being a teacher – Page 134

Yesterday I had the wonderful privilege to give a webinar for SimpleK12 on the topic of student centered learning. I am not an expert on this topic, far from it, but I am someone who has done it by following her own instincts and now can marvel at the classroom I get to be a part of. The webinar was very short and we had a lot of questions, the biggest one being, “How do I get started?” So here are the first 5 steps I took to give my students more control:

Search your heart. Before you let go of certain aspects of the classroom you have to figure out what you can live with. Can you live with more noise? More movement? More conversation? Someone asked me if it was a lot more work to teach in a student-centered classroom to which I answered no, it is the same amount of work as I put in before but now I do it in school rather than outside of it. If you cannot handle more noise you may want to dig a little deeper and try to figure out why, it may be that you fear students will goof off or get off task, which yes that still happens but much less frequently. If they are engaged they will work.
Tell the kids why. Too often we make decisions and never tell students what led us to those decisions. Every year I start out with a discussion of why our classroom is the way it is and how I envision it to run. I set high expectations for my students who are always surprised at the environment and I let them ask questions. One thing that inevitably comes up is whether they can earn rewards (nope) so I politely discuss why they should not expect that from me. That also includes limited homework (if they work hard in school I don’t need to take up their time outside of school), no letter grades except for on report cards (we have conversations and feedback instead), and no punishment (no lost recesses here most of the time).
Then let them talk. I tell the students this is our room and that they need to decide what type of learning environment they want to be a part of. This conversation is totally student-run, they brainstorm in small groups and then share their results. They do not post a list of rules or even vote. We discuss, decide and then move on to bigger things. Throughout the year we re-visit our expectations and tweak them if we have to. The level of responsibility and buy-in to the classroom immediately increases without me having to beg for it.
I challenge them. Every year, I have some sort of team challenge right after they have set the rules to see whether they can figure out how to work together. This year it was the amazing Bloxes challenge that brought my students together and got them excited. Throughout the year we do mini-challenges to continue working on teamwork and expectations for the classroom. Different students step up as leaders, again without my direction, and they share the success of the challenge together. And challenges doesn’t have to be anything crazy, it can be to give them an extra science lesson to explore whatever they want. Teachers think there is no time for this sort of thing but there is, because our engagement level is higher we get through our curriculum quicker which gives us time to explore. The biggest time waster in a classroom is usually the teacher talking at the students – how much do you really need to talk?
I ask the kids. No single thing is more important in our classroom than the voice of the students. How do they want to learn something, how can we improve, what are we missing? All of these questions pop up on a regular basis and they add so much to our curriculum. I know what the goals of learning need to be but the students can certainly work on how we will get there. Even at an elementary level these kids have incredible ideas and methods for covering curriculum thus getting natural buy-in (no carrot and stick needed) and increasing their enthusiasm for school.

This is how I get started in my classroom every year. I didn’t read a book that told me to do these things, instead I asked, “Would I want to be a student in my own classroom?” That answer is now a resounding yes! We do a lot of hands-on learning, student-led exploration, and try to keep school fun no matter what we are doing. I love coming to school, I love my students, and I am proud of what they accomplish every day.

being a teacher, future, technology

Do High-tech Gadgets Improve Learning – What a Dumb Question

February 1, 2012 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

I love Time For Kids; this magazine invokes deep discussion in my classroom, it lets the kid explore career opportunities and it delivers news to us every week. This week’s blaring headline was “Technology Takeover…Schools Nationwide Are Using Technology to Teach Lessons. But Do High-Tech Gadgets Improve Learning?” At which I immediately scribbled on a post-it – what a dumb question!

Dumb because the gadget has nothing to do with the learning. Dumb because any new thing introduced to a classroom could be considered a “gadget” which makes it sound not quite serious, not quite ready to be used by students properly. Dumb because it has nothing to do with the access to a new tool but rather how you use it. In fact, you could change this headline to truly show its idiocy thus “Do Paper and Pencils Improve Learning?” Well no, not really, but how you use them do! We have all witnessed classrooms where paper and pencils do nothing to enhance the out-dated instruction being lectured. Many of us have rebelled against the stale classroom by bringing in technology tools to connect our students with the world, to give them the tools they need to succeed, while still using paper and pencils. So no high-tech gadgets do not improve learning but how you use them can.

Yet this question keeps popping up in media and school conversations. Can tech gadgets really improve learning or is it all a rueful ploy orchestrated by Apple and its minions to get us to spend more money on it? Should we be getting rid of textbooks in favor of iPads, will students ever use paper and pencils again, what will becomes of this generation? Magazines discuss these topics as if technology means a farewell to everything else we hold dear, to everything else we know and trust. But it doesn’t. Technology adds (if used properly!), technology deepens, and it can enhance. That can lead to improved learning but only if the facilitator uses it right. Like with anything else we bring into a classroom, we determine whether it is worth it, or whether it should be forgotten. We must embrace the future but that the tools of it will be the magic pill. A poor instructor remains a poor instructor with or without the technology.

Be the change, being a teacher, mistakes, reflecting

We Need More Courageous Conversations

January 27, 2012 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

I am wrong. I made a mistake. It didn’t work. These are all words I have had to say frequently in all of the years of my teaching career. They are not easy to say, nor easy to swallow, and yet those words are what have made me the educator I am today; someone who reflects, someone who realizes they are human, someone who admits fault.

In education we often put ourselves on pedestals, assuming no wrong. We have all of the answers because that is what we need to have. We have the solutions, the right ways. We are trained professionals after all. Except we don’t always have those answers, or the right way to do something. Things may not always work and the students do not always get the best education.

We must learn to admit when we are wrong. We must learn to reflect upon our mistakes and make ourselves better. We must realize we are not perfect and that others don’t expect us to be. We must have these courageous conversations about our own teaching, our grade levels, our classroom, and our schools. We must reflect, we must discuss, and we must learn. If we all fall under the illusion of perfection we will never change the way we do teaching. We will never change to be better. Our students will never learn from s that mistakes are glorious occasions that move us forward. Start the conversation with yourself and then spread it. All it takes is one courageous person to set the example.

And right after I sent this out Chad Lehman reminded me that we need courageous actions. He is so right; take your courageous conversations and turn them into action.

being a teacher, role model, Student, technology

You Don’t Have to Be A Technology Whiz But You Do Need to Be Fearless

January 22, 2012July 24, 2013 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

Image from here

As we find ourselves surrounded by more and more technology in our profession as teachers, we see teachers react in strong ways. You have the embracers, the ones that think any tech tool will enhance their teaching whether it really will or not. You have those who are open but sceptic, who look for tools that will create deeper meanings and not just be another flashy gadget. You have the hesitaters, the ones that will not request but will use the tool when they get it. You have the hand-holders, those who stare at something and do not use it until someone else walks them through the entire process, multiple times. Then you have the skeptics, the ones that do not think any tech will enrichen their teaching because they don’t believe in gadgets. Finally you have the resisters, those who resist pretty much any change, whether technology related or not. All of these types of teachers have their reasons for being who they are, all of them base their perceptions on assumptions and on past experience.

So for all of them I offer some advice.

Don’t blame the tool. Often we hate the tool before we have even tried it, it is like a gut reaction to change in education that one develops. “Oh, here they come again with their fancy new ideas while the old ideas work just fine.” And while there is some truth in that, it is not the tool’s fault it was placed in your room, so the least one can do is explore it. Otherwise it leads to…
Judge first, condemn early. How many teachers have gotten upset over new initiatives or things being introduced before they have even tried it? Sometimes it is easier to get upset rather than just wait and see; many words have been eaten this way.
You don’t have to love it but do try it. I don’t love every piece of tech in my room (SmartBoard I am thinking of you) but I do use it. After all it is there so I might as well. I may just prefer to teach in other ways and use different tools.
Mess with it. Too many times teachers are afraid to even turn something on, let alone push several buttons. This approach can no longer be accepted. We should be guided by many of our students’ approach to tech; turn it on and mess with it. You never know what you can discover on your own.
Give it more than one try. Even with my SmartBoard I continue to explore it, hoping I will have that aha moment where I embrace it. It hasn’t happened yet, but I will not give up on it. It is there to stay and so am I.
Ask questions, but don’t gripe. Yes, satisfaction can be reached through commiseration over the latest tool but will that really push us any further toward figuring it out? Start a conversation, reach out to others, but leave it productive. You will feel better when you walk away.
Get help. Sometimes teachers are too proud to ask others for help but not me. I ask my students to help me figure stuff out, I ask other teachers whether globally or in my school. Somebody else is bound to have run into the same problem at some point so why not solve it together? Team approach works best with technology.
Be fearless. Technology is not the master of us and it never was intended to be, and yet, how many teachers are deathly afraid of it all? Yes, you may break something but so what? At least you attempted to use it. Again look to our students for how we should embrace technology; try it, use it, make it work for you.

Being a 21th century teacher means we have to equip our students with the know-how of technology, there simply is no excuse to not fulfill our job. Our students learn from us, even the way we react to change, so think of your approach as the newest thing is shown to you. Will you model how to be fearless?

being a teacher, homework, students

I Know Worksheets are Bad and Yet I Assigned One

January 19, 2012 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

There they lie; staring at me with their guilty weight of uselessness, reminding me how I made another mistake. I thought I had them beat, that I had conquered the urge to assign them, and yet I slipped and now that pile of 32 math worksheets reminds me of why I gave up on them in the first place. I don’t know why I thought they would be a good idea, why I found them necessary that morning, but I did and now I have to come to term with what that means for me and for my students. I know my good intentions of practice is hidden in there somewhere but I forgot to listen to my common sense, to look at my past mistakes, to think of the students.

We reach for worksheets when we want to make sure that students get something, when we want to have them practice, to secure a skill. And yet who assigns worksheets with just a few problems? After all, you want a lot of problems to make sure they really get it, that they will never forget. So why didn’t I just assign them 5 problems to show me they knew, why the need for a double-sided sheet with 32 problems on it? The time I must have robbed from my students outside life haunts me.

So I take my pride and put it aside and I realize I made a mistake. Tomorrow I am going to have to tell the kids that, own it, and apologize. It shows that i am still learning, that I make bad decisions too, I am nowhere near perfect as a teacher. And I learn, I learn from my mistakes, from my good intentions gone bad. I learn from the feedback of the students and I admit when I mess up. That’s what makes us better teachers. That’s what builds better classrooms. Humility, humanity, and reflection.

being a teacher, change, classroom expectations, our classroom

What Dreams Reminds Us Of

January 15, 2012 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

Last night I lost control of my class. It was a dream, of course, it being Sunday today, but I have had this dream before. The students are older – nothing likethose older students to be disrespectful. The classroom is crowded – poor teaching conditions. The task is simple and yet they don’t understand. They talk amongst themselves. They get up and move around to talk. They are too busy, too bored, to listen to me.

So I raise my voice and I yell at them. Except in this dream I always start to lose my voice thus leaving me feeling powerless. The students proceed with their misbehavior.

They rush into the task I have created, they do it wrong. I signal for their attention by yelling but I cannot yell over the crowd. They ignore me and we do not get through what we need to.

They start to answer my questions but they are doing it all wrong and the frustration increases until finally the bell rings; class dismissed. the students are upset, I am ready to quit teaching, and my heart is pounding.

The first time I had this dream I thought it was a reflection of me and it was; how I used to be. How I used to control my classroom. Yet this dream is nothing like my now classroom. The students are the perfect age for me, they are moving around because they learn better that way. They pay attention when they need to and I barely ever raise my voice. Instead I wait until I get their attention and then provide them with the task. But the biggest difference; the task itself. In the dream the task is meaningless, not tied into anything, and totally controlled by me. In reality our tasks are building blocks, shaped by the students and with a bigger purpose.

So I wake from my nightmare shook up but aware that i have changed my reality. That I no longer thrive on controlling my students but relish the freedom they have in my room. Relish the community we have built. relish the learning happening. My brain may be playing tricks on me but it does serve a reminder of why I changed my classroom philosophy; I did it for the students.