Category: inspiration

balance, being a teacher, hopes, inspiration

Have You Balanced Your Account?

Pernille Ripp

This year it will be all about balance for me.   The accounts of our life have to be balanced and mine seem a bit unbalanced at the moment.  I have started this incredible blogging adventure, well-knowing that I then chose to give some of my precious time to this investment.  And it has certainly paid off in big ways.  However, whenever I choose to give my time somewhere, I am taking it away from somewhere else.

So as I continue this learning journey, I am resetting my calculations, deciding how big of a percentage of time each big category will have.  These categories are the thread of our lives, the love, the drive, the inspiration.  Those memories we carry with us, the ones that us feel like we have lived.  So I look forward to taking stock, reinvesting where I need to, and diminishing where I must.  It has to add up to 100% since there is only so much of me, so much of time, so much of life to be lived.

Are your accounts balanced?

being a teacher, inspiration, lessons learned, students

Not More Resolutions but Renewals Instead

Pernille Ripp

It is indeed a new year, resolutions abound, and people fell eager, excited, rejuvenated, and ready to change their lives.  I am one of these people as well that truly views a new year as a time for transformation, a time to renew vows made to oneself, to reflect, and to reevaluate.

I, too, made a resolution, a small one to save more money for traveling, but that is it.  Professionally, I have quite a few resolutions going on already, as my husband reminds me, such as limiting homework, throwing out grades, student blogging, and my fun new blog for sharing lesson and.  So yes, I have a full load, but a fun one.

So instead of a resolution, I decided to remember the goals I have already made for the year.  We get so busy with piling new ones on, that we can forget about the awesomeness of the old ones.  So the goals I renew to myself are, in no particular order:

– Remember they are all of our children. There is no such thing as just “your” students anymore, make yourself visible to all, and treat them all as if they did indeed belong to you, because they really do.

– Question yourself. Why do you do the things that you do in your classroom? Why do you teach this way?

– Take time to discover your passion. Your passion may be apparent to you but to some people it isn’t, however, if you don’t give yourself the gift of time to really reflect, how will you ever discover that you love zombies, technology, and Neil Gaiman?

– Give the gift of now. Be present wherever you are, whether it be in your classroom, with your family, or in the car. Give that moment in time the honor of being there fully, even though that may be hard, it is worth it in the long run.

– Reach out to others. Whether it be through Twitter, your PLN, or staff members, use them, reflect with them, and praise them. These are the people that will support, encourage, and challenge you on a regular basis, these are the people that will raise you up.

– And finally, don’t survive it – live it!

inspiration, writing

I Once Met Angela Johnson

Pernille Ripp

I once met Angela Johnson
That poet author, who takes you there, makes you live, makes you feel.
I touched that hand that wrote those words and she turned to me and said, “And what do you want to be when you grow up?”
So I felt like a kid, wishing, dreaming and thinking about all of the possibilities.
And I said, “I want to be like you, a sayer of words, a magical creature, who makes you feel, makes you think, makes you live.”
And she turned to me and smiled and said, “You must find your voice to be you, not to be me.”

S I searched within me.
Dug down into the layers, not knowing what it was was looking for but knowing it was somewhere.
Because Angela Johnson told me so.
And one day, there it was, found beneath the layers.
A tiny voice with no direction, but this urgency that meant I could not hold it back.
And I so I tried to become the slayer of words, to make the people feel, to take you there.
Until I realized that I was not Angela Johnson, I was me.
I had found my voice voice but not my thoughts.
So the search continues because
I once met Angela Johnson.

being a teacher, believe, inspiration, promises, students

My New Year’s Promises

Pernille Ripp

I promise to be the teacher I say I am.  I promise to laugh louder, scowl less, and wonder more.  To dream, to dance, and to sing as loud as I can.

I promise to inspire you, to be a role model whenever it is humanly possible, and to switch out my swear words.

I promise to read, reflect, and ponder.  I promise to be strong yet kind, unwavering yet changing, and always always questioning.  I promise that I will balance the work, the life, and the love.  I promise to be present, right here, now, listening.  

I promise to ask questions, not judge, and save up compliments.  I promise to not make so many promises that they become another weight to carry.  I promise to be me, warts and all, and to accept you, glorious faults and flaws.

I promise to push myself, to reach for new heights and to believe, believe, believe.

But most importantly, I promise to be the mother my daughter should have, the teacher my students deserve, and the wife that my husband makes me want to be.  What do you promise?

being a teacher, inspiration, kids, students

The Ones that Wrote Themselves

Pernille Ripp

Maybe you didn’t see these or maybe you did, but these are the posts that wrote themselves.  The tear jerkers, the upsets, the ones that I had to write.

There could be many more but these are the ones I am grateful for writing.

  1. Stand Up if You are Average – Why we should never label students.
  2. Dear Beautiful Baby – An ode to the child that was not meant to be.
  3. Dear Arnold – When that student comes into our life.
  4. Rulebreaker – Why I chose no grades, no homework.
  5. We are Not Role Models – How I am not Superman, and nor do I want to be.
inspiration

What Christmas Means to Me

Pernille Ripp

In Denmark, today is the day after Christmas but being in America with an almost two-year old, today is Christmas as well. But what does that mean?

Christmas means to me “hygge”, duck roast, and kisses at any time possible. A wonky christmas tree with the expensive decorations at top, a star on top that we all have, singing and holding hands. Fires roaring, marzipan, blankets for cold toes. Thea saying “whoa” at every present, whether hers or not. Bad jokes, too many gifts, and cashmere. Snuggling in bed, remembering loved ones, and missing those not with us. Christmas means the end of a year, reflection, and happiness in its pure form. A year where I know I did my best, my hardest, and my most honest. I did it. I believed it. And I lived it. I hope you lived it as well; Merry Christmas.