new year – Page 27 – Pernille Ripp

Community Building 101 With Mrs. Ripp

June 30, 2011 Pernille Ripp

Ahhh community building exercises. Those small sheets of paper that we all so vigorously collect whilst in college knowing that some day they will be our go-to’s. Some day they will lead us to a breakthrough in our classrooom. Some day they will be corner stones of our community. And yet, then they don’t. In fact, as I cleaned out my files at the end of the year, I found a lot of them shoved into a forgotten corner of my cabinet, crumpled, dusty, and very unused. I guess I haven’t needed them after all.

So welcome to community building 101 with your teacher, Mrs. Ripp. A newish teacher that doesn’t quite know what she is doing at all times but will happily share all of the ups and downs. So first, how not to build community, from someone who has made all of these mistakes:

Pre-post your rules. Nothing says “This is my classroom” like a beautifully laminated poster of all of your rules that have been hanging there for years. Students certainly know who is the boss then and also that they are indeed just visitors in your room. Way to set the tone from the first day.
Spend days on a constitution. I like the Constitution, in fact, as a social studies lesson I think this would be marvelous. But as a community builder, not so much. Think of it through a kid’s eyes: days spent discussing the rules for the rest of they year and then pledging to uphold all 20 of them, umm not so much. Oh and who is going to remember all of them, yikes!
Set clear boundaries. The first year I labeled my classroom with teacher versus student stickers. Oh yes, I was a label master, making sure the students knew exactly which cabinets, which supplies, and which areas they were allowed in. I spent the rest of the year reminding them where not to go and I kept hammering in how something was “mine” – sounds like a 2 year old’s behavior, not a teacher’s.
Ice breakers. I know people will disagree here, but I hate ice breakers, they are super awkward and make me feel very uncomfortable for a while until I can retreat back to my own comfort zone. I have never made a connection through an icebreaker, sorry. Instead, invest in something meaningful as a classroom like a connection map, or a kid made video tour of the classroom, or something that the kids can work together on. If they can focus on the task rather than the connecting, community building will start to happen.
Tell the kids you will now be building a community. I am all for setting goals and telling the kids about it, but this one better be left unsaid. It’s like telling someone you are trying to become their friend; that hyperfocus tends to make things weird. Instead tell the kids what they will be doing, simple as that.
Have a million things planned. Sometimes the best beginnings of a community comes from spending time together, but when you plan too much or have too much to do, that goes out the window. So leave a little room for spontaneity, a little room for just hanging out (perhaps on the playground) and a little room for whatever the kids would like to do.

So what should you do?

Be yourself. The kids will see right through any phoniness, so if you are a massive dork like I am, let it all shine through.
Share your life. I often have a video from Thea, my 2 year old daughter, or a funny story about her to start the day out with. The kids really get to know me and my family and in turn open up about their lives as well.
Laugh a lot. I love to laugh and I think kids are hilarious, if we just give them the time to speak.
Start decorating the classroom. I stress over and over that this is “Our classroom,” so the kids get to make decorating choices as well as furniture setup decisions. Every class learns differently and they can often set up a better environment than I can.
Start learning. I love all of the learning that happens at school so we start right away with some curriculum, often the kids cannot wait to see what this new grade level will be about so why wait. Of course, we balance it out with all the other great non-curricular activities.
Decide on expectations together. I don’t have classroom rules, I have expectations that are set with the students. We take some time, and we always adjust them throughout the year, but in the end they need to be straight and to the point so the kids (and I) can remember them. And no, they are not posted anywhere.
Give it time. Great community does not happen on the first day of school but you do plant the seed that day. So tend to it and nurture it, give it them time it deserves throughout the school year and highlight it from time to time. I discuss with the students how great of a classroom we have which keeps it a priority and reminds of what we strive to be: a place where everyone feels like they belong and are safe.

being a teacher, new year

So What Did People Read – Top 5 of 2010

December 22, 2010 Pernille Ripp

As the year winds down and I look back upon it, I realize just how incredible this year has been. Not only has a lot of happiness occurred in my life, such as falling even more in love with my incredible soulmate, being in awe of our miracle daughter, and having the best job in the whole wide world, but I have also built an incredible network of professionals throughout the world. Thank you so much for all of your comments, links, supports and even bothering reading my rants in the first place. I blog to keep myself honest, and boy, has it been an honest year!

Here are the top 5 posts of 2010, as picked by you, the readers:

1. Dear First Year Pernille
   – A letter written to myself about the things I wish I knew when I started, ahh wisdom.
2. What I Won’t Do on the First Day of School
   – Pushing myself into a student-centered classroom from the very first day.
3. Each Day is Special – Nancy’s Aha Moment
   – An incredible post reminding us to find the wonder in the every day.
4. So You Want to Use Kidblog?
   – Students blogging has been an incredible experience, here are tools for teachers to get started.
5. Who Wants to Teach “Those” Students?
   – As we become more test obsessed, a rededication to “those” students, I will always step up to teach
   them.

Did you have a favorite? If you do, thank you, if not, stick with me and help me learn.

advice, alfie kohn, assumptions, being a teacher, classroom setup, community, educators, elementary, new teacher, new year

Declutter I say! Or Why Motivational Posters Demotivate

November 17, 2010 Pernille Ripp

Life is full of choices, so choose carefully! How can anyone love you if you do not love yourself? And my favorite: failure is never an option! All sayings found on various motivational posters sold to teachers that mean well and boy, do they sell. Anyone who has ever been in a teacher store those last couple of weeks before school start will see the poster wheels spinning frantically as the just right poster is sought. Ok, I admit I, I was one of those teachers, however, I thought I was clever and that I had it all figured out. You see, I had edited my pre-packaged collection and therefore only had select few displayed. Thus, my students knew that these were the sayings they had to focus on. I remember one was a cute little frog hanging on to a tree branch and something about sticking with it. Oh, day in and day out that little frog inspired my students to never give up! Right? Well, not exactly. My students didn’t care. I am sure they thought they were cute and one or two of them used them for inspiration for their own doodles in their journals but did it ignite their passion for learning? Hardly, in fact, I would like to argue quite the opposite. You see, my students were overloaded with messages. Walk into almost any elementary classroom and you will be bombarded with motivational posters, hand-made posters, student work, rules, classroom jobs and anything else that deserves a special place on the wall. And we don’t just tack it to the all, we put up back posters and fancy boarders o that it gets really colorful and pops! In fact, bare walls are taunted and laughed at, seen as someone being unprepared or dare I say dispassionate about their room, their job, their kids!

And so the pressure on new teachers in particular is immense. You may be new but your room should still look inviting, educationally functional and also be a representation of you as a teacher. That last week before my first week of school ever, I was waking up in cold sweat wondering whether the kids would get “me” in the room? And then school happened and I realized little by little that even though I had labored intensely over my handmade sign with the great Shakespeare quote “Do Not be Afraid of Greatness” my students had never read it or noticed it really. How do I know? My principal asked them about it when I was observed the first time. But surely they had noticed all of the signs? Not so much, even if I had pored over each placement of every poster so much that my walls had holes in them from my tearing off the gorilla tape (note to self: don’t ever use gorilla tape again.) I had created rules – keep them simple but firm, and a little flexible. Classroom jobs – instill responsibility but make the chart so fun that the kids cannot wait to see what job they will do. And maps – I had maps all over my room. Why maps? Well, I really like maps and they filled all that dreaded empty wall space. I would have continued to cover and decorate had it not been for a pesky thing called the firecode. It stopped me at 20%.

So what changed? One day I realized that it wasn’t my room that represented me, but myself that represented me. In fact, I got sick of re-taping posters that kept falling down, or moving them when I actually needed the space for learning and so little by little down they came. The ultimate clean up came when I had to move rooms this year. I sorted, evaluated and donated. Now I chuckle when I see my “old” posters hanging somewhere else. Don’t they realize why I got rid of them? I also thought about my students more and how they reacted to the environment I created. Too much of it was about me, and how I wanted the room to be. They didn’t feel welcome or that the space was theirs, but merely as guests passing through borrowing the space. Another consideration was that I have students that get over-stimulated quite easily. Being a clutter freak myself I start to get clammy when I stay in these rooms too long so imagine if you are a student trying to focus on whatever is going on on the whiteboard. Where do you look? To the poster telling you to keep focusing or on to the actual board? So is my room bare walls? Nah, but what is up there is important. In fact, the kids have noticed what is posted. Quotes form the Little Prince, from the “I Have a Dream” Speech, and student introductions in Wordles. We have some literary elements as reminders and even a couple of pictures. The students know how obsessed I am with zombies so they draw me pictures of flesh eaters. No rules, no motivational posters, just us. Our space, our room. And most importantly, room to grow into a community. Into making the space our own. They own the room as much as I do and that is more important that sticking to it or never giving up!

Be the change, new year, reflection

No, I Didn’t Survive the First Week of School

September 11, 2010 Pernille Ripp

This week, I saw a few posts on blogs talking about how they survived the first week of school. As some of you may know, this bothers me greatly. I did not survive my first week, I thrived in it. Some may call me relentlessly optimistic or just plain annoying but the truth is that I love my job. I have been planning all summer for this first “real” week of school and it did not let me down. So here is what I “survived” this week:

A student with autism who mostly speaks repetitive sentences telling me he loved me.
A student, who was in my 4th grade class last year, returning to be in my combination room this year after having been in 2 other school already this year.
A 5th grader in my room who last year asked for help every 5 minutes, not asking for help, but instead trying it himself and lighting up at his success.
27 students who didn’t really know each other create their own Animoto for their parents to see their hopes and wishes for my room.
25 hands in the air all wanting to model the incorrect way of how to read to self.
A shy boy with little math success last year, raising his hand 3 times during math class and getting it right.
A 4th grade girl, who moved to our school after a person got shot on her block, subtracting 35 from 71 in her head.
3 students telling me that so far I was not a disappointment and that I was their favorite teacher ever.
2 parents emailing me that they do not care that I have 27 students in my room, they are not part of the petition to get another teacher added to my school to alleviate our high classroom sizes, since they believe in what I am doing.
Another student with autism letting me in a little by cracking his first joke to me.
Students letting down their guard and reaching out to new people even if they are not the same age.
Students asking me to please not tell their parents that Double Bubble Gum’s flavor only lasts 4 minutes, thus making it the worst investment when buying bubble gum.
The students getting so excited about the Global Read Aloud project and studying the maps that we will mark when we connect with someone.

So no I did not survive the first week of school, I lived it to the fullest, eagerly anticipating many more days with these incredible kids. Did you?

Be the change, new year, reflection, students

Dear New Mrs. Ripp Student

September 2, 2010 Pernille Ripp

Tomorrow is our first day together and even though we teachers benefit from our vacation almost as much as you do, we also spend a lot of time preparing and waiting anxiously for you to come back to us. This year was no different for me, except if at all possible, I was even more excited to have you come back. You see, we are a combination classroom. A bunch of 4th and 5th graders thrown together, it is now us against the world no matter our age or our grade; we belong. And while others may look at us differently or ask you a lot of questions, know that I like that we are different. I like that we have different ages in our room. I like that we cannot be classified as just a regular classroom. I like that I have to think about what I teach and not just say one grade level. I really like that we have kids with a lot of different abilities and talents that will learn form each other.

Just like you, I have to learn too and so this summer that is what I did. I learned that Thea loves it when you read the same book over and over, especially the one about Fergus the dog. I learned that my husband really likes it when I just sit and read next to him or when I recommend books for him. I learned that my 95 year old grandfather in Denmark thinks that my daughter is just about the best thing that has ever happened to this family (I agree). I learned that my little brother will be shipped to Afghanistan in January and that I worry about him now already. I learned that a dog’s heavy breathing will indeed keep you up at night, especially when that dog is 100 pounds and tries to snuggle with you next to your bed. I learned that books are not always good just because a lot of people have read them. Did you know it is okay to not finish a book – crazy, right? I learned that thousands of educators are on Twitter just waiting for you to ask them a question. I learned that blogging and writing about your thoughts can be a great way to inspire and learn from others. I learned that Chinese food doesn’t have to taste bad. I also learned that Madison is one of the best cities for little kids; oh the adventures we have had. I learned that no elementary student should be given an F because as long as they are learning they are not failing. I learned that technology can both give you time and steal it away. I learned that no matter how many times you do an orientation day you will always have jitters, nerves and never feel prepared enough. I also learned that the excitement for the first day of school only builds, never diminishes. I learned that i have many more things to learn.

So whether you have had me before or have no idea who this crazy teacher is; welcome, I am so excited you are here. I hope we will learn together.

building community, classroom expectations, community, new year

A Teacher’s Biggest Fear

August 29, 2010 Pernille Ripp

Last Thursday I had a parent meeting for the students that will be in my 4/5 class. We had set up this opportunity since my school has not had a combination class for a long time and therefore wanted all questions and concerns addressed before orientation day. It was a great turn out and a great night, something I wish anyone could do really before they start the school year. And although there were many great questions, the best one was, “What is your biggest concern?” My answer was “Building community.”

I am sure many would have thought I would have answered how to get through the curriculum or something of that nature but that does not worry me as much as building community does. And I am not alone with this concern. Every year, when we start a new year, we want the best class possible. We want our students to walk away from the year feeling that they belonged, that their teacher trusted them, respected them and that they had a genuine voice in the room. No longer is it my room, but ours. So community, that old catch phrase, is the one that keeps me awake.

Since we are a combination room, community has to be a major focus right away. Some students know each other and a lot do not. However, that is true for almost any class. Students tend to congregate with like-minded peers but often at the 4th grade level we start seeing some of the first shifts in friendships as students spread their wings a little and discover the world.

So how do I plan on building community, well let me count the ways….

One thing I am big on is language; language can destroy or build up. In this case being a combination room rather than split class says a lot about how I feel. We are a fusion, a combination, not something that is split off from the school, from other classes, other kids. My welcome back bulletin board says, “We are a Terrippic Combination” and a bag of Combo’s, one for each student, with their name on it, is stapled around the door. This is the first things students see; combination rather than split.

I hate ice breakers. They are awkward and contrived. Rather we need to create a common purpose and that purpose is to have an amazing learning experience together. So our first week activities reflect that. We will be creating a digital scavenger hunt through questions made up by the students, they will decide what is important to know and find in our room and then do a voicethread presentation on it. I will share my Animoto with them and invite them as a class to create one of our vision and class environment. Armed with cameras and ideas students will lead this as well. We will come up with filmed definitions of what student, classroom, and community means and share them on Wordia.

Students will come up with what they would like to be called when I do need to split according to grade level. I don’t want to continue calling them 4th and 5th graders, those words stick, whereas the birds and the dogs or something else does not remind them of their age difference. We will talk about ourselves, our families, our hopes, our worries. And then we will talk some more. Although curriculum is super important, these first days and weeks set the tone for the rest of the year.

So as I continue focusing on community, I wonder, what other teachers are doing? What works for you, what will you never do again? I have many small exercises as well that I will not bore you with, but what are the big things that leave students smiling, ready to learn?