Category: new year

new year, Uncategorized

Administrators, Please Inspire at Back to School

Pernille Ripp

The countdown has officially begun in my home.  Thea keeps asking me when I go back to school knowing that this year she will go as well. I keep looking at my to do lists wondering when I can send the welcome letter, when I can label my lockers, when I can start to really get excited.  And yet before the year really begins, we all have to get through the back to school days.  You know, those days filled with meetings, even more new initiatives, and even more changes.  Where you leave the day with your head spinning and your spirits sometimes bruised.  Where you go home and think you just need to get through all of the information so the greatness of the year can begin.  I think it’s time to reclaim those back to school days.  To make them relevant and spirit-lifting.  To make them exciting and something teachers cannot wait to come to.  To make them the best start to a very new year.  So here are some ideas, and if you already do this, thank you.  Or if you have better ideas than me, please add them.

Use email – We know you have a lot to cover, but keep it brief, send us an email if you can with all the basic stuff that we can read and refer back to when needed.  Expect people to read it and make that expectation clear.  Bullet points work great!

Show videos – funny, inspiring, and with a point, and the ones that quickly get to the point.  Often a video of an educator doing something inspiring is betetr than sharing the story.

Keep it local – Bring in our superstars of the district to share their knowledge.  Show videos created by our students.  Show videos of our teachers teaching, our supports staff helping, people learning.  Too often we go outside of districts to bring in experts and forget about the experts right at home.  Highlight the greatness that comes from your district or school.

Give us the why – often so many changes are thrust upon us at the beginning of the year and while I don’t need a lengthy explanation, i would love to know the why.  It is hard to believe in something when you don’t understand why it is being implemented.

Highlight the past – Bring up what worked last year.  What parents said, what students did, what people saw.  Build our success on the success of last year.

Foreshadow the future – If you know something incredible is going to happen in the future year, bring it up, give us something to build to ward, to look forward to.

Give us time – we know you have a lot of information to give us, so give us time to process it with our teams.  There are so many meetings determined by others, give us time to figure out who we need to meet with before school starts.

Do a mini-edcamp – why not start the year with a mini edcamp where people can choose what they need to learn about.  Contact some people beforehand and ask them to highlight and be ready to share certain things, then leave room for others to bring up discussions.  Even a few sessions of choice can do incredible things for teacher preparedness and buy-in.

Cut it short – Most people think they are great public  speakers, most people are not.  Not because their heart isn’t in it, not because they are not wonderful and knowledgable, but because they stray off the path, they add to o much information, or they ramble.  So keep it short and to the point.

Don’t kill us with the negative – I know we face a lot of challenges and I am not asking for you to shield us from them.  But one person can only take so much beating down within a few days to where they simply become deflated.  So don’t spare us, but do think of what the most important challenges are that face us and focus on them.  Frame them as a challenge not as a failure.

Inspire us – I know it is a lot to ask, but I would really like to be inspired by the start of the school year.  I would really like to have the opportunity to feel uplifted and energized, believed in and trusted.

Spread the burden – Don’t just feel that you have to do the inspiring; ask others to contribute.  We should all be a part of the back to school days, we should all contribute positive energy to start the year right.  Don’t think as an administrator that it all falls on you, because it shouldn’t.  Bring in a team of people to start the year off right.  Bring in people who others may not see as leaders or speakers.  Bring in people that have  a purpose and have an energy that can rub off.

What did I miss?  How can we make these back to school days inspiring, something to look forward to?  There has to be a way for them to lose their reputation of being a waste of time.

I am a passionate 5th grade teacher in Middleton, Wisconsin, USA, proud techy geek, and mass consumer of incredible books. Creator of the Global Read Aloud Project, Co-founder of EdCamp MadWI, and believer in all children. I have no awards or accolades except for the lightbulbs that go off in my students’ heads every day.  First book “Passionate Learners – Giving Our Classroom Back to Our Students Starting Today” will be released this fall from PLPress.   Follow me on Twitter @PernilleRipp.

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conferences, new teacher, new year, Student-centered

How To Do Student-Led Conferences

Pernille Ripp
Image from icanread

I seem to have written a lot about the why of student-led conferences but then have never given a step by step approach on how to do it.  Fresh in my mind from my webinar for SimpleK12 – here are the steps.  Use them as you wish.

First to the Why:

Let Them Speak – Why Student-Led Conferences Are the Right Choice

Now the How

Before you start:

  • Think about your reasoning; what are you trying to accomplish with them?
  • Determine if you want full or hybrid.  Full meaning all student-led with only a few minutes of teacher talk or hybrid meaning half and half between teacher ad student.  I do a mixture depending on the child and the time of year.
  • The age of the child, the make up of your district, and how crazy of an idea this is can all help you make your decision.

First Week of School:

  • Inform the students that they will be leading their own conferences  and why so that this does not come as a surprise to them later in the year.
  • This is an overall philosophy so make sure you have ways to gather their learning whether in journals, portfolios or some place for them to gather evidence.
  • Student-ownership of learning should be from day one.  A constant question in your classroom should be, “How are you doing and what do you need work on next?”
  • Plant the seeds for student goal setting and help them set goals starting now.  I start this on my beginning of the year student questionnaire.

Two Weeks Prior:

  • Have a classroom discussion to discuss the learning.  What have you explored since we started, what are major themes, where have we been heading?
  • Then discuss assessment.  How do you get assessed?  How do you assess yourself?  What are district assessment tools?  How do you know how you have been doing?
  • Discuss performance – how will the students assess themselves?  This can be daunting for some kids and so a class discussion or small group discussion is often a great way to get started.
  • Student self-reflection time – Students should have plenty of time to continue their reflection of themselves as learners.  This should be a continuation of what you have been doing since the first day.
  • Student preparation sheet – this sheet can be tweaked to fit your needs and I often have students bring this to the conference as a support.  I have a general one and a specific 5th grade spring preparation sheet.  I often project these and ask students for feedback and we tweak the form to fit their needs before I give them copies of this.  And this fall I actually updated my sheet – I like this one a lot better!
  • Start reminding parents that students are leading this and therefore must be present at their conference – I put it in newsletters and in general emails.

One Week Prior:

  • Check in with whole class – are there major questions or confusion that needs to be addressed?
  • Individual check-in with students.  “Walk me through your evidence and what you want to show your parents.”
  • Give them time to gather the evidence that they want to show their parents, make copies, find work etc.  I hand them a folder to keep it all in.
  • Think of ways you can showcase the classroom.  Last year we had QR codes parents could scan that would show off different videos from our classroom.
  • Continue to remind parents that students must be present.

Day Off:

  • Role-play a conference with a student in front of the whole class.  Often students are anxious about the experience, so doing a fishbowl demonstration really helps settle nerves and answer any last minute questions.
  • Have each child check their folders for everything they need.
  • At the end of the day, my students leave their folders and what they may need right on their table.  That way when they come in they can grab it and not waste any time.
  • Have students remind their parents that they must be present.  (It seems like overkill, but every year without fail a parent shows up without their child).

During:

  • Welcome and introduce the concept of student-led conference.
  • Showcase the parent list of questions  (I laminate a copy and leave it on the table) and encourage parents to jump in.
  • Let the student do their thing.

Final minutes:

  • Take the last few minutes to wrap up and address any parent concerns.  Ask if another meeting needs to be scheduled.
  • Hand over student questionnaire and parent questionnaire and ask them to bring it back the next day.
  • Repeat the students goals and make a note of them (I use one of my teacher sheets and always tell parents I will give them a copy of the sheet).
  • Make sure students leave behind their preparation sheets, these are great to pull out for the next round of conferences as they prepare for them and reflect back on the year.

That’s really it for me.  I have all of the forms I use on this page, please feel free to use and adapt to fit your needs.  If you have any questions, just reach out, my email is p (at) globalreadaloud (dot) com

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new year, students

It’s Not the First Day That Is the Most Important – It is All the Others

Pernille Ripp
image from icanread

August is upon us and I cannot help but giddily count down the days until the very first day of school.  Call it the curse of the teachers: we are still on vacation but our minds are drifting back to school weeks before we actually have to be there.  I cannot wait to see what this year will hold.  I cannot wait to figure out what we will do the first day of school.  I cannot wait to see what the students will think of me.

As much as I worry about that very first day of school and what we should do, I have started to realize that although the first day is important – first impressions always are – it is really what comes after that very first day that sets the tone for the rest of the year.

Students expect an exciting first day.  They, themselves, are often nervous and filled with energy, ready to see their friends, ready to hear what the year will hold, ready to meet their teacher.  That energy bubbles into a classroom and sustains it for the day.  That energy is contagious.  We do fun things, we set the tone, we explain and explore, and I always end with a challenge.  At the end of the day, I am exhausted and exhilarated, ready for an amazing year.  And I hope my students go home and tell their parents that 5th grade will be an incredible year.

Yet for me it is the next day that the true tone is set for the year and the days after that.  When the energy is diminished, students are starting to realize that summer is over and school is back.  Some have realized that they are more nervous than they thought and some may have even realized that their teacher is not what they thought they would be.  That is when we start to make our true impression.  When we no longer have time to do the fun beginning of the year activities, when we start to feel the pressure of everything we have to get done, when students start to show their true personalities, that is when the tone is set for the year.  That is when the students start to see who we really are and how we really will be as a teacher.

Anyone can fool kids for a day.  But no one can fool kids for a whole year.  So I ask you not what you are doing on the very first day but instead, what are you doing the rest of the week?  The rest of the month?  The rest of the year to set the tone?  That is where we should  be focusing our efforts.

I am a passionate 5th grade teacher in Middleton, Wisconsin, USA, proud techy geek, and mass consumer of incredible books. Creator of the Global Read Aloud Project, Co-founder of EdCamp MadWI, and believer in all children. I have no awards or accolades except for the lightbulbs that go off in my students’ heads every day.  First book “Passionate Learners – Giving Our Classroom Back to Our Students Starting Today” will be released this fall from PLPress.   Follow me on Twitter @PernilleRipp.

building community, classroom setup, new teacher, new year

Some Ways To Show My Students They Matter

Pernille Ripp

This year we start the first day of school with a first day of school.  And while there will be no orientation day, no meet and greet, I still want them to feel that excitement of a new year, a new room, a new group of kids, and definitely a new teacher.   I want them to know that I am so happy to teach them, because I am!  So I have been thinking of little ways I can show them how much they matter, feel free to add more in the comments.

  • The welcome letter – I spend a lot of time crafting this letter because I want them to get to know me a little bit, get excited about the great things we will explore, and for them to feel welcomed.  I change it every year, but here is last year’s letter as an example.  (Don’t mind the atrocious picture quality, I had to compress the file).
  • The book bins – Every student will have a book bin waiting for them with books carefully selected from last year’s students.  On each book is a post-it note explaining why the book was chosen and how much they loved it.  I hope this makes my new students excited about reading.

    Student created book bins with selected books
    Student created book bins with selected books
  • The letters from former students – each student also has a handwritten letter from my old students giving them tips on 5th grade, insider information about “surviving” their new teacher, and things they can look forward to.  I love the care my old students take to welcome the new students even though they are not at the school anymore.  (And I keep these letters every year after the new students have read them).
  • Pencils with messages – these don’t show up for a few weeks as I get to know them but I love leaving small messages on number 2 pencils.  Why buy them pre-printed when you can write exactly what you want with a sharpie?

    messages on pencils from last year
    messages on pencils from last year
  • Purchasing their favorite picture books – I have been on a picture book binge this summer – they are just so absolutely fantastic.  So what better way than to expand my library then by asking my students what their favorite picture book is and then surprise reading it aloud for them at some point?  I cannot wait to make this a reality, even if it means spending more of my own money on books.
  • The precepts – we finished last year sharing “Wonder” and I asked my students to write precepts for how to love 5th grade.  They did and these will be welcoming my new students in the hallway leading to our room.
  • The family picture – Someone smart (and if it was you please let me know so I can give you credit) wrote about how they would have students bring in a family picture to leave in the classroom all year.  I love this idea!  So I will ask every child to bring in a special picture (or photocopy of one) and then we will make a display out of all of them for the whole year.  I want the students to feel this is is their room as much as mine right from the beginning.

I am sure as summer winds down there will be more ideas, but for now I am excited about these.  What will you be doing?

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new teacher, new year, parents

My Beginning of the Year Parent Questionnaire

Pernille Ripp
Two of my three kids; and that's who this is all about
Two of my three kids; and that’s who this is all about

Yesterday I shared my student questionnaire so I find it only apt to share my parent questionnaire as well.  While there are so many things I wanted to ask my parents, I wanted to keep it short and to the point.  As always, feel free to make a copy and make it your own.

Here is a link to the actual form

Here are just the questions on the form:

Tell Me A Little Bit About Your Child

  1. What is the most important thing I should know about your child?

  2. What is your child passionate about?

  1. What would you love your child to get better at?

  1. Overall how does your child feel about school and 5th grade?

  1. My child learns best when the teacher is….

  1. Great friends for my child are ….

  1. My child does not work well with…

  1. What is your child’s favorite book?

  1. What fears does your child have?  (Big or small)

  1. What is the best way to motivate your child?

Tell Me A Little Bit About You and Your Family

  1. What are you looking forward to with 5th grade?

  1. How would you like to be involved with your child’s education?

  1. What is your preferred method of communication (email, phone call, meeting, note…)

  1. Does your family have any special celebrations or traditions you would like to share with the class?

  1. What subject/area did you dislike when you went to school?

  1. What subject/area did you love when you went to school?

  1. I think 5th grade will be….

  1. A typical afternoon after school looks like this in our life…

  1. Who else lives at your house (siblings, pets etc.?)

  1. Anything else you would like to tell me that will help me make this a successful year?

 

classroom setup, new teacher, new year, student voice

My Student Questionnaire for Beginning of Year

Pernille Ripp
My old student questionnaire

Since I will be traveling quite a bit in August, I am getting my papers in order for the beginning of the year and stumbled upon my standard student questionnaire in a folder.  Once I glanced at it I realized how it was in need of a serious revamping and thus asked my PLN for must ask questions for this document.  Thank you so much to everyone who inspired me!

Here is a link to the Google Doc – feel free to make a copy and make it your own.

Here are just the questions (for the actual survey go to the link) that I will be using that first week of school to get to know the kids better.


  1. What are the three most important things I should know about you?
  1. What are things you are really good at?
  1. What are you most proud of?
  1. What is the favorite thing you did this summer?
  1. What have you most loved learning (even if not in school)?  Why?
  1. What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not in school?
  1. What is the best book or books you have ever read?
  1. What do you want to learn HOW to do?
  1. I think 5th grade will be….
  1. What do you love about school?
  1. What do you not like about school?
  1. I work best in a classroom that is….
  1. Some things I really want to to work on this year in 5th grade are….
  1. What are things you cannot wait to do this year?
  1. I learn best when the teacher is….
  1. What do you know about Mrs. Ripp?