Be the change, classroom setup, new year

It Is Time To Renew, Reorganize, and Reevalute

Pernille Ripp
image from icanread

Something magical beckons us on the cusp of a new year; one full of promise to change, a clean slate as if for once we can get it all right, or at the very least figure out what we need to change, ahh, January 1st and all of its promises.  It is no different in the classroom; the new year is an opportune time to not just conjure up  resolutions but also renew and reevaluate your setup hopefully leaving you saner and more organized.

I used to think of things I needed to change after the 1st of the year but quickly got worn out thinking of all of these changes.  After all, as a newish teacher, I have enough things I am already trying to reflect upon and implement so I am not sure we need more things to do.  So now I have scaled it back, I look at my room through a different lens, that of reevaluation.  May my thoughts help guide you as well.

  • Study your workspace configuration.  Are students able to move, spread out, work at different places than their assigned work spaces?  Can they get away when they need to or are they always squished together?  Often this aspect of our room is completely out of our hands as it depends on classroom size but even cramped rooms can have getaway corners, places where students can find some sort of solitude, or places where they can work together as a large group.

  • Study your “dusty” areas.  Are there parts of your classroom that are hardly ever used?  Places where the students cannot get to or where an arrangement of furniture seems cramped or forced?  I recently realized that my large conference table was squeezed into a corner meaning I never used it and neither did my students.  In two moves of furniture it is now front and centre and used every single day with students.  Easy to do once you know what isn’t working.

  • Study where the piles are.  I used to force myself into several organization systems that just didn’t work.  What resulted were various piles of papers, books, and miscellaneous teacher items that never got put away.  I had too many places to place things and often these spots were also in the wrong area so I would drop off stuff and then leave it to gather dust, in the end forgetting that I had put it there in the first place.  Now I pay attention to where I place things, create gathering places where they feel natural (think: where you place things anyway) there and follow the 1 minute rule; if you can do it in 1 minute – do it right away.

  • Ask your students.  I often take the time to ask my students what is working for them, where their favorite places are, or what they are missing.  Conversations such as these have resulted in their own area for office supplies, more small tables, and choices of whether to lie down or sit in a chair whenever we do writing and reading workshop.  Students are the biggest components and inhabitants of the classroom; they should have a say in what is working or not.

  • Recreate your area.  I start out the year with my favorite things close by; a great stapler, hand lotion, my favorite picture, and billions of colorful pens that brighten my day.  As silly as these things sound, it feels nice to have what I need close by when I am planning.  As the year progresses, though, my things seem to move or vanish altogether.  Take this time of renewal to renew your area, think about what would make you happy every day in a small way and bring it into your immediate vicinity.  It may not seem like a big thing, which is why it is perfect to do now.

  • Start to think of next year.  Call me crazy but January is when I start to think of the next school year.  I clean up papers as I go through them, make extra copies for the following year if it something I will have to use like a math test, and throw out/recycle anything I don’t need.  Too often we leave these tasks for the end of the year but it is easier to just stay on top of it throughout the year.  Start to think of what you need to change for next year with your lessons and tweak them now, because next time you teach it, chances are you will not remember the changes you needed to make.

While there are many things you can do to reorganize your classroom as you prepare for the second half of the year, think small at first.  Change the easy things, give yourself time to think about what needs to happen, and then do it.  Recruit your students to help, reflect on what is working and what isn’t, and then decide what needs to change now for you to be happy.  Change never has to be big to be effective. It does not have to be grandiose or expensive; find something small to make you feel renewed even if it just includes the happiness that brand new pens can bring you.

 

being me, inspiration, reflection

Lessons Learned From a Week

Pernille Ripp
image from icanread

The end of the year means a quiet time for me.  This year more than ever.  And yet in the quiet I find solace because I realize just how much I have learned from those that surround me.  Many of these lessons really came through  in the last week where the unexpected 10 week early arrival of our daughter reminded me of just how much I don’t know.

I learned this week, once again, that we cannot control everything.  That even when we think we know what the plan will be, whenever it involves children, they ultimately steer the plan.  So while I think I may know exactly how to get somewhere, my students often have a better idea, it is important to slow down enough to listen to them.

I learned this week, that what you read matters.  I can see when I love a book because all I want to do is sneak moments to read it.  When a book is not for me, reading becomes a chore even when on bed-rest.  When we tell a child what to read, even with our best intentions, we may change reading into a chore and nobody likes that.

I learned this week that goodbye matters.  When I left to go into the hospital again, after I had told my students I would be back the following day, many of them understood but could not get over that I had not said goodbye.  Everything had happened so abruptly that although they understood they still wanted to make sure I was ok and without a quick goodbye how could they know that.

I learned this week that receiving help does not mean you are greedy.  Many people asked how they could help and whether they could bring a meal.  While this goes against every Danish bone in my body (you just don’t get  handouts!) my instinct told me to accept with gratitude.  I cannot tell you how much easier our lives have been just because someone took care of dinner.  How often do we say no in our classrooms because we don’t want to appear demanding?  It is time for us to start to say yes instead, especially to the little things.

I learned that while we feel the need the need to be by the side of one child, our other children need us even more.  Augustine really needs time to grow in the hospital, our other 3 need us to be parents full-time.  The balance is so hard to achieve but we try every day.  Just like our students need us to be there for them, there are days when one needs us more.  It is our job to realize who has the biggest needs that day and juggle everything around it, while realizing that sometimes it is not the kid that seems the most dire that has the biggest need.

I learned this week to be present for every moment.  When you get to hold a 3 lbs baby in your arms, and you can barely feel her, every grunt matters.  Yesterday my husband held her for the first time and as she reached out her hand and placed in on his heart the whole world stopped.  I wasn’t on my phone, we weren’t speaking, we were just there in that moment, part of it.   How often are we present in our classrooms for those small moments of success?

I learned this week that it is not the fault of others if I am tired.  Some times life gets in our way of our optimal health but that does not mean I have the right to snap.  How many mornings do we drag ourselves to school because we stayed up too late and then get grumpy with our students.  The choices we make affect everyone around us, so we must take responsibility for that.

I learned this week that every special moment does not have to be perfect to feel perfect.  Christmas is tomorrow for this Dane and I am not sure everyone has a present, what the kids will wear, how we will get cookies for Santa, or  even if everything is wrapped.  But as my husband said, it doesn’t matter.  What matters is that we celebrate the time we get to be together and that we focus on our family.  Not the presents, not the wrapping, not the extra.  Our classrooms don’t need to be perfect for children to grow in them, they need to be filled with love and a focus on each child.  Everything else will fall into place.

I learned this week that how I face the world is in my control.  Yes, life may have been turned upside down in the last 7 days but it is how I choose to deal with it that matters.  While I may feel like crying a lot, no good will come of it beside a temporary relief.  What I need right now is to stay positive more than ever before.  This is not the end of the world even if it may seem like it, it is the beginning of a new journey that we are fortunate enough to be part of.

 

 

 

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being me

We Can’t Control Everything – And That’s Ok

Pernille Ripp
DSC_0072
Seeing our baby for the first time

Augustine was supposed to be born February 23rd, 2014.  Instead on December 19th at 5:25 PM  she arrived so quickly in a dire situation that the nurse had to catch her because the doctor was not even in the room.  As we look at our 30 week old baby, there are so many thoughts crowding my mind, but the biggest one is, we cannot always control everything.

I thought I had this 3rd pregnancy all figured out.  I thought I had my plan figured out, when I would go on leave, when we would set up her things, when we would move the twins out of the cribs.  What I would pack, how I would say goodbye to my students, how the delivery would go.  I was wrong on every single account.  And yet, it all worked out ok, she is here, she is safe, and yes our journey forward is going to be very different than the one imagined, but this was what needed to happen to ensure her survival.  I may have thought I had it all figured out, but she proved me wrong.

How often do we make such meticulous plans that it is more the actual unraveling of our plan that is our undoing and not the actual new course of events that undoes us?  I am not unnerved by the situation, but by the newness of everything happening.  This was not in my plan.  This was not how it was supposed to be, but it is.  And that’s ok.

How often does this happen in our rooms when we stand with our meticulous lesson plans, our action charts, and our intended learner outcomes?  How often do we think we have a kid figured out just right so that we keep them on the right path and their actions prove us wrong?  How often do we listen to the child in front of us telling us how to do something rather than just go with the plan we decided?  How often does that child know themselves better than we ever could?

We try to plan every moment, even when we know it is out of our control.  We try to set things up optimally, even when we can’t.  Augustine may have been our Christmas surprise but she has already brought so much to our lives.  I am humbled by what I have to learn from her as she grows.

 

being me

Homework Meme Here I Go

Pernille Ripp

I have been nominated by some wonderful bloggers a few times to do the homework meme blog that has been going around.  Each time I have resisted but I have then found myself quite enjoying reading others’ posts and getting to know them better.  Since I am also on bed rest right now, I figured it would keep me busy for a little bit as well.  SO thank you to @classcollect among others for nominating me to blab about myself.

So what is this thing?  A nomination requires some reflecting and some fun at the same time. The requirements include:

  • Acknowledging the nominating blogger(s) – so thank you so much Amy for throwing my name in the mix, others have as well but I am too pregnant to remember who!
  • Share 11 random facts about yourself
  • Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you
  • List 11 bloggers you believe deserve some recognition and a little “link-juice”
  • Post 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer and notify them

11 Random Facts – hmm, hard for me to do because I live life very openly.

  1. So the first one should be that I live a very transparent life, in fact, I tend to share more than many would.  However, I like to reflect openly and honestly and I think it has led me to where I am today as a blogger, teacher, and person.
  2. I only started a fashion blog because I hated the way I was dressing and was feeling very slumpy.  So now I have to actually think about what I wear before I leave the house and I pride myself on the fact that I re-use a lot of my clothes in new ways rather than just buy new stuff.
  3. I fell in love with Brandon almost right when I met him, however, I thought he would be the one that got away so I was shocked when he broke up with his girlfriend and then started to date me 9 months later.  We moved in together the first night we confessed our feelings and have now been together almost 13 years.
  4. Our first 3 children were with different levels of help from fertility.  I chose to go public with it on this blog because I knew I was not alone in this struggle and also chose to say goodbye to the child I lost on this blog.  Hard things to post about but a relief when I hit publish.
  5. I have always loved writing but had no intention to ever tell anyone about it.  Several college professors told me I should publish something but I scoffed it off.  I am humbled to have a book coming out sometime soon from Powerful Learning Press and terrified that no one will like it.
  6. I sing constantly and majored in music in Denmark, I love karaoke but have super low self esteem when it comes to performing in front of others.  Think shaking hands and close to passing out before I speak or sing.  Brandon is the one that makes me do it and I always have a great time busting out Black Velvet or Sweet Child O’ Mine.
  7. I wholeheartedly believe that we can change the world.  While some may think this is a just a silly notion that teachers have to preach, I really try to live it.  If a kid leaves my classroom wanting to come back the next day I believe that plants a seed of change.  We may not be able to see the change we make, but we can plant the seed.
  8. I am honest to  a fault and it gets me into sticky situations.  I believe in telling people how I feel rather than telling others but that does not always go over well.  So I have been trying to find the balance between my own bluntness and the American tendency to skirt around the issue.  It is a constant thing in my life and my husband helps me with it whenever I turn to him.
  9. I am an introverted extrovert which means I have no idea how to handle new social situations.  This is also why I don’t go to many conferences because I am afraid I will not live up to people’s expectations.
  10. I am terribly sarcastic in my sense of humor but thankfully my husband thinks I am funny.  I am not really, he just brings the best out in me.
  11. I am very protective of the people I love, including my students.  I have been compared to a lion mother protecting her cubs, which can be both good or bad.

Now to the questions Amy posted:

  1. What Disney Character would you be?  Oh dear, most of them are fairly one dimensional.  I was always drawn to the story of Peter Pan, not because I wanted to stay a child forever but because I wanted to fly.
  2. 2. What is the coolest app you have read about or use?  Oh dear, I am awful at this too.  I love the Mailbox app and currently I am unfortunately using the contraction timer app a lot.

    3. Have you ever skyped in your classroom?  All the time!  We mystery skype, we do the global read aloud, we give book recommendations, we bring in authors and experts.  I think Skype is one of the easiest tools to use to bring the world in.

    4. What twitter chats do you follow?  I am terrible with chats because my life gets in the way, but I do love #titletalk, #nerdybookclub, #edchat, #5thchat and #wiamigos.  The hashtag #nerdlution is making me very happy as well at the moment.

    5: What is the best thing about teaching?  The kids!  Hands down and the never-ending challenge.

    6. What is your favourite Stationary item?  I am slightly addicted to good thin ballpoint pens, luckily Brandon shares my same obsession so we are not allowed to go to an office store.  It gets expensive.

    7. Cake or Ice Cream?  Cake all the way, but Danish ones all the way.  I miss our bakery culture so much.

    8. House Pet: Snake or Ferret?  Neither.  I am a cat person but we have a gerbil right now.

    9. Favourite Movie?  Stand by Me or Sound of Music.

    10: Best gift you ever got?  My husband.  Lame I know but he seriously had made my life so much better and it is because of him I have the incredible life I have right now.

    11. Why did you want to become a teacher?  Because I wanted to make sure another child never got bullied the way I did by a teacher.

I will not list 11 bloggers to make answer these questions, but will give the challenge to you!  Please join the meme if you want and let me know so that I can get to know you better.  And to help you here are my 11 questions for you:

  1. What is the last book that you passed on to someone else to read?
  2. The one song you secretly or not so secretly want to sing at karaoke?
  3. If you had to pick a new name for yourself, what would it be?
  4. What do you wish your administrator would notice?
  5. What is your biggest pet peeve?
  6. What holds you back in pursuing your biggest dream?
  7. Why do you think you are a lovable person?
  8. If every day had an extra hour in it, what would you do with it?
  9. The last song you turned up in your car or house was?
  10. What is a secret talent you may have?
  11. Your favorite animal and why?

So there you have it, a little bit of fun from my bedrest.  Let me know your answers.

being a teacher, reflection, Student-centered

Are the Boys Welcome in Your Room?

Pernille Ripp

One thing I love about being hospitalized (the little baby is trying to make her appearance 10 weeks early) is that I get to speak to all of the incredible nurses that take care of me.  Once they find out I am a teacher the conversations always get even better and today was no different.  We discussed the topic of boys in the elementary classroom, and particularly how female teachers can create boy inviting classrooms.  As this is something near and dear to me, I thought I would offer up a few ideas of how to get boys to feel welcome in our classrooms, or any kid really.

  • Realize the damage of cute.  Angela Watson had a great post that started a huge debate on whether classrooms should be cute or not.  While I don’t mind cute at all I do try to look at classroom decor from a boy’s perspective.  Most boys tend to not love polka dots, pink, cute little animals, and many other cutesy features we spread all over our rooms.  We may find it welcoming and others may not want to be seen in it.  So consider your entire population, not just what you think will brighten up your room.
  • Give them room.  I think we forget that many boys, and many girls (my own daughter included) need lots of room.  Find extra space in your classroom by getting rid of unnecessary clutter.
  • Give them choice for work space.  I swear the moment I let my students pick their work space, I saw their attention shoot through the roof.  Why?  Many of my students prefer working on the floor or in a chair by themselves not touching anyone else.  So give the students room to spread out so they can find their best work space.
  • Have books for boys.  This is huge.  Boys need to be able to find themselves in your classroom library.  I had never considered this until I looked at how many animal books, pink covered books, and friendship books I had collected versus sports, action, or fantasy.  I am not trying to say boys only read these things, but make sure you have books that anyone can gravitate to.
  • Read aloud books with male protagonists.  I change sex of the protagonist every book.  So while we started with “Out of My Mind” by Sharon Draper following the courageous Melody,  we are now reading “The False Prince” by Jenifer Nielsen, sucked into the heroics of Sage.  Keep it balanced for all students to find something to relate to.
  • Tap into the male energy.  I often run my ideas for lesson plans or projects to see if my husband would have wanted it to do it when he was in 5th grade and he never disappoints.  I am always reminded to add more options for the kids, to listen to their opinion, and to make it more hands on.  Engagement for all seems to go up as the students get more involved.
  • Realize your own angle.  Whether you are a male or female teacher realize that you bring in a view of how you want things to be taught, and then realize that it is not the same for everyone.  I fight this every day.  I love learning in a certain way bt many of my students do not, so choice, voice, and passion becomes central tangents in our classroom.
  • Challenge what you know.  For every time I think competition will motivate  a boy, another boy proves me wrong.  For every time I think a quiet contemplation and reflection will motivate a girl, another girl proves me wrong.  I may think I know how to appeal to children based on their gender but that’s not it at all.  In the end, I realize that it is not that I set up my classroom to be female centered on purpose but it is what I know.  We have to create environments where all students are welcome and make sure we don’t create rooms where students feel like guest rather than members.

What other ideas can you add?

students

I Celebrate the Steps in the Journey

Pernille Ripp
image from icanread

All year he has been working on turning work in.  You know the kid, he has it done but it somehow never makes it into your hands until hours later.  Or he has it done but can’t seem to find it, but then finds it a week later stuck to another piece of paper.  The sheepish grin, the mumbled excuse.  The confused look when I say I haven’t received it.  Yes, it still counts, yes, I believe you when you say it’s done, yes, you still need to get it done.I celebrate this kid today.

She has been using her time well but can never seem to finish.  She leaves her books behind and then mumbles apologies when she gets there in the morning.  She intends to finish but life seems to get in the way.  She gets it but then she didn’t.  I celebrate that kid today.

Not for their lack of completion.  Not for their lack of organization.  Not for their lack of “just do it-ness.”  But for the steps they have taken toward their goal.  That girl never used to let me know it wasn’t done.  That boy never realized it wasn’t done until I told him before.  But now?  They have taken steps to own the problem.  They have taken steps to fix it.  While they have not reached their goal, they are working on it.  And that is something I intend to celebrate.

Every journey starts with a step.  Too often we forget to cheer the kids on who are trying their hardest, sure, they may not be there yet, but it is still important for them to see we notice the effort, we notice their motivation, we notice their change.  While I will break out the big celebration when they have accomplished their goal a quick compliment or thumbs up will only make their journey smoother.  Sometimes all a kid needs is just another push, another reminder, and another smile.  Yes, I see your change.  Yes, I see you try.  Yes, it matters and so do you.