Category: student voice

aha moment, student blogging, student choice, student voice, writing

In Which We Change the Way We Write

Pernille Ripp

For a while, I have been struggling with how to teach writing well.  Sure, we write every single day almost, sure we blog, we write by hand, and we type.  We have authentic purposes and authentic audiences.  The kids write, we discuss, we create.  And yet, something has been missing and for the longest time I couldn’t put a finger on what it was.

Then I watched this video from Brad Wilson – please stop and watch it right now, it is 6 minutes, and it is so powerful.

Brad is right, “…the containers have hijacked the concept.”  I have compartmentalized everything we do in writing rather than just teach the craft of writing.  I have created barriers for my students so they think that writing is a completely different thing depending on the purpose.  The ideas of writing, the craft has been lost, and students are going through the motion of writing as drones, even if we are blogging, even if we are doing something “fun” with our writing.

We need to get back to the core of story-telling.  We need to focus on the journey we are on as writers and celebrate how we develop our stories.  We need to see that in all of the writing we do, we are working on becoming better writers, not better bloggers, not better editors, not better persuaders, but writers and that being a great writer is an essential skill to all.  Not just those that gravitate toward it.  The conversation within English has to change.  The language I use has to change.  Enough with the self-invented purposes and barriers, back to the core of writing we go.

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.

aha moment, assessment, being a teacher, being me, MIEExpert15, Passion, Personalized Learning, student choice, student voice, testing

So It Turns Out I Am a Terrible Teacher

Pernille Ripp

It turns out I owe everyone an apology.  Or at least a great big “I am sorry” to all of the people who have ever been inspired by this blog to change the way they teach.  It turns out I don’t know what I am doing, at least not if you look at our test scores.  You see, my students took our district standardized test, the one they take three times a year, and it turns out that at least for some all of my crazy ideas have apparently ruined their English skills.  It wasn’t that their scores dropped just a touch, no, some lost hundreds of points in their comprehension skills; whole grade level disseminated by this terrible teacher.  And there is no one to blame but me, after all, I am the one responsible for all of the teaching.

These tests are a funny thing really, they have a way of messing with even the most stoic of teachers.  We say we don’t care what the test scores are and yet we cannot help but feel fully responsible for the negative scores.   The positive ones, the ones that gained hundreds of points since January; those cannot possible be my doing, because I am teaching all of these kids.  And not all of these kids are improving by leaps and bounds.  So those great scores, they have to be a fluke, but those kids with the big fat minus next to their number, yup, I did that.

As I wrestle with my own feelings of ineptitude tonight, I have realized that who ever thought that teachers could be evaluated by scores that change so dramatically over a year, has never been a teacher.  I could re-test my students tomorrow and guarantee you that all of them would have different scores.  How a test like that can help me plan instruction is beyond me.  How a test like that can be used to evaluate teachers in some states is even further out of my understanding.  And yet it does, and we take it ever so personal because we care.  We think if we had just tried a little harder, worked a little more then maybe we could have reached all of our kids, and not just the “easy” ones.

So I am sorry for ever thinking I could help change education from within.  I am sorry that I have told others to give the classroom back to students, to create passionate learning environments where students not only have a choice, but they also have a voice.  The test told me today that I am doing something wrong for these kids, because there is no way a 34 question test can be wrong, right?  All I can say is that I am thankful to work in an incredible district with an amazing administration that sees beyond the test scores.  That has faith in us and in all we do.  That knows we are bigger than the test scores our students get, because if I didn’t, according to this test, I don’t have any business teaching some of them, or blogging about what I do.

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.

Be the change, being me, choices, student voice, testing

On Parenting and Standardized Tests

Pernille Ripp

Much like the rest of North America, my students have been doing the BIG test these last few weeks.  Much like so many teachers, I have sat silently and hoped that I have been enough, that what we have done has adequately prepared them, that they do well.  And yet…

I have also refused to worry more about it.  I have refused to get further upset.  I have shaken my head, I have made my comments, but I have refused to take it home with me.  This test is so far out of my hands that me worrying more about it, losing sleep over it, getting my blood pressure up, is not going to do anything good.  I cannot change what I have taught.  I cannot help my students more than I have.  So by now as a teacher, I can only do my best and hope for the best.  I can raise my voice whenever I get a chance, and I can hope for change.  Because as teachers, our voices are being drowned.  Our voices are not being heard.  Proponents of the testing say teachers are too invested, too close to the situation to have an unbiased opinion.  We are afraid of what the tests may say about our teaching.  We do not want accountability.  And no matter how many times I argue about the fallacy of these statements, I am still lumped into a group that few want to listen to.  So as a teacher, I have had to find my peace within this testing obsessed nation, protect my students as best as I can and save my energy for the fight I will put up for my own children.

Because as a parent, I worry.  I worry about the massive amount of time these test are taking.  I worry about the developmentally appropriateness of questions.  I worry about how they don’t actually mimic the skills that we help our students develop such as arguing one’s opinion or noticing the different facets of an answers.   I worry about how these tests will be used to further rank our children as we rank their teachers, as we rank their schools, as we rank their districts.  I worry how these test will continue to perpetuate the myth that the American public education system is a broken one and it therefore needs to be all about choice and privatization.

So I already know all of my own children will be opted out when they get to that age.  I already know that my children will not be asked to sit through hours of testing to prove something that doesn’t benefit them or change their direct instruction.  They will not be asked to help rank their school through a computerized test.   As a parent, right now, I have a larger voice than I do as a teacher.   And I will keep using that voice whenever I can, even if it only means helping the four kids that I get to call my own.  The fight has to start somewhere.

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” will be published by Routledge in the fall.   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 a teacher, collaboration, student voice

Would You Be Our Audience?

Pernille Ripp

The students have been hard at work figuring out how to be better speakers and they are now ready to show the world.  Next week, my students will be performing Elephant & Piggie stories to their peers while I am recording them. We are looking for K, 1st, or 2nd grade classes to view some of these performances and rate them using a form posted right below the video.  While students appreciate the feedback I give them, they really need a bigger audience than just their classmates and me to grow as real speakers.

If you are interested in perhaps viewing a few, please fill out the form below.  You can view just one or as many as you want, what matters is the feedback!  I will email you further details once the videos go live.  Thank you so much for considering helping out these amazing 7th graders.

being a teacher, conferences, student choice, student voice, Student-led conferences

Student-Led Conferences, Even at the Middle School…

Pernille Ripp

I sit here quietly, listening to them speak…

“I read 26 books this year, last year I read just read 10.”

“I learned that if I study I do much better.”

“I found out that I don’t work so well with my friends, so I can’t sit by them.”

They say this with downcast eyes, shy glances, waiting for the reaction.  Waiting for the comments they know will come.

And they do.

“Wow, that’s a lot of books!”

“What a great thing to learn…”

“Yeah, I don’t learn with my friends so well either…”

They tell their stories in front of us, knowing that our faces can corroborate or distort their versions.  They put themselves out there for us to see; teachers and parents.  They gather, they practice, and they decide; what story will they share?  What will their parents leave knowing?  Who will they become once their parents come into these hallowed hallways and they are no longer surrounded by friends?

So I sit here grateful that I get to listen in.  That I get to see the care they take.  The consideration they put into their words and how their parents thoughtfully ponder and prod when needed.  I didn’t know if student-led conferences would be enough for parents at the middle school level.  I didn’t know if the kids could do it.  I didn’t know what they would say, if they would care, if their parents would get all of the information they needed.  But they did and they have.  And I sit here listening to their stories and uncover the bits and pieces that have seemed to be missing for me all year.  Now, I understand why a child reacts that way.  Now I see how they tick.  I wish I would have know that much sooner.

When our students share their stories, we let them figure themselves out.  We let them decide what they need to tell, what they need to work on.  We help them prepare, push them harder to uncover their challenges and embrace them rather than hide them away.  When we do student-led conferences, whether completely or as part of our conference, we let the students decide how they will be known.  Think of the power in that.  Think of what that tells their students about their voice and the choices they make.

PS:  Want to learn more about actually doing student-led conferences, go here

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 – Giving Our Classrooms Back to Our Students” will be published by Routledge in the fall.   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 a teacher, being me, books, Passion, student choice, student voice

I Can Finally Reveal…

Pernille Ripp

The new cover of my 2nd edition!

A log story short, but my first book Passionate Learners will finally come out as a print version and a e-book in September!  Not only that but it will be relased on Amazon and internationally.  I was overwhelmed by the positive response that the book had when it came out in 2014, even as it was released just in e-book version, but so thrilled that I will finally be able to hold it in my hands.

Along with it coming out as a print book, it has been updated, thus the 2nd edition!  Being a middle school teacher has allowed me to really expand upon some of the ideas as I have met my biggest challenge in the classroom with my 7th graders, and I mean that in the best of ways.  I loved re-writing this book, coming up with new ideas and adding more of the journey that I am on for empowering and engaging students.  My students are a part of this book as well and I am so grateful for their words and how I have been given the chance to let them speak to teachers all around the globe.  I am so thankful to Routledge for taking a chance with me and this book.  Let the book release countdown begin!

Drumroll please…

What’s even better, you can pre-order it now from either Routledge or Amazon, yes Amazon!  Oh, I am just so excited.

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 – Giving Our Classrooms Back to Our Students” will be published by Routledge in the fall.   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.