student choice – Page 10

being a teacher, student choice, student driven, Student Engagement, Student-centered

A Better Way to Write Fiction Stories

December 2, 2016 Pernille Ripp

We have been immersed in fiction writing for the past three weeks. I have been amazed at the focus of my students, at the need for creation,and also their creativity. As always, the plans I started with now look nothing like the plans we had, and so I thought it only fair to share what writing fiction in 7th grade English has looked like for the past three weeks and what I have learned and remembered.

Create Something

I knew that I did not need them to create the same product, after all, my standards assessed involve organization, word choice, conventions, and plot. Nowhere does it say that they must write a certain story, but instead I asked them to create something that would allow me to assess these things . I have been enthralled with their creativity process; yes, many students gravitated toward a written story with a neat beginning, middle, end, but others stretched their legs writing Minecraft fan fiction, movie scripts, picture books and even choose your own adventures. I have students co-creating stories from opposite perspectives, I have students writing free verse (it is harder than it looks). I have tales from their own lives and ones they have invented with made up words of their own. Because it has been their story, their way, they have wanted to work on it every day, excited to share it with others.

Few Lessons

I have spent most evenings leaving feedback to students, thank you Google Classroom for making my life easy. I have spent most class periods meeting with students asking them to tell me what I should look at when I read their work and then helping them from where they are. I have gathered information on lessons needed and tried to support each child on their own writing journey, with the help of the support teachers I sometimes have. Always trying to move students one step further and helping them think about what they need next, rather than a broad lesson that could apply to all. The few whole class lessons we have had have been brief and centered around reminders on paragraphing, dialogue, and consistent verb tenses.

Speak Up

I have asked the students to please speak to one another, to please share their stories, to find those they want to write with and use each other as I use my own writing friends. I started with putting them into writing trio groups but since abandoned the idea, realizing that the stilted conversations they were having would never get them much further and instead asking them to find someone that will not only read their work, but also be honest in their criticism. This is still a work in progress, but I have seen the improvements, I have seen the growth and know there is something there.

Best Draft

I have asked them for their best draft, not their final version, and I owe so much to Kelly Gallagher for this wording. Gone is the anxiety over perfection. Gone is the notion that they must reach an unachievable goal as they hurtle toward the end. Instead they work diligently, trying to get it to the best of their abilities before they turn it over to me. Before they turn it over for more feedback that will ultimately push their story even further. They know the process is not done just because they hand it in today, because the project is called best draft, even though in reality, many of them have handed in amazing stories that need little more work.

Use the Space

I have asked them to please find out how they write best within the environment we have. How they best can support their own writing process, how they can use the classroom in a way that helps them better focus and find their flow. Kids have been in corners, moved tables, on bean bags and in the team area. We have had music, gum, and conversation. For some we have had headphones for quiet and spaces to concentrate. Each child is now a step closer to knowing how they write best, even within the confinements of a typical English classroom.

Find the Experts

For the past three months we have reached out to those who have walked the path before us; the authors that inspire us to write better. Using Skype we have asked amazing authors whose books delight us what their writing process is and how they edit. Every class has had different conversations but they have all centered around the same thing; find your own way, there is no right way for all, just a right way for you. Hearing it from the mouths of those whose books inspire us will always amplify the message we already teach; writing needs t be a part of you so find your way of writing.

So now what? We rest a little. We change our focus as our stories simmer in our minds and then in a about a week we return. Once the dust has settled, we look at the feedback we have received and we try to make it better. We speak of revision as if it is just one step but I know from my own writing experience that revising is ongoing, editing is hard, and that it sometimes means stepping away only to come back later. I still have much to learn as a 7th grade English teacher, I still have much to figure out, but this process? It made a difference in the last three weeks. Who knows how they will grow as writers next?

I am currently working on a new literacy book. The book, which I am still writing, is tentatively Passionate Readers and will be published in the summer of 2017 by Routledge. I also have a new book coming out December, 2017 called Reimagining Literacy Through Global Collaboration, a how-to guide for those who would like infuse global collaboration into their curriculum. So until then if you like what you read here, consider reading my 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 student, being a teacher, student choice, Student dreams, student driven, student voice

Planting a Seed – Our Project on the Refugee Crisis

October 25, 2016October 25, 2016 Pernille Ripp

I grew up in a home that had a newspaper on our table every morning. Laid out for us kids to see, we grabbed the comics first, then the Danish news. I was a teen when I started reading the international news. Being aware of the world was something that was expected of us, after all, Denmark is a small nation. We read the paper, we listened to the radio, we watched the news. Not always fully attuned but always aware of at least some of the bigger things happening in the world beyond our own.

Being a globally aware and invested teacher is something I have tried to live and breathe for many years now. After all, the Global Read Aloud was created with the idea of making the world not only smaller, but also more interconnected to create more empathy and kindness. My students have therefore in varying degrees always brought the world in, been a part of projects that involved others and tried to know more about the outside world than when they came in. Working on a team with an incredible geography teacher has only made my job easier.

So this year as my English standards starred me in the face a small idea started to form, a seed began to grow; what if instead of “just” doing summaries, what if instead of “just” having an opinion, I was able to structure an inquiry project into something that I have been following myself; the Refugee Crisis? What if we created a two-week experience where the students got to learn at their own pace with the end goal of having an opinion? With that, I started to plan…

We would have two weeks roughly of work time, with time dedicated every single day after we do our 10 minutes of independent reading. Students could choose how they wanted to work and engage with the materials. I used a sheet that simply asked kids how they would like to engage with the learning and then crafted lessons based on this. I have used this approach in the past and it has worked pretty well, this time I should have been more diligent with using it though after the kids filled it out. However, that being said, kids were also good at reaching out and asking questions, as well as use each other for help. I did promise the students that I would only do one whole class lesson; how to write an opinion piece using the MEL-Con format, and I kept my word. My students have asked me to do less whole class teaching and I am adhering to that as I can help them better in small groups anyway.

We first needed a question, one that would give us a focal point but would not be shaped or tainted by my opinion, after all, I did want the students to come to their own conclusion. So our guiding question became ; What should America’s role be in the refugee crisis? This was what the students would work toward and discuss.

We created a running word wall as student questions came up.

I knew I needed texts to start with; thank you Newsela for your text-sets, you saved me so much time. So I pulled nine different texts that highlighted different aspects of the crisis, printed them at three different reading levels and told the students to choose three of them to read at least. I also made all of the texts available as a folder in case they lost their copies.

Another teaching tool for students to reference

I also wanted students to watch videos; I created a padlet with different short videos that would be appropriate for 7th graders and also less than 20 minutes. Students were asked to watch at least one, but could do more if they wanted to.

I then crossed my fingers and asked on Twitter; would anyone Skype with my students about being a refugee? I am so grateful for the response. Three of my classes were so incredibly lucky to Skype with the incredible Rusul Alrubail,she graciously and courageously shared her story of how she became an Iraqi refugee at a young age. To say my students were moved by her story would be an understatement. Yet, the kindness of strangers continued. Another teacher, Emily Green, from Michigan asked her students, some of them refugees, if they would create a small video for my students. Last night, I received three different videos from her courageous kids sharing their stories. Today as I played them for my students, you could have heard a pin drop.

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So for the past two weeks, my students have annotated the texts (using their own systems rather than ones created by me) for anything that stood out, they have written a summary on one article, and they have crafted an opinion on the guiding question, as well as craft an opinion piece based on all of their newfound knowledge.

In some classes we started in small group before we went to whole class discussion.

Today, as we came together as a group to discuss what we have learned and what our opinion is, I sat back behind the kids and watched them practice their discussion skills. As kids navigated the ins and outs of adult unmoderated conversation, I couldn’t help but feel just the tiniest bit proud. Yes, they were discussing, yes they were listening to each other, but that was not the only thing I observed. I observed kids who all of a sudden understood just how vast of a nation we live in. Kids who now know where Iraq and Syria are. Who know tales of children passing through Europe unattended as they try to reach freedom. Of people who never wanted to leave their homes but were forced too. Of what we can possibly do as a nation but how many hurdles there may be to making any decisions. I also saw kids who started to understand that for some reason they equate refugee with terrorists. Who thought 10,000 refugees is a large number but have since discovered it might not be. Who know that we need to help but are not sure just how to do that.

I didn’t set out to shape the opinion of my students, that is not my job as their teacher. Instead I wanted to create an opportunity for them to form an opinion on fact rather than hearsay, on research rather than rapid talk. I know that some believe America should do more and others think we do too much already. I know that for some they don’t really care either way. But I also know that by giving them more control over their learning, by giving them tools to start with, by creating a guiding questions and then by bringing others in via Skype and YouTube that we have created an experience that matters. That together we now have this piece of the world that ties us together and that will continue to crop up through the year.

Yesterday, a child asked me what the deal was with Mosul and weren’t they bombing over there? A child that two weeks before was not even sure that Iraq was a country or what refugee meant. That child had heard on the news that fighting was starting up again and now wanted to know more. As teachers of literacy we have incredible opportunities to bring the world in, to help our children find their opinions, and to create experiences that connect us with other human beings. I wrote a book on how to do just this, not for the sake of the book, but for the sake of making this world a better place.

I ended our discussion time today with the following words; “My job is not to make you think a certain way, my job is to make you think. So whatever your opinion may be, all I ask of you is to have one based on fact, rather than what others believe. Keep your ears open and ask a lot of questions. That is the least you can do as the future of this country.”

As teachers, we can bring the world in when it makes sense. To make it matter more than just getting through the year or working off our checklist. The year has just started and yet we have so much more to discover about the world. I cannot wait where our learning takes us next.

PS: If you would like to see my folder of resources, go here, some of it is loose.

I am currently working on a new literacy book. The book, which I am still writing, is tentatively Passionate Readers and will be published in the summer of 2017 by Routledge. I also have a new book coming out January, 2017 called Reimagining Literacy Through Global Collaboration, a how-to guide for those who would like infuse global collaboration into their curriculum. So until then if you like what you read here, consider reading my 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.

being a student, being a teacher, student choice, Student dreams, student driven, Student Engagement

Some Ideas for Channeling High Energy Needs Into Better Learning Opportunities

September 27, 2016October 8, 2016 Pernille Ripp

I have the honor of teaching an incredible bunch of very energetic kids this year. Their kinesthetic energy level is high throughout the day, couple that with some also voicing loudly how bored they are in school and I have the best kind of challenge ahead. This will be a year to remember.

So I have been googling, I have been asking, and I have been spending a lot of time trying to think of ways to channel their energy into something great. Not to get them to quiet down necessarily but to get to a place where their energy is a tool rather than a hindrance. I have a lot to learn still, but a few things I have tried I thought I would share with others who may have the same awesome challenge we do.

Yoga balls. I have invested in 18 yoga balls and while the bouncing drives me a little bit nutty at times, I cannot help but marvel at the sight. After all, if this is what the kids need even right away in the morning then I cannot imagine putting them in regular chairs. Sure we have popped a few in the 6 months I have had them but when I am at a super store I pick up a few more just in case. Note; I have not switched all of my chairs for yoga balls because for some kids they are a nuisance or a distraction. Besides paying attention to their preferred seating arrangement is also giving me clues to their personality. We also have other alternate seating such as bean bags, exercise bands around the chair legs, office chairs and regular old chairs, but the yoga balls have made the biggest difference.

Switching up seating arrangement. I am a huge proponent of “choose your own seat” but this year in a few of my classes I have been doing a little bit of seat arranging to spread the energy. You see, when I have one really high energy cluster they may get really sidetracked but when I disperse the kids throughout the classroom their energy transfer to the new group. This does not always work and I am still tweaking it to get it right, but I like what I am seeing so far.

Picture book read alouds as calming tools. I end my days with a group of amazing boys. They are bouncing off of the walls by the time they get to me so sometimes trying to teach them is like a game of who can interrupt the most. Not because they are rude but because they are wired and excited. Today I had them sit on the floor with me, away from anything they could fiddle with and then read them Where the Wild Things Are in honor of Banned Books Week. I read it in the most soothing of voices, even when the Wild Things roar, and it was incredible. Immediately their demeanor changed, their voices hushed and for a few moments we got to work at a level of concentration and focus that I had not seen for a while. There is something incredible about the power of a great read aloud. There is something incredible about story time on the floor.

The turn and talk. When I teach my kids, i know I cannot be the only voice in the room so very little of our discussion is done in whole group, instead we utilize the turn and talk almost constantly. My students want to share, they want to discuss, they want to participate and so I need to make sure they all have the chance. Not just those that have enough courage to raise their hands in the air.

Incorporate brain games. I work with really smart people and one of them suggested I use some of the same brain games that another colleague had used. Genius. So in some of my classes, when we have worked for 15 to 20 minutes, the students will get 3 to 5 minutes of brain game time. All of our brain games are cooperative not competitive. All of them have very few props and are easy for kids to participate in. We play tri-bond, we build card houses, stack cups, hit a ball through the air as many times as we can without it falling to the ground and we do riddles. I am searching for more brain game activities to do with the kids as I see the benefit of them using their brains in a different way after working hard for awhile.

Writing before speaking. My students all process at different speeds and some times the very first thoughts that come to mind are not always the deepest. So we have started a write before we speak routine whenever they are doing formal discussion. It is simple; each child has access to a whiteboard (or they write right on the tables covered in whiteboard contact paper) and before they discuss something they take a few moments to write down their thoughts. Having these few minutes to gather their wits, channel their energy and also come up with something interesting to say means that all of the students have a better chance of being a part of the learning.

The right to move. Students in our classroom have the right to move as they learn. They are not asked to sit down; they can stand, nor are they are asked to sit still. As long as their movements do not distract others, they are perfectly fine. This is important because for some of our kids they listen better when they are in movement. They learn better when they have control over their bodies.

I know I need more ideas than this. I know I am only scratching the surface as far as incorporating more movement into our days but at least this is a start. This is a way for me to think more consciously about the need for movement and to embrace needs of all of the children that enter our classroom rather than just the quiet, compliant ones. So if you have more ideas please let me know, I would love to be inspired by your great ideas.

I am currently working on a new literacy book. While the task is daunting and intimidating, it is incredible to once again get to share the phenomenal words of my students as they push me to be a better teacher. The book, which I am still writing, is tentatively Passionate Readers and will be published in the summer of 2017 by Routledge. So until then if you like what you read here, consider reading my 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 student, being a teacher, student choice, Student dreams

The Worst Class in (X) Years

September 14, 2016 Pernille Ripp

No child should be defined by the actions of a group. @pernilleripp

My last year as a 5th grade teacher we were warned, in a friendly way ,of course, as these warnings tend to be. “Oh, you will have your hands full…” Oh, THAT group is coming up.” My team and I had seen these kids come up through the years, that is the beauty of elementary school. Yes, we had seen the tantrums, the fighting, the crazy behavior that made many label this group as the worst in (insert however many) years. But we also had seen the kindness, the energy, the fun that these kids projected and knew that while we may have our hands full, the year with them would be a year where we would always strive to look for the good, rather than the bad because although the bad was so easy to spot, it should not define a group of kids. Sure there were days where we could not believe what was going on but what I remember most about that year was how incredible the kids were. How much fun we had. How there were these incredible lows but also days that were some of the best of my teaching career. My team would agree with me on this. Yes we had THAT group but also loved THAT group.

Every year since then I have taken that same pledge; to always look for the good first. To always praise, to always point out how great of a group this group is. To change the group narrative in some small way. To always assume that this will be an incredible year no matter the reputation of a group. I think it is so easy to fall prey to the notion of the worst class ever. I think it is so easy to just want to get through a year as quickly as possible, I know there are days that seem never ending where we question everything we do. Yet when we do, we forget something very important; not every kid is going to have a bad day every day. Not every kid is going to have a bad class every class. Sometimes it may seem like this is the toughest day yet, but that too shall pass and just like we hope for a better day tomorrow, so do the very kids we teach.

When we let the actions of a few define an entire group, we are dismissing the individuals that make up that group. We are dismissing the kids that come to school hoping that today will be a good day. Hoping that this is the year they can finally escape the reputation that seems to follow them. As a parent I shudder at the thought of my own children’s class being labeled as the worst in however many years, because how do you ever change that? How do you stop a child from believing that they are horrible when that is what they hear whispered?

So today, much like every day, I will look for the good. I will praise the kids for all of the amazing things I see and yes, there may be ill decisions and tempers flaring, but those will be handled on an individual basis. I will not let the actions of a few tell the tale of the whole. And I will tell my kids, much like I do almost every day, that I have the best job in the world, that I cannot wait to come back tomorrow even if today was tough. Because it is true. We get to teach and teaching is only for those who can see the good in kids, no matter how much a child cannot see it themselves. We get to teach, which means that we d believe that this is the year a new narrative can be written. That this is not how a year will be.

No children should be told that they are a horrible group of kids. They are kids period. And we owe it to them to see beyond their reputation and re-invent their group identity. That is why we teach, that is why we have the best job in the world.

being a teacher, Literacy, Reading, Reading Identity, student choice, Student dreams, student driven, Student Engagement, student voice, Student-centered

How to Create Empowered Readers – A Beginning

September 4, 2016September 4, 2016 Pernille Ripp

The sniffles started almost immediately. Small choking noises came soon. Then full out wails, tears, and gasps. Theadora, our oldest daughter, was a mess as we drove home from Chicago today. What had caused this sudden crying? The end of Harry Potter Book seven. The end of our 9 month journey accompanied by the ever amazing Jim Dale and the audio books of Harry Potter. I was wistful myself to tell you the truth. As I tried to console our distraught daughter, I couldn’t help but feel slightly pleased, after all, isn’t this exactly the type of relationship that we hope our children, our students, have with books? One that makes you want to cry, or laugh, or scream in frustration? One that allows you to feel so intimately attached to something not created by yourself? To feel the gratitude of brilliant writing and a long journey along with an author’s imagination? To feel the loss of characters and of story as a book series finishes?

Yet, how many of our students have never experienced this type of sadness? How many of our students have not experienced what is means to complete a series that one has become so invested in that it feels like the loss of a family member once the last page has been read? How many years has it been for some, if at all, since they truly loved a book? While we cannot change the past, we do have control over the now, over what happens in our classrooms. Over what happens from the moment they enter to the moment they leave. And with that power comes an immense responsibility to empower our students, to offer them a chance at an incredible relationship with reading once again or for the very first time. While it may start with having them choose their own books, this is not the only place students need more control to be empowered and passionate readers.

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Book choice. This fundamental right to choose what you read is one that is so often taken away from our students because we want to help them develop as readers. Yet when a child is not a allowed to choose the very text they are asked to engage with, we give them little room for an emotional attachment. How many of us adults will willingly invest in something we have been told to read? So while we can expose and recommend, we must create classrooms where student choice is the norm, not the exception. Where we help students find that next great book in order for them to become independent book selectors so that they can leave our classrooms knowing that they do not need us. Not in the same way as they did in the beginning. Where wild book abandonment is the norm and not something you need permission for. Where indifference rules when a book is given up because we know that a new book awaits. If we truly want students to feel in control of their reading identities then giving them the choice over which book to read is the very least we must do.

Book truths. If we do not know what we are up against, then we can never change their minds. This has been a mantra of mine since I started asking my students all sorts of things about their education. So every year, and throughout the year, we continuously discuss how we feel about reading (and writing). I never dismiss their truths, nor try to correct them. It is not my job to tell them how they should feel, but it is my job to hopefully create a better experience for them. I cannot do that well if students do not trust me, trust the community, and trust themselves and also trust the fact that perhaps how they feel about reading right now, if it is negative in any way, is something that can be changed. (Yes, growth mindset at work here). So ask them how they really feel and then truly listen, because it is when we listen, we can actually do something about it.

IMG_1290 (1) — Student post-it’s cover our whiteboard, our very first discussion of why we like reading or not from Friday.

Book Tasks. Just Friday I was asked how many book summaries we would do this year. I must have looked perplexed, because another student quickly added, “You know, write a summary every time we finish a book?” I assured them that while we would work on summarizing, it would not be on every book, nor even books mostly. Instead we discussed what we want to do when we finish a book; discuss with others, pass it on, perhaps forget all about it. We must give our students control over what they do with a book once it has been finished. We must allow them to explore ways to communicate their emotions with a book and certainly still develop as thinkers. I keep thinking how I want our students to have choices every few weeks as we advance our reading; review, conversations, written ponderings, perhaps a summary, perhaps a video. The point is, I am not sure at this point what we shall do once we finish a book because it depends on what the students would like to do. I do not ever want to implement a task that makes a child slow down their reading or stop it altogether just because the task attached to it is horrific in their eyes. So when we plan our reading tasks make sure that the long-term effects are not unwanted. Make sure that it actually plays into our bigger picture; students who actually like to read, and does not harm this.

Book Selection. While choice is of utmost importance, so is the way books are selected. Too often we schedule in book shopping time for when it is convenient to us, forgetting that all students need books at different times. Selecting a book is a also something that must be taught, even in middle school, because many students still have a hard time finding a book. We therefore discuss how to bookshop, which yes, includes, judging a book by its cover, and then we take the time it takes. If we really want students to wander among great books then we must give them time for that wandering and we must embrace the social aspect that comes along with it. After all it is this book loving community that should sustain student reading after they have left our classrooms.

IMG_1283 (1) — How many students would say the exact same thing?

Book Access. While I cannot continue to purchase books at the rate I have been due to a change in our household, I know that one of the biggest reasons many of our students end up identifying as readers is because of the sheer volume of books they have access to both in our classroom library and in our school library. Kids need books at their finger tips at all times. Much like they must have time to book shop when they need it, they also need to be able to book shop right in our classrooms. When a child is obviously lost, we or other classmates can jump in. When a child is only pretending to bookshop we can offer guidance. We cannot control how many books our students go home to, but we can make sure that whenever they are in our classrooms; the books are plentiful.

Book Time. Providing students time to read in our classes is one of the biggest ways we can signal to students that reading really matters. After all, it is what we give our time to that must be the most important. So whether it is only 10 minutes, like I provide every day, our a longer amount of time; time for reading in class is essential. Otherwise, how will we ever know that they are truly reading because anyone can forge a reading log. The time for reading should be just that, not time for tasks or post-its. Not time for partner discussions or writing. Reading, in all its glorious quiet. In all its glorious discovery.

While the above areas may seem so commonsense, perhaps it is their commonsense-ness that makes us forget to implement them all. It seems so obvious and yet… how many of us have told a child what to read (I have!). How many of us have asked students to create task upon task after they finished a book (I have!). How many of us have asked students to bookshop at a certain time and for a certain amount of time and wondered why they came up empty-handed (I have!). The point is really that we have the choice to empower our students. That we have the choice to show our students that their reading identity and developing it is a major part of our curriculum even if the standard does not cover it. Even if the test does not measure it. Because we know that at the end of the day we are not just teaching students that should be college and career ready, but instead are teaching human beings that should grow as human beings in our classrooms. I may not be able to change every child’s mind when it comes to books and reading, but I will go in there every day trying, because my hope will always that they too will someday cry when they realize that a series has ended.

behavior, being a teacher, student choice, Student Engagement, Student-centered

I’ve Had Enough – No More Public Behavior Management Systems

June 28, 2016 Pernille Ripp

When I was a 5th grade teacher, my classroom was the very last one before the buses. Every day, all of the school’s students would pass by and inevitably some of those students and I would strike up a conversation. Day after day, a little kindergartener would tell me about his day, his shoes, his new fish, or whatever else popped into his mind. One day, he saw me and beamed,”Guess what, Mrs. Ripp!” “What?” I asked. “Peter was on yellow today!” He told this news as if it was the biggest gift, excitement spilling from his little body. Momentarily confused, because wasn’t this child’s name distinctly not Peter, it finally dawned on me; he was talking about another student. “Oh yeah?” I said. “Yes, Mrs. Ripp, it’s exciting, he hasn’t been on yellow all year…” It was November. My heart dropped.

Here was a kindergarten student who every single day so far of the year had been on red. Who every day had their behavior dissected in front of the rest of the class. Whose classroom identity was being distinctly shaped by poor decisions and whose biggest identifier was his behavior. I can only imagine what my kindergarten friend would tell his parent every day about Peter.

And that is the thing. As a parent, as another teacher, as someone who is outside of your classroom community, I should not be able to see which child is having a bad day. I should not be able to walk into your room and see the aftermath of something that did not happen in front of me. That is a personal matter between the child, the teacher, and that child’s parents. Why do we seem to forget that every time we hang a behavior chart, display our cups, or even use Class Dojo publicly?

Why do we make our classrooms that are supposed to function on trust and support and turn them into halls of public shame for some kids? Where is the outrage? Or do parents not even know?

I get that there are kids that need behavior system, I have some of those kids too, but those behavior systems should center on privacy. Should center on knowing the child. Should center on the fact that we are dealing with another human being, that yes, may make poor decisions upon poor decisions, but they are still somebody’s child. If we are looking for long-term change then that will never start with public shame, but it certainly ends there.

When we use public behavior management systems, we tell those children that school will never be a place where they will succeed. We put them under an unattainable microscope and then wonder why they rebel. We watch for the smallest infraction and then come down hard, making sure that they know who is in control, who holds the power, but did they really ever forget that? And sure, for some kids it will make a change, for some kids it will take one down clip, one stick moved, one lost point and they will never do that behavior again because they have been embarrassed sufficiently. Is that what we want to shape the behavior of our children? But if we already know by the start of a day, which children will probably be on red or yellow, which child will already have a bad day, then why do we need to make it public? Why make that a self-fulfilling prophecy? Instead, we should be wondering how our school seems to not be working, and what do we need to change?

Today I was asked what I would use instead of a classroom behavior system or Class Dojo? My answer; common sense and kindness. Patience, communication, and yes, even private plans. No child deserves to be publicly humiliated day upon day, they deserve better than this. We can do better.

PS: Here is a link to all of my posts talking about what you can do instead.