being a teacher – Page 136

being a teacher, student driven, Student-centered

Keep the Focus as the Break Nears

December 15, 2011 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

We are all a little antsy and just a little busy as the holidays draw nearer. To keep the focus in school and still have some fun here are some things we have been doing in my room.

Start a lunch time book club. All three 5th grade teachers did this so that the students had some choice in book. We meet once a week to eat and discuss the latest chapters. I love the extra connections being created between classes.
Get up and move. We have increased our dance breaks as the break gets closer. Except now we tend to listen to holiday music from around the world, nothing like “Julebal i Nisseland” to get their bodies moving.
Participate in something global. we are doing the holiday card exchange this year and the students are so excited to see the mail we are getting. They are also learning about other parts of the country and world through the letters. The cost: 30 stamps!
Take the time to appreciate. We don’t have a lot of time but I try to tell the kids either face-to-face or via post it note how much I appreciate specific things about them. It starts a wave of appreciation which boosts morale.
Keep busy. The less we have to do, the more we can focus on the upcming break. So we keep working to reach our deadlines and the reward is no homework over break.
Mix it up. Our schedule has been a little more flexible to fit our moods more these weeks. So if the kids are super antsy we get out of our seats and learn in a different way. This is not the time to force them them to sit still and listen (is it ever?).
Have some fun. I love to show educational videos when we have minutes left at the end of the day or during transitions. This week we started watching crack us up videos as well to get us in the spirit. George Couros shared this video to my students’ delight.
Relax – it might not all get done. Teachers seem to get more controlling and more frantic the closer break gets. The exact opposite should happen. get excited with the kids, set the tempo and then have some fun. Learning is meant to be fun, so do your part.
Let them choose. Buy in is much larger when the students get choice. I scrapped my original social studies project this week so that the kids could work on something of their choice. They get to work right away and stay focused through the whole period.

What do you do to keep students working and have some fun?

authentic learning, being a teacher, lessons learned, PD

Thoughts on Professional Development

December 11, 2011 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

Why do we even call it professional development? Being in education is so much more than just being a professional and development happens continually around us. Perhaps we should call it something different like expanding as an educator or how about just growth? Either professional development smacks of something that can only happent at a set time and is just not true, which leads me to my next point.
Why the limitations on what counts as pd? I often learn more spending an hour with my reader or even engaging in a twitter chat. Depending on who you immerse yourself with provocating thoughts abound, as does reflection. Go into a teacher’s lounge and engage in a conversation, I think they have gotten a bad rep unnecessarily.
Who says you have to be an expert to conduct pd? I think there are many people in educations that are experts at something, oftentimes, they just do not know it because nobody gave them the title. Go to an edcamp and see how many experts are there, heck, go to a school and be amazed at all the knowledge. We don’t need a fancy title to have something valuable to share.
Get rid of the limiting agendas. There seems to be a perpetual fear that if administration or whomever is putting on this pd doesn’t set an hour-by-hour or question-by-question agenda that all of the time will be worthless. That the conversation happening will only be moaning and procrastination. Maybe sometimes but not all the time, let those involved set the agenda and then trust them; there is far too little trust in education overall.
Enough with the crazy buzzwords! I don’t feel like listening to someone discuss what a 21st century learner looks like…hmm 5 foot 2, brown hair with a smile? Or even how the flipped classroom is going to save education. Common core standards, differentiation, value-added learning, PBIS and any of the other billions of acronyms hunting us all. Just give me titles I can understand and a discussion worth participating in.
Give me a chance to participate. Much like our students crave the recognition that their voices matter, so do PD participants. How else explain the back channels happening at even the tiniest of conferences? I have been tempted to pass notes even, anything really, to ask my questions, get some feedback and get the discussion started.
Enough with the stories. Educators love great stories and we all have them. Our aha moments, that kid that we stayed teaching for, those parents that challenged out assumptions, yep we all have them so let’s acknowledge that and move on. I love a great story over dinner but not the ones without a point and sometimes at PD sessions they just drain time.
Fair enough if you have something to sell but perhaps keep it to the end. I had the chance to sit through an inspirational speech where the much paid presenter kept starting stories only to never finish them because we could read how it turned out in his book. Seriously. If you are sharing a story make it relevant and tell the whole thing.
Do you really need a Powerpoint? I know it is so cool to bash Powerpoints but I think there is a huge reason for that. If your message is short, sweet and to the point give me some pictures to go with it, have dancers perform it behind you, or skip it altogether. Images behind you are a direct competition to your words so pick wisely.
Keep it short. And not just for my attention span, but also because even the most incredible learning opportunities will lose their luster after the message is repeated over 40 minutes. Shorten your message and open up for conversations, participation or even brainstorming.

being a teacher, being me, parents

I Can Understand Those Parents

December 10, 2011 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

We are in California, visiting with my family, and Thea is socializing with her 2nd cousins. Watching from the sidelines is this nervous mother. I want to jump in. I want to explain that Thea is really loud and excited because she loves playing with other kids. I want to apologize for her rambunctiousness, chalk it up to nerves, and then make them embrace her. Except I don’t. And I won’t, because I know that this is how children learn to develop friendships. That this is what parents do; let go and hold their breath.

I know my daughter is a little whacky, she has oodles of personality flowing out of her like a river run wild. She loves people, she loves to give hugs, and she loves to be the center of attention. She is willful, stubborn, and loud. Qualities that may harm or help later in life. I know that when she starts school I will have to fight every urge to be “that” mother. I will have to stop myself from emailing her teachers on how best to engage her, on how best to calm her. I cannot be the mother that fixes the friendships or the assignments. I cannot be the mother that stops by just to check in.

I don’t know how other parents do it. I do not know how they can place so much trust in their chld’s teachers and just let go. I don’t know how we as teachers can just expect it every year on the first day of school. But we do and we get upset when parents intervene too much. We shake our heads at their long emails,take a deep breath when they surprise us with another visit. I now understand the parents better. I now get the need to explain, to protect, to guide. I do it for my own child.

being a teacher

Damages Done

December 6, 2011 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

I have been thinking a lot about damages lately, and particularly the damages we sometimes inflict on our students unintentionally. Those things we think we are doing for the right reasons or because someone told us we had to and how they end up hurting the very kids we are trying to help. Things such as testing, report cards, missing recess, and other work-ethic creating tasks. Or what about the words of wisdom we share with our students when we discipline? Or the call out of a kid in front of the whole room because they weren’t paying enough attention when we wanted them to? Rewards or honor roll to make sure some kids feel valued while others do not? Those damages that we don’t think much of but that over time are sure to change the kid somehow. Those are the damages I ponder.

In the end, I think back to the kindergartners that come into our lives the first day of school and I wonder what we do to those kids? How do some of them turn into troubled adults when they started out alright? What part do we have in the mess that is created? How much damage do we do fooled by good intentions? I don’t have the answer but it is making me think.

being a teacher, choices, new teacher

Some Questions to Ask Yourself as You Prep for the Week Ahead…

December 3, 2011 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

Ah the weekend, and for most educators that means lots of prep getting ready for the week ahead. As I prep this weekend, these are the questions I ask myself…

What is the goal of the lesson?

This essential question was one I learned the hard way when I student-taught. My principal observed a lesson that just fell apart, a big horrendous mess, something that could not be salvaged. After the lesson he asked me what the goal was for that hour? Met with a blank stare and no answer, I swore I would always know what the goal was of something I subjected my students to. We owe it to them.

How will the kids be involved?

I moved from sage on the stage to student-driven last year so this question is huge in my prep. In fact, I often ponder assignments for a while before I write anything down just so I can figure out what my students’ roles are in it.

How much talking will I do?

We know there is essential information in each lesson that needs to be communicated but do I have to be the one communicating it or can it be discovered or explored? This changes widely from the concept being taught, but I do try to limit my lecturing as much as possible. Teacher talk goes down = student engagement goes up.

How will I change it up?

I need change as much as my students, so how can I make this concept fresh again. The students have been taught many of these concepts before (we work a lot on a spiral) so how will it look and feel different this time? This questions also leads to how many different activities can we do within the time?

What will they work on?

What will the students be doing during this lesson? Are they note-taking, creating something, researching etc? What supplies do I need and how much time do they need to be successful?

Will there be a product?

Does this tie in with something they are creating? Is this a longer-term thing or very short? I realized this week with the Hour of Wonder that students do not need that much time to create something meaningful, what they do need is for the teacher to stop talking and let them explore.

Where can the students decide?

This questions drives all of my instruction decisions. How can the students take ownership of whatever we are doing? After all, I already have a successful education, now it is their turn; school has to be about the students and not about the teacher. Often they have better ideas than I do!

A peak into the mind of Pernille as I prepare for next week’s lessons. What types of questions do you ask yourself as you prepare?

being a teacher, self, students

What’s so Bad about "Smart?"

November 30, 2011 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

I once had a student tell me they were not smart. They would never get good grades, that they would never be a success. This 4th grader, already beaten down by the school system and themselves, thought they would never be successful. That school was for kids that got it, for kids that already understood, for kids that were born smart. Smart was not something you became, it was something you already were, and it was completely outside of their reach.

How many of these kids walk our hallways? Those kids that no one ever told they were smart? Those students that come into our classrooms thinking that they are not smart, have never been, and will never be. Beaten down by lack of success in an overly rigid school system, having few academic successes and little curiosity left. Those students need to hear the word “smart.”

Research tells us that we shouldn’t use the word “smart,” that students instead should be heralded for their work ethic, their creative problem-solving skills and their perseverance. The evidence shows (simply stated) that if you tell a child repeatedly that they are smart they will take the easy way out, give up more easily and not like challenges. But those students that already have given up? Those students need to hear it over and over when they do have successes so that they can start believing it. So for those I make an exception.

I tell them they are smart when they conquer a math problem, when they raise their hand timidly at first but then more and more confidently. I tell them that they can do it, that they too know things when they grow, when they share. So that they can believe that they are worth something, that they are capable, that they are smart. And I don’t regret it, no matter what the research says, because later on we can work on the creative problem-solving skills and never giving up, but for now; they need to believe they are smart.