being a teacher – Page 131

A new curriculum is announced for next school year… again. Every year since I have started something new has been introduced and so I find myself in the back of the group, murmuring about how once again something new is coming, more money being spent, more time needed to learn, to understand, to adapt. Once again I have to rewrite everything. Once again; change. I go home and discuss it with Brandon who stops me in my tracks with a simple question; why not get excited about it? And I think, yes, why not, indeed?

Why not replace my skepticism with curiosity? Why not embrace the new like I do within my own classroom; try it out and then judge it. Why am I, already, after only 4 years of changing turning into that teacher, you know, the one that is quick to judge. The one that jumps to conclusions, the one that wants things to stay the same because they are not broken and do not need to be fixed, thank you very much. I change things every year, I hardly ever use the same lessons, I change so it fits my kids, my mood and my goals. I change because if I became static I would be bored out of my mind and few things are worse than a bored teacher So why am I already so stuck in my teaching ways that I have to be the one adding negative thoughts to a new initiative? I don’t know how that happened so soon.

So I renew my vow of positivity. I want to embrace the new, which does not mean going into it blind, but rather than I will stay open to it. I will explore it, adapt it and make it work for me. I will give things a change, suspend my judge. Stay curious and not assume it will be awful. I am much too young to be so stuck in my ways and that is a healthy lesson for me to learn. Let’s hope I don’t forget it.

acheivement, being a teacher, believe

What Happened to Our Dreams and Expectations?

March 30, 2012 Pernille Ripp

Image from here

I am reading the local paper about the growing achievement gap between minorities and as my heart grows heavy, my mind starts to spin. What happened to our expectations for all of our students? What happened to having the same dream that ALL students can achieve, even those that face special disabilities, crippling poverty or lack of parental support? We, as teachers, are supposed to be the last bastion, those that choose to believe in all of our students, no matter their race, their background, their belief in themselves.

I look inward and wonder when was the last time I asked for a file for a non-minority student that transferred in? When did my own assumptions cloud my belief that all students can achieve and that I just have to set the bar high enough and then support, encourage and challenge? That every year the slate should be wiped clean when they enter into my room, and yes, I may stare at those pages of past behaviors and troubles but that they should not be come my roadmap for the future?

I pledge again to believe in all of them. To set the expectations high and to support them where they need it. To look past color but not become colorblind. To see the whole child and not the papers that follow them or the path they chose before. To defend my students from academic prejudice and grow along with them. One young man in the paper said that if perhaps he had just had someone believe in him, told him he could have done it, his path wouldn’t have lead to jail. Perhaps he is right, the path cannot be changed, but at least I am willing to do just that; believe in all those children. Will you believe with me?

being a teacher, boring, challenge, Student-centered

When Students Tell You They Are Bored Can We Blame the Students As Well?

March 24, 2012 Pernille Ripp

I am in a conference trying to figure out why a child seems less engaged, less into it, and just not all that excited about school. So far the conversation has been rather one-sided, meaning me speaking and being met with lsilence. Finally I ask, “Are you bored?” And the student looks up and says, “Yeah.”

I think that has happened to most teachers, a bored student, but what may not have happened to many is for that student to have the guts to tell you. I know I was incredibly bored throughout many classes in my school days but I never did tell a teacher since I figured nothing good would come of it. And I may have been right because my gut reaction the moment I was told was to get frustrated. How can you be bored in my room? We do so many exciting things! And yet, I bite my tongue, nod, and go home with a head full of questions.

I have a classroom full of noise, ideas, and engagement. It is something I work incredibly hard for and I am very very proud of and yet, it can also be boring. There are times when the base needs to be built for our further exploration and I have to talk. I try to make it engaging, I try to make is student-centered, and yet sometimes I can’t. It gets better every year but still; but yes I can be boring. So these thoughts follow me home and I ask my husband what I should he do since he acutely suffered from school boredom.

His thoughts stopped me; “Maybe it isn’t you? Maybe you do everything you can and that child needs to step up too. Maybe boredom is a two way street and you can only make it so exciting but if the student is not ready or wanting to be engaged then it doesn’t matter what you do.” I immediately started to defend the child and lament that it must be me until I realized he may be on to something; perhaps we as educators can only do so much. Perhaps we can only engage and excite until a certain point and then the student has to invest as well. Perhaps we cannot change every student’s perception of school no matter how many things we pull out to do. Perhaps, we are not the only ones with control in our classroom?

So I turn to you; what do we do when students are bored? After we have changed the curriculum, the approach and the task? What do we do when a student-centered learning environment is not enough? Do we dare tell the student that they too have to invest? That they have to make an effort to be interested or else school will be infinitely boring no matter what we do? Do we dare put some of the responsibility for school engagement back on their shoulders? Or is that taking the easy way out?

being a teacher, being me, smartboards, Student-centered

Stop Telling Me Technology Engages

March 21, 2012 Pernille Ripp

Image from here

Not too long ago when I brought up my dislike for the cost of Smartboards working in a budget crunched district, I was told that there was no way I could dismiss the improvement of student engagement that it has created in my classroom. I met that statement with raised eyebrows and then shook my head. The Smartboard or whatever technology tool I may be using is not what increases engagement in my students; the content is. The tool does not engage; the learning does. Because if the tool is the only thing that engages then I would say we are in serious trouble. If the tool is the only thing we use to keep those kids tuned in and invested then we need to do some serious re-thinking of our curriculum and delivery.

So while districts can flaunt all of the technology tools they so happily purchase with or without teacher input, we cannot tout that our engagement level goes up just because of that purchase. We cannot say we are now 21st century districts, since in all sincerity this is the 21st century no matter what tools we have. Sure kids may be looking at the board or screen more when we have more technology, but how much of that is training or simple politeness; a feigned interest or hope that something engaging will show up on that screen? How much of that is because all of them are facing the board rather than in pods? How many of them long for getting out of their seats and do something rather than watch one person direct the learning?

So don’t tell me that putting a Smartboard in my room increases student engagement, in fact, please run any technology purchase by me so that I can investigate and dissect it. Don’t tell me that my students are eagerly anticipating their turn to click the magic board, that wears off after the first couple of days. Tell me instead that the curriculum we teach is worthwhile, that the learning that we DO is engaging, that my students are engaged because they choose to be and I put enough thought into what I am teaching to realize that. Tell me that and I will agree; the tool does not create the engagement, we do.

being a teacher, being me, student driven

Some Celebrate Test Scores – I Celebrate the Students

March 20, 2012July 24, 2013 Pernille Ripp

Once in a while the celebratory emails go out detailing how we are beating our districts’ average in test scores, how our school has grown as measured by these tests, how our students are progressing. And sure, those are reasons to celebrate but I prefer to celebrate for other reasons.

I celebrate that student that raises their hand with a differing opinion because more participation is their goal.

The child that steps back and lets other take on a leadership role even though they know just how they would do it.

The kids that know when to laugh, when to care, when to try, and when to do it all at the same time.

I celebrate the shy boy that becomes a leader with a new tool and stands behind his discovery, eager to show others how to do things.

I celebrate the class that continues to work, unfazed, even if I step out of the classroom to take care of something.

Those kids that groan when school is over and cheer when they hear the plans for the next day.

The student that asks if they can pose a blogging challenge because they know they have a really good one.

I celebrate those kids that look their parents in the eyes and tell them how much they have grown but that they are not there yet but they have a plan to reach their goal.

Those kids that tell me when they mess because they would rather tell me the truth even if they get into trouble over it.

The students that notice when someone is absent and wonder where they are.

I celebrate the community, the challenges, and the growth that I see every day, every week, and every year. As middle school sneaks into our futures, I celebrate these kids that have so much to give, so much to offer, and so much courage to keep trying.

being a teacher, classroom expectations, classroom management

The One Word that Defines Us

March 16, 2012July 24, 2013 Pernille Ripp

Image from here

If there is one word that sums up my classroom management it is “Represent.” It is the word I leave hanging in the air behind me if I have to leave early. It is the word I write on the board if there is a sub the next day. It is a word we discuss, we make our own, and in some ways it ends up defining us as a group. It is not indoctrinated, neither are my students punished if they fail to live up to it. It just becomes a hole system, without us even being aware of it. No rules posted, no heavy-handed discussions, just the word and all of the meaning it has.

According to the dictionary one of the many meanings of the words is To stand for; symbolize and that is exactly what it means for us. When my students are on their own they still represent the community we have created, they are carriers of the message we have chosen to nourish; tolerance, respect, politeness, and engagement. When we go anywhere we represent our community, our school’s values and those of our parents. We symbolize what we strive to be, we stand for being upright citizens, humans beings with empathy who know how to act.

Yesterday, a teacher paid me the biggest compliment I could get, “Your students just seem to get it, when they are asked to clean up they do it right away and they do it as a group.” I couldn’t be prouder. They do it as a group, they take care of where they are, even when I am not there. I don’t force the word, it comes up naturally throughout the year and we never define it formally, but it us and it is who we choose to be when we are engaged in school. It s what we choose to do whether spoken or not. I could not be prouder of these kids.