being me – Page 70 – Pernille Ripp

A year and a half ago, I went through a radical change in the way I am as a teacher. The whole foundation of what my classroom was was discarded and re-born, all on the basis of my gut instinct. It told me that to increase student motivation and increase buy-in that my method of teaching and, indeed, the whole feel of my classroom had to change. That to see motivation increase and excitement build that the old method I was using was so far away from what I wanted that it simply should not exist anymore. So instead of dismissing what some may have viewed as a crazy whim, unsafe territory if you must, I pursued, I went there and I took the chance of implementing it into my classroom and my unsuspecting students.

I trusted my instincts and my own desire for how my schooling should have been; projects, team-work, choices. And now in the second year into this implementation I am the proof that it works. I am the proof that if you believe in your students, if you believe in their ability to make great choices, to work together as teams rather than as individuals their learning will benefit. I have students who love coming to school, and not just those 50% that love you no matter what they do. I have kids that had given up, that believed that they could not succeed, that they were not smart enough to go to school, now tell me that they love coming, that they cannot wait to learn. That they cannot wait to be challenged. They may not ace every single assignment but they try and they grown. They may not get the grades that others get but they participate, they share and they know that their voice is just as important as those who used to be the top-kids, the stars of the room. They smile, they belong, and they own the community. School is a place they want to come to, not somewhere they have to go.

I cannot take credit for all of this because the students trusted me as well. They trusted me with their dreams of school and of learning. They trusted me with how they want to learn, how they see themselves as individuals and the paths they want to take. That speaks a lot of the relationships we have created. Those children trusted me enough to let me in, and to make our classroom their second home. So my classroom is the proof that these strategies work, even if you do not know that is what you are doing. My classroom is the proof that sometimes following your gut is more important than following any college class on classroom management. My classroom is the proof that even though your mentor does it one way, it is ok for you to do it completely different. We can change the way we do school and we can make school all about the children. We just have to be willing to change ourselves.

being me, Innovation Day, questions

Can Older Teacher Still Be Innovators?

January 5, 2012 Pernille Ripp

This morning when I looked in the mirror I saw a new wrinkle. Right there inching along on my forehead, something I swore was not there before. I look younger than I am and yet the signs of time will cover my face slowly but certainly. It makes me wonder when will people think that I am outdated? That my teaching no longer is fresh or new? When will parents request the other teacher simply because they seem to have more energy?

Teachers seem to have a shorter shelf life these days. Like our glory days of innovation are numbered and one can only have so many new ideas, and only when in their prime years. Yet, I see teacher much older than me generate ideas that I could never even fathom. Come up with lessons that students talk about years later. And yet the credit goes to the young, the fresh, the energetic but only if they look it.

Can an idea still be fresh if thought of by an older mind? Will the general consensus continue to be that new must come from the young, the innovative, the ones that are most tapped in? Can we change the stigma of the aging teacher and how their ideas lose merit with the years of use? Or is this simply a product of my aging imagination that wonders whether I will be old and my ideas will lose their luster? Are teachers judged more on their ideas than their age? Can innovation be embraced when it comes from someone older than you or must it always be packaged as coming from the next generation?

being me, review

The Ones That Meant the Most

December 24, 2011 Pernille Ripp

We can all see our statistics and see which posts are the ones people read the most. And yet those numbers don’t always convey those that meant the most to the author. So I thought why not highlight the ones you may have missed, the ones that speak the loudest of the last year, the ones that meant the most.

Those Things We Carry

Teachers carry more than the responsibility of teaching students.

The Story of My Brother The Onion Boy How there is no such thing as meaningful punishment.
What is Their Sentence? We often discuss what our own motto would be but I would rather think of what my students’ sentence would be.
What Type of Difference Do You Make? We all know that teachers make a difference in others’ lives but do you think of what type of difference you make?
He Was Right There – Words to My Father. How one man choosing me to be his daughter changed my life.
Saying Goodbye. Letting go and giving thanks to my cat.
Do Teachers Have the Right to Privacy? The title explains this fascinating discussion.
Teachers Save Lives Too – We Just Don’t Get Paid Like We Do.
An Ode to the Lost Saying goodbye and letting go to the child that never was.
We Say and Yet. How our words do not always match our actions.

So there you go, some that meant the most to me this year r came from the most personal place. I do not know if I will take a break here from blogging, I will blog if the mood strikes me. So thank you for reading this year and take care.

being me, homework

A Father Helps His Son With Math

December 12, 2011 Pernille Ripp

Last night as I sat in the San Francisco airport waiting for our flight home, I could’t help but listen in on an exchange happening across from me. A father sat with his child helping him with his math homework. My curiosity was first peeked because the lesson they were doing was one I had just taught that week which meant the boy was a fifth grader. And yet I stared fascinated as the dialogue continued:

Father – how did you get this solution?

Boy – I am not sure…

Father – Well, if you don’t know it is not right! Erase it properly and do it again.

Boy starts to erase the page…

Father – Now how are you doing this problem?

Boy starts to explain how he has been taught but is interrupted.

Father – That is not the correct way, why can’t you understand that! That is not how you do it.

Boys’ shoulders visibly slump.

Father – You need to get this done right now and do it right or we will erase it again.

As I sat there, horrified at this exchange, I almost jumped in and offered my help. But I didn’t because it wasn’t my place. Yet in my head I could not help but go there. How do parents expect us to teach a child to love math when this is how they help with homework? Obviously this father was frustrated, it was a Sunday evening and they were traveling, so that time was not the best to do anything that required brain power for the boy or for the father. Why do it in public like that? Why humiliate your own child with a raised voice? The effect on the child were immediate and very apparent. That child did not want to do his math anymore, he did not want to learn the method the father wanted to teach him. That child lost a little more faith in his education and I wonder how he felt? I felt horrible for him and I felt bad for that child’s teacher who had no idea that this boy had struggled with the math and that his father had helped him in such a way.

We do not always see the damage that homework creates outside of our room, or how well-meaning “helpers’ distribute their knowledge. All we see is how it affects the child in the long-run, how their love of learning diminishes and we wonder what we could have done differently? Well sometimes not assigning the homework is a huge step in the right direction.

being a teacher, being me, parents

I Can Understand Those Parents

December 10, 2011 Pernille 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 me, life choices, word choice

Those Little Words

December 7, 2011 Pernille Ripp

I am proud of you.
Look at what you did.
You can do this.
Explain this to me
What else can happen?
Thank you for today.

Small words, big meaning. Those words we choose to share with those we surround ourselves with every day. Those words we do not ponder or carefully measure out. Those words we do not plan for, study, or write down lest they be forgotten. Those are often the words that carry the most weight to our students, to our colleagues, to ourselves.

A smile, a hug, or even a look in the eye. Those speak volumes every day. The little things we do matter more than we know, so be aware and give enough of the happiness you should feel waking up every day knowing that you are part of the change, of the hope, of the incredible world that is ours.