Category: being a teacher

being a teacher, education reform, testing

Frog and Toad Make Me Think about Our School System

Pernille Ripp
A List
By Arnold Lobel

One morning Toad sat in the bed. “I have many things to do,” he said. “I will have many things to do,” he said.  “I will write them all down on a   list  so that I can remember them.”  Toad wrote down on a piece of paper:
A List of things to do today

Then he wrote:
Wake up
“I have done that,” said Toad and he crossed out:
Wake Up
Then Toad wrote other things on the paper.

A list of things to do today
Wake Up
Eat Breakfast
Get dressed
Go to Frog’s house
Take walk with Frog
Eat lunch
Take nap
Play game with Frog
Eat supper
Go to sleep

 “There ,” said Toad. “Now my day is all written down.”  He got out of bed and had something to eat.  
Then Toad crossed out:  Eat Breakfast.
Toad took his clothes out of the closet and put them on. Then he crossed out: Get dressed.
Toad put the list in his pocket.  He opened the door and walked  out into the morning.  Soon Toad was at Frog’s  front door.   He took the list from his pocket and crossed out:
Go to Frog’s house

Toad knocked at the door. “Hello,” said Frog.  “Look at my list of things to do,” said Toad. “Oh,” said Frog, “that is very nice.”   Toad said, “My list tells me that we will go for a walk.” “All right,” said Frog.  “I am ready.” Frog and Toad went on a long walk. Then Toad took the list from his pocket again. He crossed out: Take walk with Frog.  Just then there was a strong wind.  It blew the list out of Toad’s hand.  The list blew high up into the air. “Help!” cried Toad.  “My list is blowing away.  What
will I do without my list?” “Hurry!” said Frog. “We will run and catch it.” “No!” shouted Toad. “I cannot do that.” “Why not?” asked Frog. “Because,” wailed Toad, “running after my list in not one of the things that I wrote on my list of things to do!” Frog ran after the list.  He ran over hills and swamps, but the list blew on and on.  At last Frog came back to Toad. “I am sorry,” gasped Frog, “but I could not catch your list,” “Blah,” said Toad.”I cannot remember any of the things that were on my list of things to do.  I will just have to sit here and do nothing,” said Toad. Toad sat and did nothing.  Frog sat with him.  After a long time  Frog said, “Toad, it is getting dark.  We should be going to sleep now.” “Go to sleep!” shouted Toad.  “That was the last thing on my list!” Toad wrote on the ground with a stick:  Go to sleep. Then he crossed out:  Go to sleep. “There,” said Toad.  “Now my day is all crossed out!” “I am glad,” said Frog.  
Then Frog and Toad went right to sleep.

The End

How many times do we have to stick to our list and pass by those teachable moments?
How many times do we not get to explore because that particular direction has not been dictated to us?
How many times must we take a path that does not engage the students?
How many times do we lose our list and instead just bumble along until we get to the end of the day?

How many times do we give up teaching curriculum in a meaningful way and teach to the test instead, hurrying so we may cross things off our list?
How often do we tell others that they must comply because our list says so?

being a teacher, classroom setup

Where I say Goodbye to an Old Friend; My Desk

Pernille Ripp

Today I decided to get rid of my teacher desk.   Felling like a rebel, feeling a little brave, put the door it went to some other wanting teacher.  And yes, while this may seem spur of the moment it is something I have been pondering for about a year now pushing it away whenever the thought crossed me. You see, I love my desk. To me it signifies being a teacher; sitting behind the desk, grading papers, surveying the room, feeling powerful. All things I used to take such pride in, particularly the grading of papers, and now that doesn’t seem to be me anymore.  Now I don’t take pride in grades but rather in the conversations I have with my students surrounding their work.  Now I love being away from my desk, preferably on the floor or next to a student working. Now I don’t feel powerful in an authoritarian way but rather in a “knowledge is power” type of way.
And yet that desk was my anchor. My teacher space, sacred to me and a no-no for the kids.  Whenever I needed to retreat I scurried behind it, setting up my barrier. Whenever I needed to signal to the kids that I needed some space, there I was sitting in my chair working. The wall was up, the kids knew it and I was safe.  The chair was too comfortable, the desk had too much space for piles, and the kids didn’t like to approach me whenever I sat behind it. And yet it beckoned for me, drew me to it almost like a magnet; come sit, come relax, come work. And so I did, finding myself nestled in its power, in its comfort over and over, when I should have been on the floor next to those kids. When I should have been out in the room walking, working, learning. Now don’t think I sat behind it teaching, just shouting out instructions, I never did, but I pulled kids behind it for one-on-one time. I had kids come there for help, for learning, and it didn’t work. They immediately felt the power of the desk and were not able to relax. They knew they were in my space, not theirs, and so their guard was up when I needed it to be down. The desk had too much power.
So today I say goodbye to the beacon of my teacher strength. I cleaned out all the drawers, emptied the files and wiped it down one last time. The remarkable thing was all the stuff I found in it that I didn’t even know I had; 13 white out’s, reward certificates, and numerous empty files. Apparently my so essential piece had become rather nonessential in its true purpose. I was nervous sure, I still am, but at the same time I knew it was time to say goodbye. I don’t want our classroom to be their space versus my space. I want it to be all of our space. I want the kids to feel they can approach me wherever I sit. I want them to have room to sprawl out on the floor, I want to sit with them as we learn together. I have said before that we were on this learning journey together; now we truly are.  So farewell dear friend, you have served me well but now we have grown apart.
For more inspiration to give up your desk, please read this posts – they inspired me.
Russ Goerend’s Post on going desk less.
John T Spencer’s Post on how he was wrong.
being a teacher, education reform, Student-centered

What Do You Have Room For?

Pernille Ripp
With the school year upon most of us in Northern America, now is the time I start to dream.  I know I cannot change the system in which I operate, although I can make waves, but I can continue to change our classroom, the journey we are on, and the road we take.

We all have such power; but do we remember it?  Do we remember that even though much of our day is dictated by outsiders, we still have a voice?  You do.  It may seem like test prep, rules, and “routines” day in and day out but really there is room for you as well.  There is room for you to give your students a voice and let them own the journey.  There is room for you to not punish and not reward, those are choices you make.  There is room for you to engage kids, to not be the center of attention, to let them speak, hope, dream, and inspire each other.   There is room for all of that.

So although it is easier to say education is being done to us as much as it is to our students, it is not entirely true.  We still have choices in our school, even if it is only how we speak to our students.  And even that holds power within itself.  So ask yourself; what do I control?  What can I change? What do I have room for?

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being a teacher, new year

Recipe for My School Year

Pernille Ripp
It is easy to create disaster, a horrendous start to the school year that haunts us the rest of year.  It is easy to make our students feel unappreciated and undervalued, in fact, we can often ensure this within the first day.  I wrote about this in my post “Recipe for an Awful School Year” and many asked what then would be my recipe for an amazing school year, and to this I say…I don’t know.

It would be easy for me to give you a long list of the things that I must do to ensure a good start but the truth is, I think most teachers do these things already.  I think most great teachers do many things that I have no idea about and that I have yet to learn.  And then I realize too that for all of the planning that I can do to set up the year there is one ingredient I cannot control; the students.  Yet, for my own sanity and to get my own ideas flowing there are things I have to do for this to be my room, our room, the kind of room I would want my daughter in, the kind of room I would want to be a student in.  These things are simple and they do not cost any money.  So here is what I will do.

I will greet my students with a smile and a laugh, probably a joke even though all of my jokes tend to be corny and yet they make them laugh.  I will let them know that I am excited and nervous too and that we are on this journey together and if they fail then I fail and that is alright by me.  We will talk about our vision, how do we want this classroom to feel?  Do we like noise or do we work better quiet?  How can I get their attention and how can they get mine?  We always need to figure this out before misunderstandings and hurt feelings occur.

The classroom will be bare because it is not mine to decorate, it is theirs and they can take over as soon as they would like.  There will be no rules poster because we set those together and then we discuss and change them when needed.  There will be tables, finally, this year so that students can work together whenever they need to and always have someone to reach out to.  There are also pillows and comfy chairs, carpet squares and corners for retreat – we all need our quiet space.  There are boxes of books to be explored and pictures to take.  We need to document this journey together.  There will be things to teach each other as I have had some of these kids before and they seem to know me better than I do.  My daughter and husband will have made a welcome video because they become a huge part of our classroom since they are a huge part of me.  There will be sharing but there will also be work that first day because kids tend to want to get started.  After all, they are older now and wondering what this class is all about.  Their voices will do most of the talking because I should not be the center of attention.  And so goes my first day.

I cannot tell you how my first week will go because we haven’t decided.  Of course there are plans to follow, lessons to be taught, school routines to conquer but how these will shape out I am not sure of yet.  I have to get to know my students before I can think that far.  I have to adapt my teaching style to them.  I have to meet them before I decide how the school year will unfold, hear their ideas, their hopes, their fears, and then together we will plan.  Together we will make this a journey we all want to be on.  Not just my journey or theirs, but ours.  It is always about the ours.

being a teacher, blogging

To Blog is to Bare Oneself and I’m Ok With That

Pernille Ripp

Hello, my name is Pernille Ripp and I am blogger.  Two years ago I would never have been able to introduce myself that way, it has only been a year and yet this journey has profoundly changed me, my teaching, and my world.  And yet how does it feel to be out in the open?  How does it really feel to be blogging with my real name, real thoughts, and real fears?

I decided to blog because my husband thought it would give me an outlet for all of my thoughts.  I have always loved to write, poetry in particular, and I have pages upon pages filled with horrid teenage misery that hopefully no one will ever find.  I have tried journals and seen them fail – who would want to read my thoughts after I die?  What a selfish notion.  And yet blogging for me is a journal in some way even though it didn’t start that way.  Instead my blog came about as a way to digest all that was happening in my head, a reflection of my classroom and the things I had been taught in college unraveling.  I wrote for myself, for my own clarity and then something happened; people responded.  They shared their stories, their lives with me and trusted me with their words and sometimes even asked for advice.  From me!  A fourth year teacher who is an infant among the great teachers.  Encouraged by their thoughts, I kept on writing about whatever I had to change.  I figured if I made it public it would be more binding to me, it would become more urgent because the world was watching.  And again people responded, some kindly, some not so much and I found myself debating, articulating, and always reflecting upon my actions and my words.

I have never considered a pseudonym, not that there is anything wrong with that but for me it just didn’t even cross my mind.  Mostly because I thought no one would read my blog anyway and I am honest to a fault and therefore wanted to represent me in the online world.  I never considered hiding my blog from people I worked with or others that meet me in the “real world.”  After all, I have nothing to hide and I am not ashamed of admitting that I still have a lot to learn.  As a teacher there has, of course, been conflict. Some people do not appreciate me writing and think I should know my place.  Some people think my ideas are too out there and do not like what I propose for my classroom.  Some people think I am addressing them even though I only reflect upon my own choices and education as a whole.  And so the battles happen between my blogging and people who may take offense.  There have been days where I have cried, and days where I have rejoiced.  Once a parent emailed me a comment on a piece I had written.  Baffled I told her I did not know she read my blog.  She responded that she had a for awhile and admired my thoughts.  I shouldn’t be surprised; all sorts of people read it, and yet here was someone who’s child was directly affected by my teaching style saying that what I did was a good thing.  Humbling.  So I write as if I am telling a story to the head of my district, I choose what I write about it and try to remain positive.  The world does not need anymore reminders of just how awful it can be but it does need reminders of all that we can change if we believe in it.  The change starts with me, with my real name, and real life details.

So I blog with my heart and my mind knowing full well that I cannot please everyone.  I know that some people who cross my path may not agree with my ideas, and I am at peace with that.  My blogging has shaped a new facet of my identity, one that is rooted in reform and thinking about the needs of the children versus my own needs as a teacher.  This writing in the open has brought sorrows yes, but it has also brought so much joy to my life.  I now enter my classroom with passion, knowing that this is the kind of room I would have loved to have been a student in.  I am becoming the kind of teacher that makes my mother proud.  Blogging did that for me.
being a teacher, education reform

Stop the Tear Downs

Pernille Ripp
Education and particularly teachers are under a harsh lens right now.  Everywhere you turn headlines scream out new nasty discoveries about bad teachers, horrible programs, and how schools are failing.  As a teacher, it is hard to not drown in all the negativity.  Yet as most of the teachers I have encountered, we choose not to drown, and instead we focus on our students, on our lives and continue to do what we do beast; teach, knowing that this too will end and at some point sanity must be introduced back into the conversation, right?

Yet as the rhetoric gets more cutthroat and the divide grows, this mentality of us versus them has formed and cemented itself into too many educational debates.  No longer are teachers united, rather it becomes veterans versus new, tech users vs non-tech users, always a split, always two sides, never just one united front.  And we teachers buy into it as well.  If one teacher is heralded for doing something good, other teachers get upset because then they must be doing something wrong.  If a school is highlighted as working well, then other schools within the district must be performing poorly.  Rather than view success of one as success for all, it becomes just that; success for one and failure for everyone else.

This epidemic of negativity must stop.  We are tearing each other apart, trying to climb to the top, vying for the same spotlight.  But that is not what teaching is about, we teach our students that we are only as strong as the weakest performance, and that we must celebrate everyone.  And yet, somewhere that message is lost.  The public may want us split, because then it is easier to create “reform” and yet now is the time we must band together.  We must relearn to celebrate successes and not be afraid to share them.  It is time for people to speak up when something incredible happens in their classroom or in their school, and it is time for everyone else to celebrate it, not tear it down.  This isn’t me versus you, it’s all of us together.