being a teacher – Page 79

Be the change, being a teacher, being me

29,015 Reasons Why My Ego May Get Too Big

January 30, 2016January 30, 2016 Pernille Ripp

29,015

My Twitter follower number as of this morning at 5 AM.

29,015 people around the world who are not all people I know. Who are not all my mother. I have not paid for those followers. I have not asked people to follow me. I have not used a service nor any strategies to get that many. I have, however, been tweeting for 6 years.

29,015 people read what I tweet. That is a good sized town.

29,015 people care about me and my words. Or so it seems from the number.

29,015 people and I know why it is easy to get a big head. My students tell me I am famous. I laugh and tell them I am “Googleable” and that there is a big difference. And yet, in their eyes I carry power. In some other people’s eyes, my words seem to matter more because look at how many people follow me. Surely they cannot be wrong.

Yet, that number does not tell the whole truth. That number easily inflates an ego, makes you think somehow that your words or ideas are more important than someone who does not have as big of a reach. That you cannot make mistakes. That the world is indeed a stage and all of those others are an audience waiting for your wisdom.

That little number, or likes, or favorites, or shares or whichever tool that can now seemingly measure our influence can really mess with our own sense of self importance. And I see it happen, I see people create a divide of those who have many followers and those who have not. As if a large number of followers somehow makes you a better human being. A better educator. As if your words should carry more power because they have a larger audience. That because you are connected and people respond to you, you are better than the teacher who is not connected, or who is not at your level of reach.

It is so easy to lose sight of what it really means. I see people use their platform to promote themselves rather than keep it about the kids. I see lines of popularity drawn in the sand, conversations not being had because we do not want to bother someone who seems more important. I see hurt feelings, misunderstandings, and completely forgetting why we got on Twitter in the first place; the kids. The chance to make the world better. The chance to become better. As if once you reach a certain follower count, you have somehow figured it all out.

But the truth is, we are not as important as our follower count can make us feel.

We are not better. We are not perfect, nor are we always right. We do not know all of the answers on how to solve education. On how to be the best teachers. We have ideas, yes, we have thoughts, yes, but we also need to remember that our words only matter if they help kids.

29,015 – writing the number makes me cringe. Because it is not about that but others may say it is. That I am important, because all of those followers cannot be wrong. I am humbled by the trust that others put in me and reminded of why I tweet. It is not to get a book deal, a speaking gig, a trending hashtag, or anything else that may be bestowed upon some with large follower counts. I tweet, write, connect because I realized that I could not keep on teaching the way I had and I needed to find others who could hep me. And I found them and I am finding them as I grow.

I wish our counts were private, then perhaps we would all go back to feeling equal. Then perhaps we wouldn’t think that we somehow deserved more attention than others. Perhaps we can pretend and remember that we are all just educators trying to make a difference for the very children we teach. And that is the real reason I connect.

aha moment, Be the change, being a student, being a teacher, being me, student voice

Enough with the Teacher Talk- Ideas for Getting More Student Talk

January 29, 2016 Pernille Ripp

“I wish you would talk less…”

The comment smacks me in the face over and over as I read my 6th hour students’ feedback for the semester.. At first, I think they must be forgetting how little I speak. How much work time I give them. How they clearly must be wrong, because I am the queen of not speaking much.

Yet, that very next day I realize that they are right. As I teach my 6th hour, the one right after lunch, I see how much longer I take to get directions. How much more information I give them. How my brain seems to work a little slower right after lunch and I am talking myself back into the lesson. At the expense of their time. At the expense of their attention span. And their eyes glaze over so I speak more to get them excited It’s a vicious cycle.

And I am not the only one speaking too much. As I do workshops on student engagement, I keep adding m0re and more research on teacher talk versus student talk. The research is startling; according to John Hattie teachers ask between 200 and 300 questions a day, whereas most students ask 2. 2...And those questions are typically clarification questions.

Teachers dominate classroom talk speaking anywhere between 60% to 75% of the time. That means in an average 45 minute English class, the teacher may lead the conversation an average of 27 to 33 minutes, leaving little time for most students to speak. And while I know I do not speak that much in any class, unless we are learning an entirely new concept, I also know that most of us think we speak a lot less than we actually do. And I also know that the more my students seem disengaged, the louder I speak.

So what can be done to limit teacher talk. To create an environment where students have a much bigger chance to discuss and explore? Where every child has a voice and someone to hear it?

Own your talking. Like I said, I thought I was quick to get to the point, apparently not. If we won’t acknowledge that we talk too much we won’t see an impetus for change. And if you are not sure, ask your students.

Set a timer. I generally allow myself 10 minutes to teach a concept leaving 25 minutes for the students to work and me to do one-to-one or small group instruction (25 minutes because we start with 10 minutes of independent reading). I thought I was pretty good at keeping it to 10 minutes but my surveys are telling me otherwise. Time to pull the timer out again.

Have students answer in a group. Too often, we rely on the call out question and answer, which is not the type of talk we should be trying to generate since it only allows one student to speak. I often have students give their answers in their table groups instead and then have them share out. I find that it opens up the classroom for much deeper discussions since many students become invested in the conversation, and it also means that students who may have been confused get a chance to try out some ideas or unscramble their thoughts. Turn and talk also works for this. Circulate instead and pick up on their answers that way.

Avoid the echo. The best advice I received my first year as a teacher was to stop echoing student answers back to them and yet, I still catch myself doing it every now and again. Our job is not to be the voice of the classroom, it is to give students a way to be the voice. So when a child gives an answer do not repeat it, if the class did not hear it then have them ask for it to be repeated.

Change your questions. No more call and response, instead have open-ended questions that will lead to a discussion. I know this, yet I forget at times, I will therefore be writing some big questions down on a post-it to remind me.

Just ask the question. Too often when we ask a question, it becomes a long rambling sentence filled with anecdotes and extra information. Yet this ends up confusing students more and we then have to repeat the question. So get to the point and then add afterwards for those students who need it.

Stop the unnecessary repetitions. How often do we teach to the students who do not get it rather than assume that most will? So rather than over-explain, state the instructions and then head over and check in with those students who may not have understood. Think of how often we explain more than necessary because we are worried that a few students may not get it while the others have? Stop explaining so much and teach instead to those that do need it.

Stop interrupting. How many read alouds have we interrupted to ask just one more question? How many times have students been in the zone working and we have borken their concentration to do a quick check-in. I think I do it because that looks like teaching to me; a busy teacher asking lots of questions. Find the right time to interrupt, enjoy your read aloud rather than constantly model what you are thinking. Limit it to the very best things so that students can reach a state of flow more often.

Be mentally ready after a break. The hour that told me I spoke the most is the one right after lunch, where my brain has had a nice break and I feel more relaxed. Yet, I often enter the classroom right when my students enter and then launch into class. Get your brain woken up by revisiting (mentally or on paper) your main points of instructions. Take a few minutes to wake yourself up so that you are back in teaching mode, because when we don’t we end up rambling.

Encourage student talk. By emphasizing the importance of students speaking up, asking questions, discussing and dissecting, we can create communities where all students are heard, where all voices are part of the learning. My amazing principal, Shannon Anderson, gave me the idea of giving each child two markers that they use when they want to speak. All students need to have used a marker in the group before they can use their second one. While I have not tried this yet, I want to try it for book club discussions to make sure all students feel they can speak and that not one voice dominates the conversations.

As little as we think we speak, I think it is vital to take the pulse of our classrooms every now and again. We would all like to think that our words are dripping wisdom, but how often do we ramble on when students are ready to work? So check yourself and your talk, ask your students, and then change your ways. I never want to be main voice of the classroom, none of us do, but it takes changing our deep-seated ways to truly change it. We can create classrooms filled with passionate learners but to do it, students have to have a voice.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my book Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students. Also, if you are wondering where I will be in the coming year or would like to have me speak, please see this page.

being a teacher, being me

A Simple Choice Really

January 27, 2016 Pernille Ripp

For the past three nights, our 3 year old twins have been sick. Between runny noses, fevers, coughs and the inevitable lost teddy bears, my nights have been punctuated by short bursts of sleep and morning has been oh so heavy. It is often when we are physically drained that we find we have no reserves for anything else. That we become robots simply trying to get through our days. No wonder sleep deprivation is a known torture method.

For the past three days, it seems school has also been filled with turmoil. With major decisions and discussions. With emotions and low points. With short tempers and misunderstandings, all minor but when looked upon as a whole, the weight can seem unbearable.

And yet, every day has been a good one. Every day has been filled with more good than bad, more positive than otherwise. And it is not by happenstance or blissful ignorance, but by choice. Pure and simple.

Because we are all busy.

Because we are all faced with hardship.

Because we are all tired or sick or just a little bit emotional.

And we all have a choice to make.

Do we choose to spend our time wallowing in our low points or do we look for the good to carry us through?

I could have raged more.

I could have cried more.

I could have had my feelings more hurt, but in the end, I chose to get over it. To not make the bad the focal point but rather just a small point in my day long journey. To not forget, because we know we wont, but to move past it and find other things to spend my limited energy on.

As educators we have more good days than bad, but we also have a choice to make. Do we continue to look for the good? To care about the things we can change? Or do we focus on all the negative, on all the things out of our hands? Because there are plenty of things we could let tear us apart.

So tonight as I write this through my muddled thoughts; it is as a reminder to myself; the road will always be rocky. The day will always be filled with emotions. But the choice to stay positive and look for solutions rather than problems is one I can make. Is one I can take. And that’s what I intend to keep doing, how about you?

assessment, being a teacher, grades, No grades, Student dreams

How to Make Grades About Students Again

January 26, 2016January 26, 2016 Pernille Ripp

Our first semester ended last week. I have been working on grades, both standards scores and letter grades, for the past 3 days. Pondering. Wondering. Pulling my hair out as I try to figure out which box to place my students in as we try to assess the growth that has happened. In the end of it all, I am reminded of how much I still hate grades.

And yet, within this process of distilling my students down to a single letter comes an amazing opportunity for conversation. Within the very simplification of all of the learning they have done, we have had an awesome chance to change the notion of what that score or letter means.

So how can we make grades and scores about the students again?

Start with a student definition. Our very first conversation was the definition of each letter grade; a seemingly simple topic of conversation that shows just what students think grades measure; hard work, effort, being able to follow deadlines. Very few students really understood that grades are supposed to measure knowledge. Not work habits. Not personalities. In fact, many students said that the teacher is who is in control of grades (which, of course, there is an ounce of truth in) but they had never thought about how they could control the score. How the choices they make result in the score they get. The light-bulb moment for some students was tangible.

Have them grade themselves. And not just for fun, but really. After each grading period, my students either write which standard score they should get and why or which letter grade and why. This very simple act – it takes about 5 minutes – become the seeds of conversations we need to have next.

Have them do a semester survey. I continually want to be a better teacher for my students and that means that I need to face some ugly truths; some students are not getting enough help, some students feel I talk too much, some students are still not reading but getting very good at faking it. How do I know? I asked them on our end of semester survey and they told me their truths.

Ask them what they are proud of. As students came up one-by-one, this was the very first question I asked. Not what their grade should be, not what their goal is. But what are they proud of. Why that? What else? Then what are goals? How can I help best? How can I support? I read their survey and we discussed things right then. Their voices came first, not their score.

Then discuss their grades. The majority of students had picked the same letter I would, but some had either scored themselves too high or too low. And while this is always interesting to see, the bigger truth can be found in why they have picked that letter to define them. Those simple statements they use to explain their answer; I am not that smart, I don’t understand, I work hard, I can teach others. All clues to how they see themselves and their own learning. All clues we can use to change the very essence of the conversation, because the conversation cannot just be about the grade, it needs to be about them. About more than what they are distilled to on paper. About how they see themselves, about their strengths, about their needs, about their dreams.

So while I work in a system that still asks me to define students through a score, we can reclaim that very conversation. We can change the focus of the grade. We can go deeper, make it more meaningful but we have to take the time to do it. We have to assure that students have a voice in the process if we ever want it to be meaningful, if we ever want them to care. We cannot do that through a letter, we cannot even do it through a report card comment. It is not enough. This conversation is the very least we can do to make grades about the students again.

being a teacher, being me, books, Literacy, Reading

How We Created A Community of Readers

January 23, 2016January 23, 2016 Pernille Ripp

We are a community of readers. It snuck up on us as it usually does. Last week, as my students sat with their chosen reading adventures and I tried to figure out who to confer with, I noticed the silence. That beautiful silence that comes from a large group of kids totally immersed in the task they are doing. The concentration only broken by the quiet ding of the timer. And they came back up for air and I wished that I could give them more than the lousy ten minutes we start with every day.

I know the research and what is says about independent reading. That students, no matter the age, need time every single day to sink into a self-chosen book that will hold their attention and propel them toward better reading. That reading more will make them read more. But I also know that giving them time is not enough.

That all students will not just fall in love with reading simply by someone saying “Read.” That we must be intentional when it comes to building our community of readers in such a way that it does not feel contrived, but will grow on its own.

Many of us who love reading know this, but there are so many more that do not as Donalyn Miller so eloquently writes here. So what is it we need beyond the time? Because the time to read is really just the first step, what else is there to creating a community of readers?

There is a passionate teacher. We must love our books. We must love the act of reading. Students look to us for the passion they may lack and we must live it. We must be the reading role model that some students have never had. And not just the English teachers, but as many adults in a building as possible. Celebrate a culture of reading to show students how reading can enrich all of our lives.

There are high quality books. There is no magic number to how many books a library must have to be considered great, but there is a level of quality that needs to be present. Yes, weeding books can be painful but if students cannot see the books they want to read they will not dig through the piles to find them. Display books like they do in the book store, be mindful of the books that call out to students and change it up.

There must be books in many places. Every classroom should have a classroom library. It does not matter how well-stocked the school library is; students need immediate access to great books so that when their mind wanders and they abandon a book they can get another one right away. Partner with your school librarian; together we are stronger and spread the books out. Put rain gutters up with books for students to grab throughout the school, hold a school wide book drive to get more books in the hands of students, set up a Little Free Library. Make books a presence not an afterthought.

The books are accessible. Too often the systems we put in place, such as the way students check out books, stand in the way of reading. Find out what works for you and make sure it is easy for students. I gave up my checkout system several years ago and now function on trust, I have not regretted it.

There must be choice. And not just choice in what they read, but also choice in where they read and how they read. Audio books have made the biggest difference from some of our most adamant non-readers; they finally have a chance of having rich book conversations like their peers. Allowing students to lie on the floor or get comfortable while reading has helped as well. How many of us choose to read behind a desk when we are at home.

There should be picture books. Picture books are one of the biggest gateways to sustained reading progress in our classroom. Every child can read a picture book, even the ones that say they hate reading.

There should be trust. No more reading logs for all kids to prove that they are reading. No more parent signatures that probably are not truthful anyway.

Reading should be its own reward. No more trinkets, toys, or stickers. No more stars, points, or yo-yos. When a child finishes a book, hand them another book or even better; have them find one on their own.

There should be student talk. Students should have the opportunity to discuss the books they love so much, to hand favorites books to others, to explain why they abandoned a book, to discuss why they may not be reading.

There should be room for all readers. Our emphasis for celebration should be on all of our readers, not just the ones that read the most books or pages. We need to reclaim the term “slow reader” and help students realize that being slow also means that you are careful and that is thing to be proud of.

There should be uninterrupted time to read. Not continual interruptions by the teacher to ask questions or teach another lesson, not a continued quest to get as many post-it notes in our pages read. Let students read and then think. Let students read and then jot if they want. If they do not have anything to write, let them have a conversation instead.

There should be goal setting. True reflection where the students can see what they are strong in and how they need to grow. Where they have the time to ponder their own reading habits and figure out what else they need. And it does not have to be on paper or be silent; built in time to discuss with others should be a part of it as well, and that includes conferring with the teacher.

Creating a reading community; one that allows students to fall in love or stay in love with books should be a priority for us all. And it truly starts with us; we can give them the time, but we must give them so much more. What else do we need to do?

PS: To see our favorite books, and there are a lot, go here.

PPS: I get to present at WSRA in a few weeks on creating passionate reading environments as well as a few other conferences. To see where I will be, please go here.

aha moment, Be the change, being a teacher, challenge, global, Mieexpert

Join the 1 School 1 World Challenge Feb. 22nd #1S1W

January 19, 2016 Pernille Ripp

Last year, my 7th graders did the “Day in the life of a student” challenge and asked students around the world to join them by showcasing pictures of their typical school day. The conversation that it sparked as far as how similar our days could be or how very different they were was profound, while also leading to some great discussions at our school about the experience students have.

Today, I shared some of the images coming out of Detroit Public Schools and my students had a hard time understanding that this is the reality for students only 6 hours away from us. As we sit in our heated classrooms with nice carpet, books surrounding us, and a beautiful view of a prairie, the notion that other children even in our same state may have a different school experience is one that my students do not give much thought to.

So I propose a challenge to enlighten us all. On Monday, February 22nd take a picture, or a few, of your classroom (you don’t need to have students in the pictures), write your location and your age group and share it on Twitter using the hashtag #1S1W (it stands for 1school1world). That day or the next start a conversation with your students about the images you see shared. That’s it. Think of the images we can share to start a conversation with the very children we teach about the education that surround us here in the US and in the world.

A hashtag may not make a difference but it can start a conversation. So sign up to stay in the loop, or just join in on February 22nd as we hopefully start a global conversation about our school, our classrooms, and our future.