Pernille Ripp

We seem to think that all students want to just be left alone to make and create. That if given the choice, the students would love school so much more if we just provided them with big picture goals and then let them meander along their own path to get there. That they need time to just think and do, without too much interference from the teacher. That if we give them enough tools and enough freedom then their inner passion will be awakened and they will discover their destiny. That school is breaking the creative spirit of all children by not providing freedom and that we must get back to making all of the time. Yet is this true? Is this really what all children need?

I bring this up because it seems that in our voyage to overhaul school we seem to be going to a new extreme; one that assumes that all students want to make. That all students are passionate artists held back by the confinement of school. I am not sure this is true though, at least it isn’t, according to my students.

My students are telling me that they want choice all the time, but that one of the choices should always be to follow a path set forth by the teacher.

My students are telling me that they would like to create sometimes but that other times they need ideas for what they can create.

My students are asking to not be left alone at all times. That they need guidance and vision, that they need help, because they don’t know always know where they are going or what they are trying to do. Sometimes they don’t need me right there, but sometimes they do.

My students are telling me that for most of them it is not enough to just know where they need to end, but they need to know how to get there as well. And that is my job, their job, and why we are in a classroom.

My students are telling me that a teacher’s job is to teach and that they would like to to learn and sometimes that means sitting and listening, not doing, not inventing, not creating. That constantly making is exhausting, and not in a great way. That there must be balance in all of our classrooms.

That doesn’t mean that they are broken. That doesn’t mean they will not be successful adults. That does not mean that school somehow has robbed them of their creativity or of their voice. It doesn’t mean that we have successfully indoctrinated all students to believe they are un-creative, it simply means that they are kids learning. That they are kids who want to experiment but not be on their own. That we need to ask our students and then listen to what they all say and then cater our teaching to reach all of them. Not assume they don’t need us anymore. Not assume that school will only be a place that holds them back unless we remove all constraints.

Once again, we must make school about the kids we teach not the kids we think we teach. Those kids need us, all of us, all of the time. And they may need us in ways we don’t realize, our job is to figure it out and then stop assuming they don’t mean what they say. When they say they want a teacher to teach them that is not inherently bad, it just means they are not quite ready, and that is perfectly ok.

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. I have no awards or accolades except for the lightbulbs that go off in my students’ heads every day. 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.

aha moment, being a teacher

Going Beyond the Standards

April 1, 2015April 1, 2015 Pernille Ripp

I sat in my empty classroom on Monday, spring break just started, and looked at what I have to cover in quarter four of 7th grade English. What the standards tell me a 7th grader needs to know. Great things, and yet…We need to get back to the basics. Somewhere in the mad rush of trying to cover everything within the 45 minutes that strangle our English class, we seem to have lost touch with what English is really all about; amazing books, deep conversations, and writing, so much of it so that we lose our fear of being bad writers and just start to embrace the process.

So as I looked around at the empty chairs, I knew exactly what to do. Monday morning we will start with a circle, a to-do list of dreams facing the students. I will ask them to discuss expectations and rules, I will ask them about their thoughts on what the standards say we need to get to and then I will ask them this is this quarter to please

Find one poem that speaks to you

Read one amazing book that you must pass on to someone else

Write something that makes you proud

And have a deep conversation with someone face to face

Those are the opportunities that I need to create, those are the things that matter. Beyond the standards, beyond what we need to cover. We need to have incredible experiences in English, not just survive the last quarter. Our students are bigger than the standards we teach. What are your plans for after the break?

aha moment, being me, Passion

When You Feel Like a Bad Day Kind of Teacher

March 31, 2015 Pernille Ripp

Sometimes we realize that we are not enough. That we do not have the answers. That we do not have that one magical thing that will make everything better. That when they handed out the innovative teacher awards, we would not get one, not that day, not that week. Sometimes we realize that we are not the perfect person, nor the perfect teacher. That we do not have all of the answers, nor do we even know where to look. And then we realize that that is ok. And we can breathe. And we can celebrate. Because being a perfectly ordinary great teacher does not mean that we only have great days.

That no one ever meant for us to be perfect. That no one ever meant for us to have the perfect answer at the perfect time for every single student. That it is ok for us to say, “I don’t know…Let me think….I will get back to you.” That our attempts may sometimes fail. That parents may sometimes get upset. That kids may sometimes roll their eyes and groan when you teach. Add that’s ok. That we can be imperfect and still be great teachers. That we can have flaws and still connect with kids. That we may have bad days but they do not have to represent us. That not knowing is not an inherent flaw but rather an opportunity to learn, to connect, to get better. That having a bad day should not define us but instead inspire us. That we choose what we keep trying. That we choose how we keep moving forward.

That even when we think we cannot figure it out, there is still a path forward, we just have to put one foot in front of the other.

That’s what teaching 7th grade has taught me. And I am forever grateful for the lesson.

being a teacher, being me, connect, connections

There Is Not Just One Right Way to Be A Connected Educator

March 28, 2015March 28, 2015 Pernille Ripp

I am a connected educator, whatever you think that term means. To me it means that at any given moment I have access to thousands, if not millions, of teachers around the world that can help me further my practice. I got those connections because I chose to use social media. I leverage Twitter every day to learn more about being a better teacher. I blog to get further discussion. However, I also work diligently on connecting with people at my school and in my community. I use those people to further my craft every day. So I get that being a connected educator is a great thing, but when we discuss what being connected means to teachers and use exclusionary terms such as saying that you have to use social media to be connected, we are doing nothing for the good of getting people connected. Instead we sound like a bunch of jerks. If we want people to get connected then we have to realize that while the way we are connected may be the most brilliant thing that ever happened to us, might not work for others. And that doesn’t mean they can’t be a connected educator.

Yes, I believe in the power of social media, but no it is not the only way to be connected. We cannot say teachers are not teaching well if they are not connected via social media. Or that they are harming their students. Or that their methods are antiquated. You can be connected using non-social media tools, like Skype, like email, like texting, like meeting someone for a cup of coffee.Who am I to say that my way of connecting, using Twitter or another social media platform, is somehow better than that? That my connections are worth more? Yet, that is what I see happen again and again. For what purpose?

If we are trying to get educators to be more connected, which I absolutely agree with, then we have to realize that those types of connections can happen in many ways. I would even say that some of my best connections are those that happened without social media being our link. Not all of them but some of them. Why not give credit to those types of connections as well rather than only the ones that happen on social media? I know several teachers who are connected on social media and they have not used it for the amazing things we assume everybody does on these platforms. Somehow we have invented a fake reality where all teachers who use social media are amazing.

In the end, it doesn’t matter as much HOW we are connected but rather that we are. I agree that teachers choose to be in isolation in this day and age, but we cannot claim that using social media to connect is the best way for all. That simply isn’t true. Connections help us grow when they matter to us. Not because of how they happened. Let’s not lose sight of what the greater goal is; to get more teachers to be connected. Let’s not think we know how to do it best, but rather offer multiple ways for others to connect. We need to stop saying there is only one right way, it doesn’t help our purpose.

advice, attention, being me, Passion

What Do We Do When What We Do Is Still Not Enough?

March 24, 2015 Pernille Ripp

Let’s discuss student engagement for a moment. Not the kind that we wish for. Not the one we blog about when everything goes amazingly. Where students cannot wait to work, to learn, to explore. No, not that kind. Instead, let’s talk about when students dislike your subject. When they put their heads down. What we do when students hate what you are doing but still like you as a teacher. When they groan no matter how much choice you give, how much you ask them to create with you. Let’s talk about what you do when you seem to have tried every trick and there are still so many days left. And you asked the students what to do as well and they didn’t know and looked at you like you were crazy because weren’t you supposed to be the expert after all? Let’s talk about that type of student engagement.

Because that’s what I need to talk about.

Not because I am depressed. Not because I am mad. Not because I think it is someone’s fault, but more because this is a real problem and I cannot be the only one that is experiencing it. The lack of student engagement, the lack of students who want to learn. Not all but some. How are we losing kids already by middle school or even earlier?

So what do we do when we have personalized the learning and it didn’t matter?

So what do we do when we have asked students to plan with us and it didn’t help?

So what do we do when they have choice but they don’t want it?

So what do we do when they have voice but they don’t even want to speak up?

What do we do when they know that we care, that we fail and get back up together, that this a community and we are on a learning journey together?

What do we do when we have tried everything we know to re-engage them and none of it has worked? Do we simply blame ourselves, keep trying the same things, or shake our hands in exasperation. What do we do when we are supposed to be the expert but we don’t feel like it anymore?

Please let me know your ideas.

being me, choices, Passion, Reading, student choice

Can We Discuss the Whole Class Novel For a Moment?

March 21, 2015February 5, 2016 Pernille Ripp

I have been pondering the idea of the repeated whole class novel; a bastion of English classes everywhere. I have been pondering why this practice seems to flourish in English classes everywhere despite what it seems to be doing to some students’ love of reading. Frankly, I am starting to get upset about it, after all, it is hard not to when my incredible niece who seems to inhale books told me today that since she keeps being assigned books in school she hasn’t really been reading much else. Which means her grand total of books this year is about 10. Rather than the 50 or 60 she usually reads. From 50 to 10. Let that sink in. She also told me the only reason it’s so high is because over the holidays she read a few books of her own choice, ones she had been waiting to read and finally felt she had the energy to. But 10 books is not very high, not for her at least, so there seems to be a problem here. Her English class seems to be killing her joy of reading.

As someone who has not used whole class books for several years, I am trying to see the need for them. I am trying to take this post and turn it into a discussion, rather than a rant. Yet I keep returning to the question of why we continue to force students to read certain books when that is the number one thing ALL of my students report kill their love of reading?

I see reasons for assigning the classics, in her 8th grade class a few of the titles this year have been Johnny Tremain, Animal Farm, and The Diary of Anne Frank, but wonder why it has to be all classics all year? I also wonder who determines the books being read, when does a book become a classic, and does that list ever get updated? I read Animal Farm and The Dairy of Anne Frank in school as well and that was 20 years ago in another country. Are there really no new classics that can take their place?

I see reasons for having a shared text to discuss, analyze, and work with, but wonder if it can be done through a read aloud rather than an individual read? Or could it be just one part of the year rather than every unit and every book?

I see reasons for presenting students with great book choices but wonder if they all need to be reading the same one at the same time? Can the teaching purpose be reached in a different way?

What is the grand purpose that is eluding me? Why does this tradition continue? Why is something that is inherently harming some children’s love of reading being continued in so many schools? It is just me that worries? Is it a rite of passage that all readers have to go though and we hope they just make it out alive, reading love still somewhat intact? Am I overreacting?

PS: You know what is incredible though; my niece still loves her English teacher. She doesn’t see the curriculum as a flake in that teacher’s ability, which says a whole lot about that teacher and their ability to connect with students. So while she longs for the days where reading was just fun, she doesn’t hold it against the teacher. And bottom line, that matters too.