Category: expectations

Be the change, expectations, new year, students

What I Won’t Do on the First Day of School

Pernille Ripp
Ahh, teachers in America are getting excited, nervous, anxious now that the first day of school is inching ever closer.  People are sharing classroom photos, ideas, as well as posts on what they intend to do on the first day of school.  These always give me such inspiration for change, such as this one by the fantastic Larry Ferlazzo, but I started to think, so what do I not want to do on the first day of school?

This year, I promise my students to not:

  • Sit behind my desk and wave at you, but instead be in the hallway, smiling.
  • Expect you to put everything away and stay organized, after all, learning can be kind of messy.
  • Hand you a folder with paperwork to fill out so that I can get to know you better.  Real community comes from conversation.
  • Give you a list of my rules; we will make expectations together.
  • Welcome you to “my room,” it is our room!
  • Talk about all of the homework you will have, instead I will share the great knowledge we will uncover.
  • Tell you how you can earn rewards; no stickers, stars or trinkets in here – knowledge is our reward.
  • Pretend that I know what you are going to say or only partially listen; you are my focus and will be the whole year.
  • Run to the teacher’s lounge and share stories about those kids that I have.  Instead I will share just how phenomenal this year will be.
  • Pretend that I have all of the answers or am the absolute authority in the room; this is a journey we take together and you get to teach me as well.
  • Hide that I am nervous.  I don’t know you either so, of course, I am nervous.
  • Tell you how to get an “A.”  Learning is not about grading, it is about learning, so grades will not be a main focus.
  • Second-guess everything I said or did; I will trust in myself and hope you do the same.
  • Be afraid to try something you suggested; after all, what is the harm in trying?
So ask yourself, what do you not want to do on the first day of school?  I am sure many more ideas will pop into my head.
expectations, grades, homework

So I Wrote to Alfie Kohn…

Pernille Ripp
This weekend marked the first ever Reform Symposium, which was an incredible experience of people involved in education all coming together to tear it apart and perhaps puzzle it all back together.  There were many stellar talks but my favorite presentation was by far Joe Bower´s on Abolishing Grades, although I must admit I am partial here because I already admire Joe´s work and dedication.  Joe did not disappoint and the backchannel talk was lively as well.  I certainly only became more passionate about my quiet revolution in my own room of perhaps, just maybe, removing grades.

However, to do so though there are people I must get on my side, the first one being my principal, so as any passionate teacher does, I have been gathering my research, thoughts and ideas as I prepare for it.  Once again, it has been a wonderful experience to find that I am not alone in this frustration with grades and a particularly grateful thanks go to @MrMacnology and @Joe_ Bower for their non-exasperated answers to my endless questions.   

And yet, I wanted to see if there was anything I was missing, so I decided to write to Alfie Kohn and by golly he answered my request for help to speak to my principal.

Here is my plea for help:

Dear Mr. Kohn,
I am 3rd year 4th grade teacher struggling with why I grade students.  For 2 years now, I have fudged grades, assigned worksheets to make sure I have enough stuff to make an average from, and dashed students love of learning when they received a poor grade.  For 2 years I have fielded parent phone class on why their child got a particular grade and graded papers until i was ready to fall asleep.  I have dozed off during meaningless book report presentations, and fought with homeless students to turn their homework in.  I am done with grades but have to still convince my principal.  Do you have any strong points that i should bring up to him to convince him that learning should be for learning’s sake and not to produce a grade? 
best,
Pernille Ripp

Here is the advice I received:
Thanks for your note.  I’ve written about why grades are unnecessary and harmful in two books (Punished by Rewards and The Schools Our Children Deserve) and in two articles (www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/fdtd-g.htm and www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/grading.htm).  The first of those articles is a little more accessible, I think.  It’s focused on grading at the high school level, but I think one can argue that its points apply more strongly to teaching younger children since there is even less of a case to be made in favor of giving kids grades.  (One can’t even rationalize them on the grounds that colleges care.)
A Canadian teacher has lately been working hard to persuade other educators to join him in refusing to give grades on individual assignments (even if they have to turn in an end-of-term grade).  Some of the resources on his blog may be useful to you:  www.joebower.org/p/abolishing-grading.html.  Of course, persuading the principal to stop using grades at all — on a schoolwide level — would be much more desirable.
Also of possible interest:  this account of a middle school administrator and a high school teacher who have gotten rid of grades (www.alfiekohn.org/miscellaneous/newsarchive.htm#grades) and the first two clips from my DVD that summarize some of the key reasons that grades don’t make sense:  www.alfiekohn.org/gandhvideoclips.htm.
Any or all of these resources can be shared with parents and other teachers, the idea being to organize opposition to grades so you’re not fighting this all by yourself.
Good luck!

— Alfie Kohn

I am once again amazed at the power of reaching out to others for help in this quiet revolution against grades.  I am excited to meet with my principal, and hopefully persuade him to let me try this.  And most of all, I am excited about joining up with all of you that think,  discuss, evaluate and listen every single day; never too tired to ponder, “Are we doing the right thing?”
expectations, reflection, students

The Hidden Rules of a Classroom

Pernille Ripp
Today I lost my temper, yes, it is a rare occurrence, but it happened on the phone with a credit report company who claimed that I had signed up for their monthly services.  I had not and had to cancel my debit card because of this.  The Indian woman I spoke to kept telling me that the fee was right in the terms and conditions section of the site and that I therefore had signed up for it.  No matter what I told her she was relentless in her explanation.  I finally lost it and yelled that i would like to speak to someone in charge and who could help me since I had never seen their terms and conditions, let alone signed up for them.

This incident made me think about the hidden rules of our classrooms.  Sure ,we post rules and expectations, short and to the point, on our walls and expect our students to agree to follow them.  What we don’t post though, are our hidden rules and expectation, the terms and conditions if you will, for being in our classroom.  And those tend to be the most important rules.

I have pet peeves I call them, they include sharpening your pencil while someone is talking (me), waving your hand in someone’s (my) face to get attention, interrupting someone (me), not cleaning up after yourself, and not taking responsibility for missed/late work.  I try to divulge these in the first few days of school and yet there are always some that I miss.  Every year, I end up being internally disappointed by the actions of a student who really had no way of knowing that taking off their shoes really bothers me (it is unsanitary).

So, at the end of this year I asked my students to write about what they wish they had known at the beginning of the year.  Much to my surprise, Mrs. Ripp’s pet peeves came out on top.  Wow!  I had no idea that this was something important in the eyes of my students.  So this year, I am going to be honest.  Yes, I hate when you sharpen your pencil (switching away from electric pencil sharpeners because of this), I hate when you spin your ruler on your pencil (don’t poke your eye out), when you put your head down on your desk (are you sleeping?), and when you don’t tell me you haven’t done your homework and I have to find out.  But no one knows that unelss I tell them and then they can sign up to learn in my classroom knowing all the terms and conditions, not just the ones in bold on the first page.