being a teacher – Page 88

aha moment, being a teacher, books, Literacy, Passion, student voice

Then It Just Doesn’t Matter

October 31, 2015 Pernille Ripp

I have some staunch book haters this year. Some kids who really hate reading. Some of them hate writing as well. And not just in a “7th grade trying to be cool” kind of way, but in a deep-seated notion that rules their decisions, their actions, and their days. They hate reading. And they are telling me loudly.

They are pushing me to think about what I do in our classroom. How I try to wrap them up in the excitement, how my own relentless quest to find that perfect book along with them is one that deserves the time it gets. That the very act of loving reading (or writing or math or science) is something that we must find the time to cultivate in our schools. Even when I feel the pressure of the year and the deadlines looming over me. Because when they hate reading (or insert whatever school related subject here) then it just doesn’t matter what strategies I try to teach them.

When they hate reading then it just doesn’t matter that I am trying to teach them how to think deeper about text.

It just doesn’t matter that I am trying to teach them to find the signposts.

It just doesn’t matter that I am trying to teach them how to write about their thoughts. How to access harder texts. How to understand text features or write a summary. How to analyze rather than paraphrase.

When they hate reading then that is all they can think about. They refuse to access the skills that they need to practice because everything we do is attached to something to something they hate.

And I get it, why would you want to do more with something you despise?

So when they hate reading we must attack that first. Not the strategies, not the skills, but the emotion that is attached to everything we are trying to do. We must dig and dig and dig to find out why. And we must ask, and we must talk, and we must give them a chance to change their mind, if even just in the slightest way, as we create classrooms that are run on a culture of love for our subject, rather than a need to cover curriculum.

We can assume that they hate it because it is hard. We can assume that they hate it because they find it boring. That they hate it because they have to sit still, because they cannot focus, because they would rather be doing so many other things. But we won’t know until we ask. We wont know until we acknowledge the hatred or whatever emotion they carry so that we can do something about it.

Too often we barrel on, hoping that within our teaching something magical will happen. Yet within our race to teach to the standards, to explore the strategies, to cover, cover, cover, we cannot forget to develop the love, develop the relationship that students need to have with what we teach so that can become invested, even if just a little bit.

So when they hate reading, or whatever other thing they loudly proclaim to hate, don’t just teach. Listen. Ask. And then do something about it. And not just by yourself, but with them.

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.

advice, aha moment, being a teacher, being me, parents

How to Have Courageous Conversations With Your Child’s Teacher

October 22, 2015October 22, 2015 Pernille Ripp

Every year it has happened to me, you check your email or your voicemail not expecting much and there it is; a message from “that” parent that makes you so upset. That message that makes you question everything you have been doing, everything you are trying to do. And you cannot help but get a little angry, but get a little defensive, to immediately want to protect yourself rather than stop and think. It is so hard sometimes being in a world where communication is so easy and words can be interpreted in a million ways. And while those messages may seem hurtful at first, they can become the biggest inspiration for growth, if we let them.

No one sets out to be “that” parent. No one sets out to send an email that can be read a million ways, to make a phone call that you know might dampen someone else’s day. But sometimes we have to start the types of conversations that we hope to never have with our child’s teachers. Sometimes we have to ask things that may be seen as questioning them. And it is so hard. Especially when you are a teacher and you know exactly how something can be taken.

And yet, for the sake of our children we have to find ways to have tough conversations. When something is not working for our child it is our right and responsibility to speak up. But there are ways to do it nicely, to where it will not immediately be taken as an attack but rather as an invitation to further discussion. So what can you do?

Be nice. Politeness goes such along way. If you are about to ask some tough questions, use your manners and do not speak down to someone else. All the teachers I know take great pride in their work and no one sets out to have bad experiences in their classroom, so show respect by the tone of voice you use whether written or spoken.

Investigate by asking questions. If I believed all of the things our daughter, Thea, told me, I would have a crazy view of her school, after all she is 6 and sometimes pretty tired by the time she gets home from school. So when something happens I always ask questions before I jump to any conclusions. Often times what really happened is not what a child shares, so give the teacher the benefit of the doubt.

Do your research. We oftentimes think that teachers have all the power over what happens in their classrooms, but we do not. Anything from district initiatives, state standards, and federal regulations all influence what we do in our classrooms, so make sure the teacher has control over whatever it is you are questioning, particualrly if it something that has upset you.

Ask for clarification. When Thea came home with a reading log 5 days into kindergarten I emailed her teacher asking what the reasoning behind it was without sharing how much I hate reading logs. I needed to make sure her teacher knew I was not questioning her, but rather trying to understand. Once I had more information then I could ask further questions.

Leave room for conversation. When we come across as brash or hotheaded, we are not inviting further conversation. Ask for help. Ask for support and ask to be a partner rather than dictate what someone should do.

Over-explain. I would rather a parent over-explain their reasoning than under-explain. Sometimes when we are too brief, we leave a lot of room for interpretation which almost always ends up being a negative experience for the recipient. So state your point, explain why, and give enough information for the teacher to have something tangible to respond to.

Be specific. If something is harming your child tell me how. If your child has reported something to you tell me what that is. I cannot sort through a situation or even respond to it well if I do not know the details, which can lead to further misunderstanding.

Keep it to your child. If you are concerned for your child, state that, but do not generalize or ask questions about other children. Teachers have to adhere to strict privacy laws and often cannot answer questions about children. If this is a concern for many parents have them as part of the conversation to, do not just say that you speak for them.

Go to the teacher first. Sometimes our gut reaction is to head to the top when we really need to first speak to the teacher. It is common courtesy to give someone a chance to speak before others are involved. That does not mean administration cannot be involved, it just means the teachers should have a chance to respond first.

Call rather than email. Email can be misinterpreted in so many ways, trust me, I have probably misinterpreted intentions at least once a month, but a phone call or meeting is easier to navigate. If someone is truly upset about something, I would much rather they seek me out and schedule a meeting, letting me know what we will be discussing, then sending an email. And also, be mindful of school hours; if a teacher is in the middle of teaching they probably cannot speak to you at that moment.

Treat the teacher like you would want to be treated. I cannot stress this enough; teachers are human and sometimes we mess up. It is not because we tried to, but it does happens. If you treat us the way you would like to be treated in a tough conversation then our conversation will be much more productive. Much can be handled via an honest and lighthearted conversation, even serious topics.

Gently question. There is nothing wrong with questioning a teacher’s practice if you are seeing it harm your child, but do so gently. Teachers spend a lot of time planning for best practices, and thus take pride in their work. That does not mean it is always in the best interest in the child (public behavior charts, I am looking at you) but that can be a pretty hard thing to face.

And finally, a word to all of us teachers. While criticism, even if just perceived, is hard, it is also a chance for us to reflect, grow and become better teachers. Yes, there are times when criticism will be just that and those moments are hard to get through. But in the end, I truly believe that when a parent asks us questions, even if they come of as a rude or disrespectful, within those questions are a seed for reflection, an opportunity to pause and make sure that what we are doing is in the best interest of children. We are all trying to do the very best we can, after all, let’s not lose sight of that.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my book Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students. The 2nd edition and actual book-book (not just e-book!) just came out!

assessment, being a teacher, Personalized Learning, Student

An Easy Yet Powerful Method for Differentiating Instruction

October 19, 2015 Pernille Ripp

Today was one of those days that gives you hope. Where you feel like maybe we have been doing something all of these weeks together. That perhaps the students are on their path to personalize, to take ownership of their learning. To do all of those things I get a chance to tell others to try. And it was not because I did anything revolutionary, but instead because I relied on an old method of differentiating, a method that I have not yet perfected, yet it gives us all greater insight every time. This is best used with something the students have already tried.

It is simple; with whatever task you want students to do ask them to divide themselves into three groups; those that would like to work with support of a teacher, those that would like to work with the support of a peer, and those that would like to support a peer. Then let them go into those groups, even if you think it may not be the right choice for someone. Pair students up in the two peer groups and have them do the learning task while you work with the other kids. That’s it for this time.

Here comes the best bit of this; once they have done the task and you have looked at it (I quickly glanced at their work today and assigned them a score according to the criteria we set), then the following day you regroup them based on their scores. Why? Because some kids inevitably need support that they did not get the day before. Some kids are ready to support their peers and do not know it. And others just need one more time with the same type of assignment but in a new way.

So why bother with the self grouping in the first place? Because it gives you invaluable insight to the confidence (and ability) of the students. This way you get a chance to see how they view themselves and it allows you to have some deeper conversations as to their skills. Yes, I had to bite my tongue as a few kids made choices I was not sure of, but it turned out that some of them knew themselves and their needs a lot better than I did.

And there you have it, an easy way to gauge students’ skills, confidence, and needs.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my book Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students. The 2nd edition and actual book-book (not just e-book!) just came out!

aha moment, being a teacher, being me, Student

Don’t Go for the Best

October 17, 2015 Pernille Ripp

No matter how many times I speak somewhere the process is always the same. I barely sleep the night before, my stomach turning, and in the morning I wake up thinking I have nothing to say. No words to share. And that I certainly have no right being the one speaking in front of people.

But then I remember my students. Those students who share their truths with me every day about why they are disengaged. Why school is hard. Why they just want to get school over with. And I find my courage. I find my purpose. I don’t speak for me, I speak for them.

So when you feel a little overwhelmed. A little like you have no right to be doing what you are doing. A little out of your league, remember this; it is not about being the best, it is not about being the only expert or having it all figured it. It is about being better. About making a minuscule change every day that will lead to a better place. About finding your own path and following it, overcoming the obstacles that are bound to be there, including the ones you put in front of yourself. My students taught me that. So for them I will be better today than I was yesterday. For them, I will find my courage. For them I will.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my book Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students. The 2nd edition and actual book-book (not just e-book!) just came out!

assumptions, being a teacher, books, Literacy, student choice, student driven

How We Can Help Our Book Abandoners

October 15, 2015 Pernille Ripp

I have watched her every day, picking up a book, reading, kind of, and then at the end of class casually placing it into the return bin of our classroom. Another book abandoned. Another story given up. In the past, I would have grabbed that book and handed it back to her. ” Give it another day or so. This one you’re sticking with.” But not now. Not anymore.

I used to think that when a child abandoned a book, they simple had not given it enough of a chance. That the act of abandonment was a badge of honor; look at how I am not reading! That they abandoned books because it was a way to not read, after all, you cannot read when you do not have a book.

So I helped them by creating rules… You cannot abandon a book until you are 50 pages in. You can only abandon one book, then the next one you have to read. You must tell me when you abandon a book so we can discuss why. The rules were meant to discourage it, to make abandoning a book a hassle, to inspire students to give the book a proper chance. And they kind of followed them, or I thought they did, until I noticed that the students were no longer abandoning books, instead they were fake reading, getting the timing just right of their meticulous page turns, yet their eyes were not on the page. My helpful rules had thus created a bigger problem; children who would rather sit and do nothing but turn a page rather than read a boring book.

Yet, I now know that book abandonment is a sign of a larger problem. That it is not something most students pride themselves on but instead becomes yet another sign that reading is seemingly not for them. That book abandonment becomes proof of their failures as readers. And the students seem to not know what to do about it. So if teaching 7th graders (and 5th graders, and 4th graders) has taught me anything it is that we have to face it head on. So I had to find a new approach, we had to bring book abandonment into the limelight and embrace it for the reading beast it is. Therefore, in our classroom, we…

Share our own abondenments. I celebrate my book abandoning because it tells the students that I am reader who knows herself. That I am tuned in to my own reading needs to find a book that works for me at that moment. And that those needs change depending on what is going on in my life. Students need an abandonment role model so that the stigma can be removed and the conversations can begin. Because that is what we need; more discussion. More reflection. I never tear a book apart, I instead explain why it is not a great fit for me right now, and then offer it up to others. Most of the time someone grabs it and proves me wrong.

Log it. No, not a reading log, I don’t need to know minutes or pages read, but instead a list of books they have finished and books they have abandoned. They have a readers notebook in our classroom that has a section for this so they can easily do it in class. Students need to have a way to examine their own actions, and so the simple sheet with the title on it helps them do just, which leads to the next thing.

Ask why. Assume that all students abandon books, not just the “bad” readers and then ask them why they abandoned that book specifically. Have them examine their own habits so that they can figure out who they are as a reader. My students reflect on their reading habits several times a quarter so that they can see patterns. They look at their list of books they loved and books they didn’t so they can get clues to what they like to read, and then start to pay attention to it. They need to study themselves, and be given the time to do so, so they can learn from this rather than just view it as an inevitable part of their reading habits.

Ask “Now what?” Too often our students expect us to come up with the answer, to hand them the next book. I have learned that while we should support their book browsing, we also need to pull back to let them become “Wild readers” as Donalyn Miller says. Readers who know who they are and what they like. So when a child abandons a book and ask me for another recommendation, I ask them to look at their To-Be-Read list, to think for a moment about what they need right now, what their life looks like, and how much energy they have. They then have to find a stack of books to browse through so they can find their next read. They usually let me know at the end what they pick, not because they have to, but because they want to share their find.

Practice total honesty. I ask my students to be completely honest in their reading habits, whether when we speak or when they reflect, because if they are not I cannot help them. They have to trust me to not punish them or somehow degrade their answers. And I don’t. Total honesty is paramount to how we work in our classroom. And that starts with me; I do not sugarcoat my own habits. If I did not read the night before they know. If I am dragging in a book, they know. And they also know my reading goals because I set them right alongside them.

Ask probing questions. I will ask a child the harder questions, I will ask them if they are just giving up because they are in a pattern of giving up. I will ask them if they think they should try a few more pages or if they have given it careful thought. That does not mean there are rules for when you abandon, but I do want to make sure that the decision to abandon is one that they know should be carefully considered. That yes, sometimes we know after 1 page that we do not want to read a book, and that is perfectly fine, as long as we know why we don’t want to read anymore.

Have an enticing library. Many researchers have solidified the need for incredible classroom libraries, and yes, I know that means that we probably pay for the books out-of-pocket. But it is worth it. Having students be able to immediately try to find another book can be both a blessing and a curse, but in the end, I would rather have a child that is faced with many choices than one who has to wait for a pass or our scheduled time to go to the library to get one.

Creating classrooms where students are passionate about reading, requires many things; a great classroom library, time to read, choice, and also the courage to break some of the rules that surround traditional reading instruction. That includes facing book abandonment head on. What have you tried that has worked?

PS: For ideas on how to get reluctant readers to read, read this.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my book Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students. The 2nd edition and actual book-book (not just e-book!) just came out!

aha moment, being a teacher, being me

Make It Better

October 12, 2015October 12, 2015 Pernille Ripp

tumblr_nw4lny5MnW1qzr04eo1_1280 — image from icanread

We are six weeks in and I am supposed to know my students. Six weeks in and I am supposed to be the teacher they need, be able to create lessons that will challenge each one. Six weeks in and soon the quarter will be over and everything I had dreamed about us doing is supposed to have come true. Yet it hasn’t, and I know that the fault lies with me.

I am feeling like a bad day kind of teacher tonight. Like I have somehow failed in my quest to be a great one. Like those things that we have done have not been deep enough, challenging enough, enough enough. And now I have 2 weeks to pick up the pieces and make something out of it.

Yet, as I left today I spoke to a colleague I greatly admire and I told her how I feel like I have been doing everything wrong so far this year, like I have no idea what I am doing in 7th grade. When I told her how I feel like I am failing these kids and that tonight I needed to figure out how to fix what I broke, she told me what I will pass on to you now…

“It is not that it is broken, it doesn’t need to be fixed, it simply needs to be made better.”

And that’s it really. Because it is too easy to give up and say I failed. It is too easy to say that it is over and there is nothing I can do. But that’s not the truth, because every day we have a chance to make it better. Every day we have a chance to make it work. And when we have our bad days, we do not judge ourselves by those, but instead on how we pick ourselves up and do something about it. Because even the greatest teachers don’t know it all. Even the greatest teachers feel like they need to change. And that is part of what makes them great; knowing that there are days when it just wont work.

So when you feel like a bad day kind of teacher, don’t feel like it is all too late. It’s not. Just look at tomorrow and make tomorrow better. And that’s what I plan to do myself.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my book Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students. The 2nd edition and actual book-book (not just e-book!) just came out!