Student-centered – Page 21

The oldest excuse in the book for change in education is, “We do it for the children.” And it works! Throw that baby on the discussion table and people just go silent. After all, if it is for the children then it must be good. If it is for the children then if we decide against it we are deciding against children. If it is for the children then it must be researched and proven to benefit them. And yet, we have all been fooled by this statement. Purchasing a Smartboard – it is for the children. Creating more tests – it is for the children. Slashing school budgets – it is for the children. Proposing merit pay – it is for the children. Common Core standards – it is for the children. Asking teachers to take pay cuts and freezes – it is for the children. Bigger report cards with more homework and tests to report – oh yes, it is for the children.

Except most of the time it is not. Because when were the children ever asked? We say it is for the children and yet they never enter the actual decision-making or even discussion. If you asked a child if they wanted more “rigor” in their education, I can almost guarantee that most of them would look at you like you were crazy. If you ask them if they needed more grades or more tests, their answer might surprise you. When teachers are asked to take pay cuts because otherwise our children will get hurt, most children would be sad to hear it.

So let’s cut the crap, sorry. Most decisions in education is not for the children, but for the test company, for the district to look good, or for someone’s life to be easier. It is not for the benefit of the children. And yes, of course, we know more than the children but the fact that their voices are left out of the education debate and reform should be frightening to us all. So start small; ask the children in your room and then tell me it is for the children.

being a teacher, classroom expectations, classroom management, student driven, Student-centered

This is My Room – How Controlling Ones Classroom Can Send the Wrong Message

November 17, 2011 Pernille Ripp

I used to be the ruler of my universe; my classroom, the queen of the systems. You need to sharpen your pencil? There’s a system for that. You need to leave the classroom? Here is the system for that. How we walk down the hallway, how we get our jackets and backpacks. How we act when others come into the classroom, how we borrow books from the library, how we borrow supplies. Don’t answer the phone, don’t sit in my chair, don’t eat your food now, don’t, don’t don’t…Everything had a protocol, rules to be followed, always designated by me, and I was exhausted. I was so busy keeping track of all my check out sheets and reminders that I forgot to just enjoy what I was doing with the students. I was so wrapped up in managing my space that I lost focus on what was important and instead wasted time getting upset when my system wasn’t followed. It was time-consuming, overcomplicated, and downright ridiculous.

Yet I feared what I knew had to be the opposite of my contrived systems; chaos. I feared what would happen if I just let a kid check out a book without having them sign it out and leave it in their desk at the end of the day. I feared what would happen if I didn’t know who had which manipulative, or how many pencils someone had borrowed from me. Add that fear drove those systems forward until they got me so lost that I didn’t know the teacher I was anymore.

So I stopped the endless control. I “let” students borrow books from my library and take them home. After all, the worst that could happen if a book was lost was that another child might read it. I showed the students where I kept all of the supplies and let them grab what they wanted. I had them unpack and come in from the hallway in the way that suited them best; some need one trip, some need more. I stopped obsessing over our systems and gave the room to the students instead.

And the result? Not chaos as I had feared, but ownership. It turned out that these students knew exactly how to take care of our space and actually were a lot more invested when they felt it was theirs. They no longer come into my room, but into our room. They no longer ask permission to use a stapler or use some tape, they just do it. They fight me over my chair, and take pencils when they need. They now welcome others to our room, answer the phone with their name, and take over the space every day. I don’t manage them, but instead focus on our learning. Giving back the classroom to my students righted a wrong I didn’t know I had committed; I had taken their space from them. I often remind myself that teaching is not about me but all about them, and now our room reflects that. Does yours?

being a teacher, conferences, Student-centered

A Student-Led Conference

November 13, 2011 Pernille Ripp

There they sit, hands clutching the paper, eyes shifting a little back and forth; the responsibility clearly weighing on them and yet…If you look a little closer, you will also notice poise, presence, and a sneaking calm. The students are ready to state their goals, to own their learning; welcome to student-led conferences.

Most of these students have never been given the control of their conference so they are more nervous than they need to be, in fact, I think they get a little glimpse of how many teachers feel. They want to do well, they want to be able to answer the questions, they want to offer their parents hope and positivity. Yet they are not afraid to bare their shortcomings, they are not afraid to discuss what the path ahead looks like. They own their education.

I leave the meetings exhilarated and proud, we shared our journey and we previewed our path. Parents had tough questions but the students were honest in their answers. Parents leave feeling satisfied, proud of their children, and part of the process.

As educators, we wonder how we lose the engagement of our students and then do conferences to them. We do education to our students acting as if they have nothing at stake, pretending to be the one true expert that will fill the empty vessels. Even if we do student-centered learning, we then forget to shape our conferences on the same model; less me, more them. I could never go back to the old conferences.

being a teacher, being me, future, student driven, Student-centered

Why I Make My Life Harder

November 12, 2011 Pernille Ripp

Sometimes I wonder why I make my life so hard? Why do I let the students explore rather than just dictate what they are supposed to learn? Why do I fight for them not to be graded at every turn when just writing that percentage or that letter would free up so much of my time?

Why do I insist that we work things out rather than just punish them without a conversation? Why do I force myself to get the learning done in school rather than sending it home as homework?

Why do I fight for the creative spirit of these kids? Why do I challenge myself to change and grow when really I know that I am a decent teacher, isn’t that enough? Do they really deserve the best of me so that my family only gets the rest of me?

I make my life hard because our future is at stake. We are modeling the future of the world and I want it to be a beautiful one. I want it to be one where children believe in themselves as learners, where their creativity shines, and they are unafraid to fail. I want the world to be one in which I do not fear sending my own child to school, afraid that our system will kill her curiosity. I do this for my daughter and for all of the other children.

Student-centered

And Then They Were Challenged

November 11, 2011 Pernille Ripp

Cross posted on Inquire Within

Today something amazing happened; I didn’t have to teach. Or at least I didn’t have to follow the lesson plan to stay on track because all of this week we have been doing our state tests. But today we were done and we had 90 minutes of time just for math so where some may have done review or front-loading, and yet others may have played math games, my team and I decided to challenge our kids instead. So rather than their normal math problems where every single step it hammered out for them they were given problems to solve. Problems that didn’t tell them what to do. Problems that weren’t broken down into easily digestible bits. Problems where they had to try and fail and try again. Problems like we solve outside of school.

At first the kids moaned, hesitated, and then they got involved. Then they got excited, and then they worked on it for 90 minutes straight until they had solved every single one of them. This was not by force from me, they were told to do as many as they wanted, but they wanted to solve them. They wanted to share their solutions, they wanted to mess with them, to play around, to try something. They beamed. They couldn’t wait to show me, they couldn’t want to explain how they had tried something and then something else. They asked if they could take them home. Math! Home! Wow…

So I ask myself, why can’t math be like this every day? I like our math program but that is exactly what it is, a program, something prescribed and broken down. Where is the time for our real exploration? For our trying and failing? I have to find the time.

alfie kohn, being a teacher, education reform, Student-centered

We Say And Yet

November 10, 2011 Pernille Ripp

We say we don’t want to be micromanaged as teachers and yet then we do it to our students.

We say we want democratic schools, where our voices are heard, and yet we rule our students with an iron fist.

We say we are working as hard as we can and that merit pay will not boost our dedication or our effort, and yet we dangle grades in front of our students to try to incentivize them.

We say we work too many hours as teachers without getting paid for it and yet we assign hours of homework to our students.

We say our voices are not being heard in the educational debate yet we do not listen to the voice of our students.

We say we want to be invited into the educational policy decisions being made and yet we do not invite parents and students into our own decisions.

We say that we want freedom to teach and yet we allow little freedom to our students in learning.

We say we want to teach in our own way, infused with our passion, and yet we expect students to all learn the same way.

We say that we need to time to teach and to learn all of these new things being thrust at us and yet we expect our students to all find the time and to master it at the same time.

We say we want to be respected as individual teachers and yet we show little respect to our students as individuals, expecting them to fit into whatever we have decided the perfect student should be.

We wonder why our students are losing interest in schools and never stop to look at what we do to them. Education should not be done to them, it should happen with them. Give back your classroom to your students; give them a voice.