, a person who exposes themselves to the world through their words and actions, our personalities sometimes get distorted.  We get boxed in, labeled, or categorized in some way, all so that others can get a better handle on who we are and what we stand for.

Strangers decide whether they like us or not on small acts, on assumptions that they create, on things we say, write, do and then spread that like or dislike to others, forever judging us based on perhaps one blog post, one idea of what we are, or some distorted image.  And sometimes others forget that we are humans too.  Parents send angry emails based on an assumption, anonymous commenters attack rather than discuss, and sometimes people you consider to be part of your support network drop you like you were yesterday’s news.  And it hurts, and our blogging, or our teaching interferes with the emotions we bring home and into our homes.  Our personal relationships suffer because of what happens outside of us, outside of our own realm of control, and we wonder why we put ourselves out there?

This school year, I was a top 10 finalist in a contest for good teachers.  While I had nothing to do with my own nomination, I used it as a way to show that having a non-traditional classroom in a public school setting was indeed possible.  And yet, no matter how noble my intentions,  the contest proved to be detrimental to me as an educator and as a person.  I said yes to continue on in the contest because if I won, I could get $10,000 and use it for something at my school; a new gym floor, working computers, more books.  And that was something bigger than me.  I knew there would be backlash but the magnitude of it still astounded me.  People who I thought would understand, perhaps not support, but understand, berated and tore me to shreds.  Educators whom I admire in my PLN decided that they would no longer follow me or have conversations with me, teachers whom I admire thought I did it as a way to show off, to elevate myself above the rest.  And it hurt.  And it confounded.  And even though you try not to take it personal, you do, because it is.  And even though you try to pick up the pieces, they just never fit back together the same way.  The people are gone, the communication is gone, the care is gone.

So I learned my lesson, don’t think you are anything special – perfect for a product of Janteloven – because others will disagree.  Others will tear you down.  How sad, how utterly contrary to what we stand for as educators, how eye opening.  And yet, I continue to congratulate others, to be excited about their success and I remind myself whenever I see someone within my realm of the world; whether global PLN or local community, that is being recognized that I should cheer for them.  That I should be happy whenever an educator is recognized for something good rather than some evil they have done.We are all just human, and words hurt more than we know, we should be each others biggest cheerleaders, there are enough people trying to tear us all down.