students – Page 5 – Pernille Ripp

being me, books, inspiration, Passion, Reading, students

10 + 1 Picture Books that Spark Creativity

June 12, 2015June 13, 2015 Pernille Ripp

It is well-known that picture books are my favorite secret weapon when it comes to teaching pretty much anything. Within the pages of these incredible books we can find the courage to be better, to be friends, and to be creative. While there are many to choose from, here are my 10 favorite picture books to inspire more creativity for us and for students.

The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires continues to be a crowd favorite in my classroom. I love when students pick out the details that are in the illustration and we refer to it often when we create ourselves. Leave this book and watch conversations unfold.

Something Extraordinary by Ben Clanton arrived in my mailbox today and is actually the book that inspired this post. As I read it with Thea, my oldest daughter, I saw her eagerly turn the pages to see what would happen and then declared that she wished for many things as well. What a marvelous book to inspire a more creative world.

Peter H. Reynolds is a creative genius and his books provide me with that needed starting point to have many conversations with my students. While his more famous book The Dot is more often the one highlighted and read to students, I have found that Sky Color should have its rightful place next to The Dot.

On my daughter’s 6th birthday she was gifted Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg. I took one look at it and then bought a copy for my classroom. Students are so quick to dismiss their own mistakes, but this book with its simple show of what you can do with those “oops” is sure to inspire a moment to re-thing and re-draw before a supposed mistake is discarded.

I am sure I was not the only one jumping up and down when the Caldecott award was announced this year and The Adventures of Beekle – The Unimaginary Friend was the big winner. I have cherished this book in the classroom for its simple message about imagination and taking control of ones own destiny. The illustrations are divine in the book and have inspired many students to draw their own imaginary friends.

I love the giggles that students, yes even 7th graders, get whenever I read aloud Froodle by Antoinette Portis. The message to embrace their uniqueness and let their true personality shine is not one that is lost on them.

Oh Chalk by Bill Thomson, I adore thee. This inspiring wordless picture book has been inspiring my students to let their imagination run wild. It is a great book to inspire realistic fantasy stories (I may have just made up that term) where students base a fantasy story in their own world.

I have used Meanwhile by Jules Feiffer for a few years to inspire creative writing in my classroom. Students love the fast+paced action and the way it reads like a graphic novel. It may technically not be a picture book, but it is a book with pictures and it deserves to be on this list.

What Do You Do With An Idea by Kobi Yamada has been a great read aloud in our classroom, but more importantly, I have seen kids reach for it when they are stuck and not quite sure what to do. I think sometimes simply being able to find yourself within the pages of a book is a powerful thing for a person. And especially if you are not quite sure to ask someone else fpr help just yet.

Thea and I were lucky enough to attend an author reading of Open This Little Book by Jesse Klausmeier and that afternoon Thea asked me to make her a little book for her writing. The simple ingenuity of the story within the story has inspired many of my students to create, bith in writing but also in what they read,

My plus one has to be Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett. I have loved using this book to discuss theme with students but I also love how it shows that you can take something simple that you can do and turn it into something extraordinary. Often this is the biggest aha moment that students get from this book.

So there you have it, a few picture books to spark creativity in the classroom. Which would you add?

PS: Some times great minds think alike, check out John T. Spencer’s post on his Favorite Fifty Books on Creativity.

I have loved seeing the suggestions roll in from Twitter as well, so I have added them as they come in:

Not a Box and Not a Stick by Antoinette Portis – yes, the same author that brought us Froodle.

Rosie Revere Engineer and Iggy Peck Architect by Andrea Beaty

Violet the Pilot by Steve Breen.

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, classroom management, rewards, students

Before You Hand Out Those Rewards – 4 Questions to Ask Yourself

June 12, 2015June 16, 2015 Pernille Ripp

I have been reward and punishment free for 5 years in my classroom. I have loved it and yet rewards seem to still crop up every year, typically through school-wide initiatives or team decisions. Because I try to be a team player, I go with it as much as I can, and yet, the voice inside of me still screams that for most students, extrinsic tangible rewards do not help. Sure there are a few kids who may become more motivated because of a reward, but I have yet to see a child really change their behavior because of an extrinsic reward system. And while praise also falls into the extrinsic reward category, this post is about the “stuff” we give kids, not our words. So if you are not quite sure whether to give up rewards or not, please ask yourself the following questions.

1. Will the rewards only go to certain kids?

Rewards have always, in my opinion, been the surest way to create a divided community within a classroom. A community where there are those that get and those that don’t. I really tried to make sure that all of my students had lunch with me, which was one of the rewards they could earn, and yet there were always kids that didn’t make it, at least not legitimately. Those kids that seemed to slip through the cracks when I was handing out points, or tickets, or money or whatever it was I was handing out, and not because they weren’t well-behaved, but because they were quiet, that child that seems to slide through our day and does ok on everything, they tended to not get the rewards because of their middle of the road-ness. I tried keeping track but that created more work. And the kids that typically were misbehaved, well, I had to go out of my way to make sure they were rewarded too but they were rewarded for things like doing some work or staying in the classroom. I remember how other students felt about those types of rewards being handed out and that inherent feeling of it being unfair. In the end, handing out individual rewards did little to create a deep community and so it was easy for me to give it up.

2. Have you seen long-term changes as a result of giving extrinsic rewards?

I haven’t. I have seen students willing to do something in the short-term to earn that thing they want but I have never seen long-lasting changes, unless the reward was increased over time. So while the child’s behavior changed a small amount, the reward grew significantly until we couldn’t increase it anymore. Then the child typically reverted to their old ways or even got worse. I think when we spend more n a child earning something rather than the relationship we are building, then we are investing our time poorly.

3. Will the rewards increase or devalue the learning?

I have found that when we tie anything academically into rewards, that becomes the focus, not the learning or the growth that students have shown. When we reward students when they do their homework, do well on a test, or complete a project, we are telling them that the learning they just did is not the main focus but the completion of something is. We are also telling them that they must get something tangible whenever they finish something, which is not at all the reality of our world. When we tie in rewards with learning we can create a cycle of “Gimme” which should not be our intention as teachers.

4. Will students actually care?

Most of my students didn’t care one bit about the rewards that were handed out. They shrugged when I handed them a ticket to pick a prize, or left the prize at school, some even traded their token cash away. I remember being angry when I saw the prizes left behind, but later realized that because it was just another small thing, it didn’t mean anything to them. And why should it? Most of our students are bombarded with trinkets and disposable things wherever they go.

What did matter to my students was the time we spent together and what we did during that time. Not what reward they would get from me. So I gave up rewarding the individual students and started celebrating more with the whole class. I gave out more compliments. I had more individual conversations to talk about behavior. I started noticing more of what my kids needed and tried to give them that, rather than just dole out punishment or hand out a reward.

For me giving up tangible rewards (and punishment) was one of the best decisions I made. Students don’t expect something other than learning when we are together, they don’t have the same sense of entitlement I saw at times, and they don’t have the threat of not being rewarded hanging over their head. Bottom-line; giving up individual extrinsic rewards meant that I could focus on the child in front of me, rather than the systems I had in place. What do you think?

To read more about my journey away from awards and punishment, click here

I also highly recommend reading Alfie Kohn’s book

aha moment, Be the change, being a teacher, being me, believe, middle school, Passion, students

What I Have Learned Being a Middle School Teacher

May 11, 2015 Pernille Ripp

I thought I would be a great 7th grade teacher until I became one. Smothered in my own nervousness and excitement about so much change, I never quite fully realized what I was getting into. Luckily so because I am not sure, I would have said yes, if I had known just what this would hold. Yet through all of the ups and downs, the moments of sadness, the moments of frustration, the moments where I felt sure that I must be insane for going to school that day, there they were. Those crazy 7th graders with all of their emotions, all of their thoughts, all of their stuff that seemed to shroud them in mystery. Always there, always watching. Always poking away at the sense of security I had felt in my teaching skills. And I am so grateful that they did.

This year, and its not over yet, has taught me so much. When I tell people that 7th grade has been my biggest challenge yet, I am not joking, nor exaggerating. With their moods, and their doubt, and their sense of fairness, they have held my feet to the fire every single day, exhausting every teaching cell in my body. Yet, along with that exhaustion comes a few hard-earned lessons, for which I am forever grateful.

I have learned that when they say they don’t care is actually when they care the most. They wait for your reaction to see how to categorize you. They wait to see how their lackadaisical attitude will sit with you; will you be rattled or can you handle it?

I have learned that on the toughest days they will put on the bravest face, and only people who pay really close attention will be able to notice the subtlest of differences in their demeanor.

I have learned that when you think they are not paying attention, they actually are. That when you think they don’t care that you are there, they do. That when you think you have hit your lowest point as a teacher there is always a better moment coming your way, usually courtesy of something they just said or did.

I have learned that when I thought there was no way I would ever make a difference in their lives, they surprise me with their knowledge, with their passion, and with what they remember.

I have learned that relationships are above anything else, that it does not matter how engaging a lesson is, how fun a project may be, how much time you spent making sure everything was to their liking; if you don’t care about them, they do not care about you, or your lesson, or your project.

I have learned that it is ok to not be sure of yourself, to still put yourself out there, to get excited over picture books, to dance to ABBA in the middle of class, and to always, always, always have a smile on your face no matter how much you don’t want to. That’s what my incredible 7th graders have taught me; that I was not a good teacher until I taught them, and I still have a long way to go, but they believe in me, so it is time I start believing in myself.

aha moment, attention, being a teacher, being me, Passion, students

I Challenge You to See Every Child, Not Just the Ones That Demand Your Attention

May 3, 2015 Pernille Ripp

…I remember thinking that the teacher in front of me probably had no idea I was even in their class. That my parents didn’t come to parent-teacher conferences because they heard the same thing over and over; Brandon is doing just fine. I was the just-fine student, the average kid, and teachers never saw me…

It’s Friday evening at our house and for the past two hours, my husband and I have been in deep discussion about race, education, being a foreigner, and what it means to be a kid these days. But it is these words that stick with me. The words about being the average kid who never got much attention. It is these words that have hung over me the past few days.

Because my husband is right, there are those kids that we do not see in our classrooms. Where entire class periods or days can go by and we have had little interaction with them. Where we struggle to really describe what they can do and how they should grow when we speak to their parents. The kids that are doing just fine, they don’t cause problems, they are perfectly challenged within our learning, they do their work, they sometimes raise their hand. And they fade away into the background of our classrooms as we focus on the outliers; the kids that demand our attention either for good or for bad.

Yet, those kids need us too. The sheer fact that there are kids that slip through our days should make anyone shudder. Every kid deserves to be seen, every kid deserves to be noticed. Every kid deserves to feel that their teacher knows who they are and what they can do. Every kid, even the just fine ones, deserves to be taught.

This year with 116 students, I have seen how easy it is to not be a part of a teacher’s day. I have seen how easily a child can go through their day so quietly that no one really recalls whether they were there or not. But I have also seen a school that tries to notice every child. It is not easy and there are days where we fail, but at the very least we are aware. In 7th grade we use a few tricks; I schedule small group instruction with all students, I use a clipboard with their names on it and track who I am speaking to, we send postcards to every single home to highlight the great things we see. And yet, there are days where I don’t recall whether a child came to English or not except for their attendance. And that makes me sad.

So my challenge to you is a simple one; notice all of your students. Find a system, a cheat if you will, and make sure that every single kid leaves thinking that their teacher knew they were there. That every single kid leaves every single class thinking that it mattered that they showed up. Yes, I know it is hard. Yes, I know that it will take more work than what we already do, but we have to. No child should think they are invisible. No child should feel like they don’t matter. No child should sit 20 years after they graduate and share the story of being invisible like my husband did. It starts with us, will you take the challenge with me?

aha moment, being a teacher, being me, students

What Having Twins Taught Me About Teaching

April 23, 2015April 24, 2017 Pernille Ripp

Image may contain: 2 people, people smiling, people standing, shoes, child, hat and outdoor

At 8 PM you can finally feel it; the silence seems to creep down the stairs until my husband and I finally breathe a little easier, knowing that another crazy day has been lived. That another day with four kids under the age of six has successfully been traversed through fits and fights, hugs and laughter. Having children was one of the best decisions we ever made.

Yet, when we made that decision we didn’t hope for twins. (Well, to be perfectly honest, I always thought it would be sooo cool because twins were always so cute). Yet, when we had our first baby, Theadora, and felt the crushing responsibility of caring for a single little one, I was so grateful that we only had the one because how would you ever take care of two at the same time? How could you ever sleep? How could you ever shower? Or eat? Or get anywhere on time? And how could you ever leave the house with your sanity intact? Having that first kid was hard. And so we giggled a bit when my friend had twins, was exhausted when we babysat them and felt so thankful that we just had the one because having twins was nuts. Who would ever wish for twins?!? Which of course meant that when I finally had a viable pregnancy again, the universe laughed at our foolishness and gave us the gift of twins. Oh the irony…

Yet, the universe must have known what we needed because having twins was a gift. Becoming a parent of twins was the universe’s way of teaching me to chill out. To stop striving for perfection. To stop working all of the time. To laugh at the crazy. To hug and hug and hug even when the hands are sticky and the diapers are smelly. In fact, becoming the mother of twins didn’t just mean I became a better parent, but it also helped me become a better teacher.

You see, when you have twins and you feed them the same food, you play with them in the same way, you challenge them in the same way, you start to notice something. You start to notice that even though you put them to bed at the same time, read them the same book, they sleep the same amount, and you speak to them the same way. Even though you do pretty much everything the same, they don’t seem to care; they learn to crawl at different times. They learn to walk four months apart. One learns to speak three months before the other. One learns to ride her bike two months later. One has a speech impediment, the other does not. One loves sports, the other loves to build. They don’t develop the same way, even though they grow up with you doing the same thing. You realize what you thought you knew all along; kids learn at different rates. Kids develop differently, even if they share the same family, same learning environment, even the same birth-date. The twins don’t care that they share the same environment and the same experience; they are taking the time they want and need to develop.

As a teacher, this is something I sometimes forget. I forget that even though my students are all born in the same year’s span, they do not all have the same skills. That even though my students have followed the same sequential learning progression, they do not have the same knowledge. That even though they have been on the same path as so many other students, they may have significant differences. And it is not because they are lazy or that their parents didn’t provide whatever they needed. It is not because they don’t like to be challenged, or aren’t’ as smart, or just don’t try. We can’t even point a finger at their old teachers for perhaps not being rigorous enough, they may just be developing at a different rate. They may just be at a different part of their journey. And that’s ok.

What our twins, Ida and Oskar, taught us is that we have to remember that all kids learn differently. That age is nothing but a number. That even providing two kids with the very same environment does not mean that their outcome will be the same. That there is nothing wrong with taking a longer time to get a skill, what matters is getting it. That’s what we can’t forget as teachers. That even though we are teaching all of the students the same lesson, they are on different parts of their journey and some will not be ready for what we are teaching them. Our job is then to discover what they do need and teach them where they are.

Ida and Oskar taught us to laugh a little more. To not sweat the small things. To look back at our first 3 1/2 years with just one amazing kid and realize how easy we had it. Every day, when the yelling starts and the feet start to run, we have learned to run with them, to harness their energy, and to revel in the life we have. And what a life it is indeed.

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.

Be the change, being a teacher, being me, building community, classroom management, punishment, rank, Student-centered, students

Let’s Discuss Class Dojo For a Moment

April 17, 2015 Pernille Ripp

I get asked a lot about my feelings about Class Dojo and whether or not I use it. I think it has to do with my very public stance on the use of public rewards and public punishment, which can be a component of this program. So I am finally taking the plunge; let’s discuss Class Dojo for a moment.

I have never used Class Dojo, which is why I hesitate to give my opinion, yet that very opinion is why I won’t use it. My first hesitation is cemented in the public ranking system that it uses. As a parent of a child who often has more energy than her peers, I can only imagine how she would feel if her name was constantly shown to be on the bottom because she is that kid that talks out of turn or gets out of her seat. Ranking her would not help her curb those behaviors, nor make her more aware, she knows already, she works on it every single day, and yes, she feels bad. She is also 6 years old and can only focus on so much at a time. As a teacher who gave up public punishment and rewards five years ago, I don’t see the need for any child to know how another child is doing in a class. I don’t think it fosters community. I don’t think it makes kids feel good about their role in the classroom. I know that some will argue that having a visual reminder of how they are doing, much like a public behavior chart, is just fine, yet the parent heart in my breaks. Visual reminders of consequences is one thing, but having students names attached to the levels of behavior is another. Yes, kids should be held accountable for their actions, but if we use a system that often ranks children and we don’t see a change in their behavior then that ranking does not work.

My second hesitation is the time factor. I cannot imagine spending time in my day entering in behavior information for every child and handing them points for both good and bad behavior, even if there is an app for my phone. I cannot imagine trying to track student engagement through a program, I track that through my eyes and my reading of the classroom all the time. I teach 130+ students, if I had to enter points or take them away every time they did something good or bad, that is all I would do. Plus, in my own experience with point systems, I almost always forgot to award good points which meant that once again my focus was just on the negative behaviors. Praise, in my opinion, should be delivered immediately and be sincere, not entered on a computer. I have seen kids light up because I noticed something they did, and I have seen praise spread from child to child just because someone said something. While behavior is an essential part of our day it should be an undercurrent, constantly running, not a major focus all day, every day. I wonder, does this program bring behavior into the spotlight so much that it takes up more time than it needs to?

My third, and final, major hesitation is the direct communication to parents through the reports. I am a huge believer in thorough parent communication, but I wonder whether parents need to be able to check on their child’s behavior every single day, every single moment. I think back to my own school days and my “off days,” where I was glad that my mother didn’t always know. Not because she would punish me if she did, but because it gave me a chance to have an off day and still be ok. To change my behavior because I wanted to, not because I was told to do so by my mother. I also worry about those few kids that do face major consequences from parents if they are seemingly misbehaving. Those students where any small infractions causes physical harm or deprivation in their home environment. Sure, this does not happen with every child, but for some it does. Class Dojo highlights it product with this line “Get parents informed and on your side quickly and easily.” Yet, I didn’t know parents weren’t on our side, or that sides even had to be taken? If parents are on our side, who are we fighting against? The kids? Finally, as a parent, I would not want to know how my child does every single day. I trust that she is having good days unless I am told otherwise. She is often the first one to tell me if she gets in trouble, which leads to a good conversation about choices. If I knew every single day about every single thing, I wonder how hyper-focused I would become? What would my focus be when my kid came home from school?

Yet, within my doubts about the positives of this program, I have also met good teachers that have implemented it in a meaningful way, where they have not used the ranking, nor made it public, but rather used it as way to track behaviors within the classroom. I have discussed it with teachers that have made the program their own and swear by it. I am not here to judge those teachers, but instead start a discussion. So if you are one of those teachers, please add your voice, because in the end, I wonder whether a program like Class Dojo is good for students? Not for teachers or for parents because that is not who school is for, but for students? Is this program, or something similar, re-engaging students in their classrooms, creating positive learning environments for all, and creating permanent changes in behavior? Or is it one more tool to punish those kids that already have enough negativity associated with schools? What do you say? What is your experience?

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.