reflection – Pernille Ripp

being a teacher, new year, reflection, Student dreams, student voice, survey

The First Time We Ask

October 12, 2019 Pernille Ripp

I think of the many hard lessons I have learned through the years.

About respect.

About feeling valued.

About feeling seen.

About what I needed to change not just as the teacher, but also as the adult in charge of the learning experience we create, day in, day out.

So many learned not because I finally realized something, but instead because the kids I have taught had a way to teach me. Had a way to speak up when they needed to. Had a way to feel heard, even when their words meant I needed to change. How it takes such little time to provide kids with the tools they need to speak up, to be heard, to be a full member of the community we are building. It takes a few questions, an open mind and only a few minutes.

In fact, if I ever had to re-name this blog anything, it would be the lessons the children taught me. The many things they have shared throughout their years as we have strived for a better way of learning, of reading, of being a community of people who already are impacting the world beyodn the walls of school.

And so this week, i will once again ask a few simple yet large questions.

Do you feel respected in this room?

Do you respect others in this room?

What can I do more for you?

What should I do less of?

What do you wish I would notice?

And I will remind them all, once again, that this is their chance to influence how I teach and how we learn. That I have thick skin but to also offer up ideas when they can, not just criticism, however, that criticism is also welcomed because I can’t fix anything I don’t know isn’t working. That this stays between us unless I have their permission to share. That I am grateful for their truths so that I can grow. So that we can grow.

And that this is the first reflection of many to come. That this is only the beginning, because for some I haven’t earned their trust, for some they are not ready to tell me how they really feel, and I respect that as well. But I will still ask because even just asking is a step toward a stronger learning experience. A step toward a more solid us.

We are about six weeks into the year, and it is time for me to learn more lessons.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my newest book, Passionate Readers – The Art of Reaching and Engaging Every Child. This book focuses on the five keys we can implement into any reading community to strengthen student reading experiences, even within the 45 minute English block. If you are looking for solutions and ideas for how to re-engage all of your students consider reading my very first book Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students. Also, if you are wondering where I will be in the coming year or would like to have me speak, please see this page.

Be the change, being a teacher, reflection

A Few Questions to Re-Discover your Essentials

November 7, 2017 Pernille Ripp

As I plan for the next quarter, I am reminded of what is essential to this classroom. To the very experience, we are trying to create for all of the kids that we get to teach every day. We want them to come to school feeling safe. Feeling accepted. Feeling challenged but in the right way. We want them to feel like what we do matters and we want them to feel needed. Like their presence here matters and that to us they are more than just a child we get to teach.

As the ideas come for what we can do with all of the time we are given, I am reminded of what is most important to us; reading time. Eyes on text. Books loved. Conversations had. Not worksheets created, papers written, or even how many books they read. But the very experience they can have with text and how it can change them as they grow as readers. Not all of the little things that otherwise seem to suck up our time.

That is my essential and so with this in mind, I plan our lessons.

Discovering or re-discovering your essential is important throughout the year. It is easy to get lost in the task of doing school. As the year passes, we often get consumed in the day-to-day of doing, of teaching, that we forget about the bigger picture; the one hope we had for all of the kids this year. And so instead, we let all of these little things whittle away at our instructional time, not finding time for the one thing we hoped we would do the most, whatever it may be.

Therefore, now is a great time to remind yourself of what your essential is for the year. The one thing that you had planned would take up time, but now may have been forgotten.

To help you re-discover or discover your essential, you can ask yourself:

When you set up your classroom, how did you envision your classroom would be?
What type of learning experiences did you want students to have?
What is the one thing you want to ensure students experience on a regular basis?
What is the one area of practice that will make the biggest difference to all of your students?
What are you spending the most time on right now?
What do you need to stop doing to give your students more time for something else?
What do you need to start doing more of?

And finally; are you doing what you said you would this summer?

As I look at my students reading, I am reaffirmed that the gift of time to read is the biggest gift I can give all of them. That simply having the time read is the pillar of everything else I hope they will accomplish this year. That if they read, we can work on protecting the like or love f reading, but if they don’t we can’t. Everything else comes after and so with that in mind, I plan our experiences together.

What is your essential and are you teaching with it in mind?

If you like what you read here, consider reading my newest book, Passionate Readers – The Art of Reaching and Engaging Every Child, out August 2017. This book focuses on the five keys we can implement into any reading community to strengthen student reading experiences, even within the 45 minute English block. If you are looking for solutions and ideas for how to re-engage all of your students consider reading my very first book Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students. Also, if you are wondering where I will be in the coming year or would like to have me speak, please see this page.

achievement, advice, assumptions, authentic learning, Be the change, being a student, being a teacher, reflection, Student-centered, students

Some Ideas for Re-Engaging Students

September 8, 2015September 7, 2015 Pernille Ripp

For the past few days student engagement has been at the forefront of my mind. Well, who am I kidding, it is always on my mind. As I gave a workshop on student engagement, I was asked for quick tips on how to re-engage in class. While these aren’t just simple ideas, I hope they can help you work through engagement lulls in your own classroom.

You can have an honest conversation with students. If the same class is off-task or the same group, please pull the whole class or group together to discuss. Do not judge, simply ask what is going on and then ask them to help you solve it. Often students will blame being bored so then ask them how they can make it more exciting. Part of creating classrooms where students are engaged is that students are expected to take control of their learning journey meaning you should not be trying to solve everything.

You can change it up. Too often we fall in love with a routine like the workshop model and then forget that too much predictability can be a bore. While I am not advocating for a zany show, I think it is important to be tuned into whether the routine is working at its optimal level or not, then tweak and change as needed.

You can turn on some music. I have found that using music that has the opposite tempo of my students’ mood is great for refocusing them. So if they are slow and lethargic, I play upbeat music while they work, if they are very energetic, I bring out the mellow tunes.

You can practice mindfulness. I started using some short breathing or yoga videos after assemblies with my students because there was no way they would settle in on their own. Once my 7th graders get past their giggles, they also benefit from 3 minutes of focused breathing.

You can stop a train-wreck. When a lesson was going poorly, I used to ride it out to the end hoping that by then they would get it. Now I know to stop, ask why they are not understanding, and then fix. I also have the luxury of completely revamping it throughout the day since I teach the same class five times in a row (one of the only positive things about that).

You can move location or just move. Sometimes my students have simply been sitting too long. Past elementary level we sometimes do not realize how much time students spend sitting since we only see our slice of the day. A natural restlessness is therefore bound to occur. So we move around in the classroom either by sharing with peers, doing short book recommendations, or showing off our work, or we pick up and move altogether. We can head to the library, outside, or into our team area.

You can affirm and replace. This is a technique I adapted from the awesome book Awakened by Angela Watson. When my students seems bogged down as a class, we spend a few minutes speaking about what is going on and then I try to help them replace those thoughts by shifting the focus to something else. It is important for students to feel validated in their thinking but then also for them to move beyond it.

You can find a different way for them to show off their knowledge. We use turn-and-talk quite a bit, but I also ask students to act answers out, draw things out without speaking and any other way that will get different areas of their brains to light up. This is not something I do the entire class period, but it is vital that we have students show knowledge in a variety of ways, rather than just one way.

You can make it personal. Yes, personalized learning is a major buzzword right now, but I am talking about the personal connections that students can have to the learning and how we can tap into that. A lot of disengagement comes from students being bored with the content, so we do need to re-evaluate the content we are focusing on, as well as what the students are doing with it. Students may want to engage with the content in different ways but we won’t know that without knowing our students.

You can use technology. We integrate technology throughout the year but sometimes introducing a new tool like Kahoot does fire students up in a new way. However, with any new ideas, moderation is key because this does not address the problem in the long-term but simply changes the pace at that moment.

In the end, student engagement is just about the quick fixes we can make, but about the instrumental changes we need to have in our teaching philosophy. It is too easy to just blame the students, although they do carry responsibility in all of this, so we must reevaluate whether what we are doing in our classrooms is truly worth being engaged in. The bottom line is; we have to believe in what we are doing and show that passion every single day, because if we don’t, we have no right asking students to.

PS: This is part of a three part series on student engagement. The first post discussed the truths my students shared with me on why they are disengaged, the second post discussed the three areas we must re-evaluate.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my book Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students. The 2nd edition and actual book-book (not just e-book!) comes out September 22nd from Routledge, but rumor has it that it is out on Kindle already!

being a teacher, first day, new year, reflection, Student

On the First Day of School

July 26, 2015July 26, 2015 Pernille Ripp

Today I was reminded of the stark reality that is the 45 minutes blocks of time that I teach in every day. As I sat and planned my first quarter, or at the very least wrote down some of the ideas I have, I kept glancing at that first day; the one that seems so magical. I have so many ideas. So many things I would like to do on that very first day. Yet, the 45 minutes really stifles a lot of creativity. The 45 minutes really forces me to see what is most important.

On the first day of school I don’t want to do activities. I don’t want to play games. Nor do I want to fake my enthusiasm.

On the first day of school I don’t want to force student into awkward ice breakers, while they hope the teacher will forget it is their turn next. I will not force them to bare their soul, nor to share their dreams.

On the first day of school, we will not have many things planned. We will not spend precious time listening to me drone on. We will not run around hectically trying to figure it all out.

Instead, on the first day of school we will sit quietly and listen to a book read aloud. We will have the time to speak to one another. We will cautiously start to feel each other out, find our friends, glance at the new people.

We will ask the questions about 7th grade that we have, not because we have to but because we will take the time if needed. Students will set the rules of the classroom, as always, and it will take as much time as it needs.

The first day of school is meant to be a great experience, but that does not mean we cram it full of things to do. That doesn’t mean that we put on our entertainer hat and try to juggle as many balls as we possibly can. Instead, it means that we take the very first step to get to know these students that have been thrust into our lives. That they take the very first step in trusting us and trusting the community. That can only happen in a genuine way if we take things slow. If we allow time to just be, to just sit, to just talk. So as you plan for the very first day of school, plan for the quiet, for the reflection, for the conversation. Don’t spend so much time planning for all of the things. Because this isn’t about how to prove how fun you will be this year, it is about showing the kids that you care.

I am a passionate teacher in Oregon, Wisconsin, USA but originally from Denmark, who has taught 4th, 5th, and 7th grade. 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. The second edition of my first book “Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students” is available for pre-order now. Second book“Empowered Schools, Empowered Students – Creating Connected and Invested Learners” is out now from Corwin Press. Join our Passionate Learners community on Facebook and follow me on Twitter @PernilleRipp.

being me, new year, Passion, reflection

The Posts that Spoke the Loudest Part 1

December 30, 2014December 29, 2014 Pernille Ripp

One day left of this year. This glorious, life changing year that included a new baby released from the NICU, a new house, a new job in a new district, and even 2 books being published. 4 and 14 have always been my lucky numbers but even I could not have foreseen all of the awesome that happened in this year. So while I can see which posts got the most traffic, those aren’t necessarily the ones that spoke the loudest to me even if they did to others. So per tradition, here are the ones that came the straightest from the heart and weren’t always easy to publish. (In no particular order)

What Becomes of the Lonely Teachers?

…I know I forget to, I know I get too busy trying to catch up with the ones I already have established routines with. I know I forget to include, to ask, to invite, but I try. And it is in this trying that I find my own hope, that perhaps if I try and everyone else tries, that perhaps those teachers we let slip through the cracks will be caught by someone and for once they wont be the ones shutting their door, for once they wont be the ones that no one noticed that day.

How to Unleash the Uncreative Child

…When I look back on my childhood I see that I was probably not alone. Many of my friends weren’t explosively creative either and while these days when we have uncreative children we tend to blame our school system, I think it was just the way we were. We didn’t know how to be creative so we weren’t.

To the Kid Who Walked Through My Door Last Night

…But the truth is you didn’t come to me last night for math help. You came to tell me about how you are trying your best but the teachers don’t see it. How it is hard to stay awake some times. How it is hard to not laugh when your best friend does that funny thing again. How the teachers don’t get you even though 2 weeks ago you decided to really try your best but now you think your best will never be good enough for those teachers. They already give you that look, they have already given up.

When Teachers Bully Teachers

…Today I choose to reclaim my past as I leave my old district and school and venture forward, it is time to take back the power that this situation had over me. It is time to move on and away from the past. It is time to tell the story of what can happen when teachers bully teachers.

A Letter to Those Who are New, Myself Included…

…Don’t be ashamed of being you. You may not always have the best advice. You may not always be an expert. You may not always know what you are doing, but you still have worth. Your ideas still matter. You still matter. Your excitement can spread. Your newness may be an advantage at times. Your energy and curiosity will help you. So don’t stand in your own way.

And here are the most viewed posts, some do overlap which is nice.

I am a passionate teacher in Oregon, Wisconsin, USA, who has taught 4th, 5th, and 7th grade. 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 Classrooms Back to Our Students” can be purchased now from Powerful Learning Press. Second book“Empowered Schools, Empowered Students – Creating Connected and Invested Learners” is out now from Corwin Press. Follow me on Twitter @PernilleRipp.

advice, Be the change, being me, MIEExpert15, Passion, reflection, technology

Am I the Barrier to My Students’ Full Tech Integration?

December 12, 2014December 12, 2014 Pernille Ripp

I have been integrating meaningful technology into my classrooms since 2010, trying my hardest to find tools that would help my students find an audience, spark their passion, and find their voice. I wouldn’t call us tech infused, I don’t use a lot of tools, but the ones we do, I love. And yet…I cannot help but feel that sometimes I stand in the way of my students and the technology they use. That sometimes the parameters I set up hinder rather than grow.

It is not from a place of fear, I am all for technology and using it well. It is rather from my own ignorance. Often I don’t t know what I don’t know. Often I don’t know whether a tool will work for the thing we are doing. Often I get a little scared, wondering whether they will be able to be successful if they veer off the beaten path. Often I assume that I have to be the expert and this should know everything and have all of the answers, giving all of the permissions. But the big thing is; I have forced myself to recognize this and boy, did it make me feel uncomfortable.

How often do we as teachers let our own fears stand in the way of what we “allow” students to do? How often does our own lack of knowledge of a tech tool (or anything for that matter) prompt us into saying no, rather than yes? How often do we dismiss rather than invite?

So the next time we propose a project, how about we ask students what tools they want to use? What tools do they already know? Rather than rush into creation take a day to explore tech tools that may benefit all. Have students teach each other. Share your own knowledge. Open up your classroom and show your own place as a learner. Acknowledge that perhaps tech scares you, or perhaps trying a new thing leaves you worried about time line. Perhaps you are not sure a tool will work or that the students will get it. So what?! Embrace this fear and allow it to push you forward, rather than hold you back. Let students see that their ideas, voices, and prior knowledge matters. And not just to make them feel heard but to change the way learning happens within our classrooms.

Technology tools surround us, with more being added every day. We cannot keep up. We cannot be the only experts. If we truly have a community of learners in our classrooms then students’ knowledge has to be embraced. So don’t say no when a child asks if they can use a new tool. Say yes. Embrace the fact that you may not know it and learn along with them. Admit your own fear, admitting your own lack of knowledge will only show students the power of doing just that. Be a learner with your students every day.