Why Educators Should Join Twitter.
An Animoto video to help others join Twitter.
Category: reflection
Put Your Name on the Board – A Tale of Why I Gave Up Classroom Discipline Systems
When I moved my blog from Blogger to WordPress last summer I mistakenly assumed that all posts would seamlessly transfer. I have since found the error in my thinking and have decided to re-post some of my more discussed posts. This post first appeared in June of 2011 but still rings true to me.
Put your name on the board! Those words spoken in a very stern voice accompanied by a teacher look was enough to whip the toughest student into shape. Except when it didn’t which for me was enough times to make me wonder. Could my discipline systems really be thrown out and replaced with nothing? Would chaos then reign supreme?
If you had come by my room last year you would have seen them. Those sticks in the cups or the names on the boards with checks, sometimes double checks and plenty of stern looks to go around. I was doing exactly what I had been taught in school, exerting my control as the main authority figure and if students misbehaved, well, then there was some form of punishment. Oh don’t worry; there were plenty of rewards as well. If students didn’t move their stick or get their name on the board for a week then their name got entered into drawing for pizza with me. At the end of the month if they didn’t have their name in my book for not doing their homework, they could also enter their name, and then I would finally draw names and five lucky students would have pizza with me. Confused? I was! I could hardly keep check Of all those names, checks, and punishments.
However, last year I realized something after reading Alfie Kohn; I knew I had to change. By perpetually focusing negative energy on the same students, who, lets face it, are most often the ones having their name singled out somehow already, I was indeed just adding more to their self doubt. While I believe in discipline for all students, I also believe in compassion and that philosophy simply was not fitting in with my chosen system. So I did as many teachers may do; I threw it all out. However, instead of hunting for a new system, I decided to detox myself, start this year with no system for reward and punishment and instead strive to create a classroom community where students just know what the expectation is.
I was petrified that first month. I run a tough classroom in my expectations for my students and I know that if you do not set the tone those first weeks, it can be detrimental to the rest of the year. And yet I held strong in my conviction that even the more unruly students would eventually figure this out through repeated conversations and respect. And boy, did we talk. We talked about expectations, rules, how to speak to one another, and what to do when something goes wrong. A lot of the time, I just listened to these amazing students come up with solutions to problems, listened to them explain how they envisioned our classroom, how they wanted fourth grade to be. And I was in awe; these kids knew how to behave without me telling them over and over. And they certainly would figure it out without me alternating punishment and rewards.
So after the first month I started to breathe again. I let our new system flex itself and watched the students help keep the classroom stabile. Sure, there are times when I think ooh if I just had a way to “punish” it would fix this and this and then I realize that perhaps I just need to find some time to speak to that particular student. Now instead of an exasperated tone and a system to keep them in check, we discuss, we try to fix, and we reevaluate. I don’t run the classroom with a complicated system of checks and balances, rewards and punishments, but rather with an atmosphere of community, of belonging. Is it perfect? No, but neither am I, nor my students. I am just glad I believed in my own skills enough to realize that perhaps, just perhaps, my students would know how to behave without me rewarding them for it. Once again, they blew away all of my expectations.
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Strategies for Connecting Your Students To the World – A New PodCast
Any time I get to connect with @TonySinanis and @Joesanfelippofc is a great day and it was no exception when I got to do their brand new podcast with them last week. Thank you gentlemen!
If you want to hear our conversation about how and why I connect my students to the world, please take a listen right here.
It Is Not About the Gadgets – Why Every Teacher Should Have to Integrate Tech Into Their Classroom
When I moved my blog from Blogger to WordPress last summer I mistakenly assumed that all posts would seamlessly transfer. I have since found the error in my thinking and have decided to re-post some of my more discussed posts. This post first appeared in February of 2012 but still rings true to me.
I once sat on an interview committee in which the candidate proudly proclaimed that to integrate technology her students would use word processors and publish their work in a monthly book. My toes instantly curled. It wasn’t so much that she had used the words “word processor” but rather that she thought tech integration meant to have students type on a computer and then publish their work, that that would make them ready for this century of jobs. So a couple of things come to mind whenever we discuss tech integration in schools.
Students have often more seamlessly integrated technology into their lives than their teachers and didn’t even need to take a class on it. We chalk this up to them being digital natives or because they have an interest in it. Yet not all children are digital natives and most of them have had role models that show how to use the technology. They also know that tech is valuable and can add to their lives rather than detract from something else. And then there is the fearlessness, many students are simply not afraid to mess around with tech, but many adults are. It is time for us to be role models in our own fearlessness.
Some teachers assume that clicking on a SmartBoard or having students type their papers mean that they are “integrating” tech. This is one very limited usage of tech, in fact, it doesn’t really count as integration. Better integration is when a student decides to film a video to show off learning rather than create a poster. True integration is when students have ideas and fearlessness to use technology to show their learning as a natural extension of the classroom. Not to type a paper.
There seems to be no urgency when it comes to actual technology integration into the classroom, but more of an urgency on how to buy the flashiest gadgets and then offer limited training or support. How often do we hear about a district that has spent too much money on 30 SmartBoards, 100 iPads and how they will be placed in the hands of the students to enhance their learning? How often do we then hear about the support they will offer their teachers or how those products will actually be used to enhance learning? There seems to be an assumption that if you give it to teachers they will use it effectively, which we all know is not true. Some teachers might, but most will use it superficially and after a while the product will languish, unused, outdated, and just another relic of someone’s hastily thought out idea.
Some teachers feel that integrating technology is optional. Integrating technology is no more optional than teaching how to use a pencil. And while many may find that extreme, we cannot equip our students with the skills they need to be successful learners and teachers without teaching them to use technology properly. Many schools see typing as a necessity but then cannot bring that view into how to stay safe on the internet, how to search properly on a computer, and myriads of other things that technology can offer us. How to use computers effectively is now a life-skill and as teachers it is our job to equip students with these.
Teachers who have been labeled “techie” teachers are sometimes viewed as a one-trick pony, that is all they are passionate about and therefore they cannot possibly have an effective classroom. I certainly am one of the techie-teachers in my district but many are surprised at how little we use tech on a day to day basis. That is not to say we don’t use it, because we do, but we also do many other things. In fact, using a tech tool is just one option my students have to show their learning. What I do practice is fearlessness in tech usage and that I pass on to my students. Not that they always need to use some sort of tool, we use our pencils more than a computer, but that they can effectively use whatever whenever they need to.
Teachers think they have a choice in their classroom. I am sorry but the choice should not be teachers’ anymore; every school should have an effective technology integration curriculum to offer students the skills they need. We do not have a choice in teaching literacy or math and should not be given one when it comes to technology. This is not about what WE want the kids to know but what the KIDS need to know.
And I am sure I could continue the list, however, these are my main concerns. We cannot afford to not focus on proper technology integration in our schools. It is not about the gadgets, it is not about the typing, it is how to use technology tools fearlessly, respectfully, and effectively. All things every teachers should be teaching, no excuses.
The Promises I Make for the New Year
2014 has already become a year we will never forget. Between Augustine’s battles, the arctic winter we are surrounded by, and the incredible love that surrounds us, this year will be the year that follows us.
Whenever life gets crowded I think of my classroom and how closely connected my life is to it. I stopped doing resolutions years ago, after all, I had to write them down to even remember them and then never followed through on them. This year, though, begs for resolutions or rather promises I would like to make. So this year I promise 3 simple things.
- To be kind. The mask I wear most days does not show how much turmoil there is in my heart at the moment. I am a fighter, as is my whole family, but I admit that it does not take much to crack my surface right now and tears come easily. We never know what other people are holding inside, we never know why a child acts out or acts indifferent. We never know why a parent does not respond to our contacts, or another teacher gets upset. So this year I promise to approach everyone and every situation with kindness. I will think of the human being first and the task at hand second.
- To be present. Taken from John T. Spencer’s post, this promise continues to be at the forefront of my mind. I want to be present for the ups and downs that life throws at us. I want to be present at the small moments that truly shape our lives that my own children and my students have. I want to notice. I want to think about what I see. I want to slow down and take it in. To be present does not require much, in fact, it is done best by turning everything else off and giving someone the gift of you. So that is what I will do.
- To celebrate the small things. Too often we wait until momentous occasions to celebrate in style. Life is too short, life is too complicated to hold your breath and wait for those few moments where everything lines up. This year I will celebrate as much as I can. Thea learning a new letter, Ida and Oskar learning new words, Augustine gaining even the smallest amount of weight. My students conquering a task for the day, fellow colleagues trying small new things, and yes, my husband and all of the small things he does to keep our marriage strong every day. Those are the things I will celebrate.
While I cannot control some of the things that I wish I could, I can control myself and my reaction to life. I can make promises and keep them, so that is what I intend on doing, how about you?
It Is Not Enough to Be a Connected Educator Anymore
Today I approved more than 70 comments on my students’ blogs. Strangers from Canada, England, The Netherlands, New Zealand, and many states took the time to celebrate the writing my students do, to encourage them to write more, and to praise their voice. They shared stories of their own fire mishaps, their own resolutions, their own love of books. All because my students asked them to. All because I asked them to on Twitter. Today was not an anomaly. Today was simply another day in the life of my connected students.
I didn’t get connected myself at first so that I could connect my students. In fact, it didn’t even cross my mind. Why in the world would 4th graders need to have anything to do with the world? Why would I ever want them to open up to strangers or to let strangers have any kind of contact with them? Being connected was not something I saw as a necessity. Being connected was something they could figure out when they were much, much older.
But then we got connected. Once I started blogging, I realized that they should blog too. Once I started learning from strangers, I realized the power of reaching out to others that knew more than me and how the whole world could be my students’ teacher, not just me. I knew I was not enough anymore, and I was at peace with that.
Yet, I think we forget the power of connecting our students, even when we are connected ourselves. We talk about connected educators and all that it brings into our lives, but I think it is time we shift the conversation to that of connected students. Sure, I am connected, but that does not matter if my students are not.
So rather than just push teachers to get connected, let’s focus on getting their students connected too. Let’s focus on showing what bringing the world in means and how it can change the way students think about the world. Let’s focus on making global collaboration easy, even if on a small scale. It is not enough to be a connected educator anymore, we have to be connected educators that connect our students. We have to let our students reach out tot he world and see how the world answers. We have to trust them to do the right thing and teach them how to do it best. Just like we do for ourselves, we must push a global education, we are no longer enough in ourselves.
Pernille Ripp 