Pernille Ripp

Yesterday as I eagerly browsed through the new Scholastic catalogue, my eyes caught this

And my heart sank

And then I got angry

And then I knew I had to blog about it

Whatever happened to the notion that reading expands your mind? That reading helps you see the world through a new set of eyes? That reading, whether fiction or nonfiction, makes you a well-rounded human being? It seems to have disappeared, swallowed by Common Core, test prep, and scores that determine the fate of every child. Now reading is to cram as much as knowledge into your head only so you can regurgitate it onto a test. Shove it all in there by memorization, who cares about deeper connections or questions to ponder? Just read, read, read, read and please make it nonfiction so that it is all facts, more knowledge, more things to know so that we can test you on it. After all, facts is what makes a great problem solver, right?

I hate the bastardization of reading that is happening here. I hate how reading becomes quantified through logs, broken down into data pieces, smothered through a heavy-handed focus on nonfiction rather than just reading. Reading for the love of it. Reading for the sake of it. Reading for the joy of it.

I hope Scholastic comes out with a catalogue that says, “Parents: Reading leads to new adventures!” or “Parents: Reading can be an escape for your child!” Or “Parents: Reading will deepen your child’s creativity!” Somehow I am not sure that will happen anytime soon, but we must hope, and we must fight. Our love of reading depends on it.

PS: As it was mentioned in the comments, look at what they highlight as great nonfiction reading: An encyclopedia, a math dictionary, a spelling handbook, and a world atlas. Couldn’t they at least have highlighted some great nonfiction books like “Bomb” or “Lincoln’s Killers” which I know they sell?

Be the change, homework, new year, no homework

How To Get Rid of Homework in 11 Steps – Or At the Very Least Limit It

August 19, 2013August 19, 2013 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

I was asked by SImpleK12 to do a webinar on how to get rid of homework and realized as I prepared for that although I have written a lot about the reasons why to get rid of homework or at the very least limit it, I have never written about how I did it in my own classroom. With the advent of a new year now is the perfect time to get rid of homework or at the very least limit what you assing! (Note by homework I mean the traditional worksheet, out of school projects and such. ) Here are my ideas:

How to Get Rid of Homework in 11 Steps:

Find the desire. Be honest with yourself; how many times do you know exactly what the results will be from the students when you assign a piece of homework? How many times do you know who will hand it in perfect, who will hand it in half-finished, who will never hand it in? I knew and I think many of us do. This was a huge reason for why I got rid of homework and here are more. To get rid of homework you first need to have the desire to do so to be able to stand behind your decision.
Do your research – You are going to face an uphill battle in some situations so you need to know your research. Fortunately a lot exists to support the idea that homework does not enhance learning as much as we think, particularly at the elementary level. Look up Alfie Kohn and read his stuff, he has done a lot of research for you already.
Involve your administrators. You have to be upfront and transparent here, particularly if you work in a more traditional school setting where you may be the only one getting rid of it. Explain your reasoning and present them with the research. Perhaps they will not support getting rid of all of it (perhaps they cannot because of directives) but they should be able to support you to limit it.
Involve your team. I think it is vital to also involve your team and explain what you are doing and why. My team knows that I don’t believe in homework and they respect that. It is important that even if they do not agree with your decision that they see that it is not a rip on how they do things. And the more you discuss it, the more they may start to come around as well.
Front load with parents. I tell my parents in our welcome letter that there will be very limited homework and why. Invite the conversations and questions right away so that they can understand why your classroom may be different than others. You may be surprised at how parents react so give them a chance to speak to you about it.
Think about each subject. What do you traditionally assign and why? Can you structure your time differently to include work time or practice time? How can you still cover what you need to cover to check for understanding and depth?
Start at the end. I plan backwards meaning I think of where we need to end up and then try to envision how to get there. This works incredibly well with student choice as well since that way I can include student ideas and thoughts in the process. This also means I know exactly what my learning outcomes need to be and where we are headed.
Stop talking! The biggest consumer of time in a classroom tends to be the teacher. I know I felt like I had to be the knowledge bearer and thus had to impart that knowledge on my students through lecture. I now realize my mistake; students will understand and love whatever they are learning about if they get to explore and dig into it rather than sit and listen to me explain. While I still do openings and support throughout, I got rid of homework by letting students work on concepts in class rather than listen to me.
Check for understanding through conversation. Often I used worksheets or projects to see how much my students understand, now I accomplish that through conversation. This seems so simple and yet conversation and checking for understanding is the quickest and most accurate way to see what a child knows and what you need to help them with. I often have a clipboard or a notebook with me as I check in so that I can jot down any observations and assessment I take throughout class.
Start small and easy. I got rid of homework in almost every subject my first year of doing it and I now only ask students to read 30 minutes outside of school but do not check it (I can see who reads and who doesn’t). You don’t have to do what I did though, you can just find one subject area and cut back there.
Don’t beat yourself up. I thought getting rid of homework meant that I never assigned anything ever again. This is not how it is in reality for me. There are times where I assign students tasks but I try to make them meaningful and worth their time. I limit the times I do and I try to give them a long time to do things outside of class. You don’t have to be perfect to make a difference. I have written about my struggles here so don’t feel you have to be perfect as you get rid of it, but do take steps to think of the meaningfulness of the things we ask students to do outside of our classroom. Start somewhere and reach out if you have questions. I am here to help.

I am a passionate 5th grade teacher in Middleton, Wisconsin, USA, 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. First book “Passionate Learners – Giving Our Classroom Back to Our Students Starting Today” will be released this fall from PLPress. Follow me on Twitter @PernilleRipp.

collaboration, global read aloud, Reading

The Global Read Aloud – How Edmodo Helped Connect 30,000 Students

August 19, 2013 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

On August 7th I was lucky enough to present at this year’s Edmodocon. While I was not able to fly out there due to pregnancy complications, I was able to be a part of this incredible event that reached more than 27,000 educators around the world.

My presentation is now live on Edmodo and I will say it turned out alright. So if you would like to hear more about the Global Read Aloud and how to do global collaboration in general view it here

Reading

Small Reading Ideas for the New Year

August 18, 2013 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

I keep stumbling across amazing reading ideas that I cannot wait to implement. The only problem is that since I am pregnant I keep also forgetting these amazing reading ideas and no matter how many times I bookmark them, I still cannot keep them all straight. SO why not make a list to help me and perhaps help others as a new school year gets ready to start?

Create a “Hot Books” bin in my library. This idea came from Choice literacy and I love it. Last year The Maze Runner, The Lions of Little Rock and anything by Adam Gidwitz were the must reads of the room. So why not acknowledge with its very own book bin? I think I may have to get a red colored one just for this purpose.
Create a “New Books” bin. I book talk all of the books we received and when you are addicted to books like I am, that means we get a lot of new books. But once they have been booktalked they seem to disappear in the many bins of books. SO this year I will have a bin specifically for the latest books to our library. I just need to figure out where I then want to put it. Thanks Choice literacy for this one too.
Doing a book meeting time. I love this idea from Ann of having students grab a whole bin of books and a sheet of paper and then sit on the floor looking through all of those books writing down comments and starting their to read list. I can see this being great at the beginning of the year especially, but also when reading slumps hit. I think it is a must for students to have several books to choose from next so that there never is a book lag.
Continue book speed dating. I love this idea from Colby Sharp of grabbing huge piles of some of my favorite books and then letting students browse through them. I set a time limit of a few minutes so that we stay purposeful. Messy and loud, sure, but totally worth it.
Sharing reviews on Mrs. Ripp Reads. I started a book review blog for my old students and have kept it going over the summer, now I think it is only natural if the kids who want to also get to add their reviews to the site. I cannot wait to see which books they want to review.
Figure out the “Just Right” book. I despise the way the term “just right” has been manipulated into being all about levels. Instead I want to lead discussions on what it means to find the just right books for ourselves. Just right can mean perfect interest, length, subject, theme, or anything else that makes a child gravitate toward that book. I want my students to be aware of their own book picking patterns so they can find more books to love.
Invite in Book Buddies. This year I will be opening my doors to parents who want to come in and read with the kids and for the first time it will not just be those kids who needs someone to read with them but open to any child. And where before we would book talk books, this year it will be all about sharing a great picture book or chapter book and developing a love of reading a book together.
Hype the picture books. I have been spending a lot of money on getting great picture books into the classroom, the only problem has been wrestling them out of Thea’s hands to actually bring them in. I think my students tend to forget how wonderful picture books truly are and so we will be carving out specific time every few days just to love a picture book and then share that love with each other. This will also be great for our 1st grade buddies who will have a lot more books read to them.
Create space for students to share the book love. My students last year loved showing off the covers of their books on a bulletin board but this year brings a new group of kids so I will be asking them how they would like to display their books read. Perhaps in their lockers? Perhaps on the wall? Perhaps Biblionasium or our blog? Wherever it ends up we need to find a place to show off how much we read.
Ask for donations. I have never done a DonorsChoose project before but when I added up all of the money I spent on books last year I realized now was the time. With our 4th child on the way and having my salary frozen, I need to stop spending so much out of my own pocket. So I am asking for books for our library to replace the ones we have lost, to get kids hooked on the right book, and to just make sure that every 5th grader that flips through it finds something to love. I am hoping someone will help us get more books.

Those are just some ideas bouncing in my sleepy head, I am sure there will be more to share soon.

Be the change, being a teacher, new year

Are You Ready to Stand Behind Your Words?

August 16, 2013 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

One week left of vacation as I write this from Chester, Massachusetts. One week until 25 students walk in through our door, eager to learn, not quite sure what to expect. One week until I put my money where my mouth is and live the things I preach.

It is easy for me to write about all the things I am going to do this year. It is even easy for me to tell others to do what I do, try what I try, believe what I believe. But when those students show up with all their wonder, with all their personality, with all their quirks, that’s when the real test begins. That’s when I have to live what I say. That’s when Common Core meets ELO’s meets learning plans meets IEP’s meets unique personalities. That’s when my expectations meet reality and I quickly realize that these kids are not quite where they will be by the end of 5th grade and that I need to go back to the beginning. That’s when I realize that even though I have thrown out punishment, thrown out rewards, thrown out grades, and limited homework for 3 years now, every year it still feels like I am starting over.

And yet, because I put my beliefs out there, because I tell my kids this is our classroom, because I believe in giving the classroom back to the students this year will be a challenge once again. A challenge I cannot wait to embrace. A challenge I cannot wait to tackle with my students.

What about your words? Will you stand behind them as the year starts? As the challenges come? As the pressure grows? Will you stay true to who you say you are or will you cave into easiness?Let’s face it, it is easy for us to say what we will do but hard for us to do. The real challenge is not saying it, the real challenge is doing it. Are you ready? I know I am.

inspiration, new year

Some Videos to Inspire at Back to School

August 12, 2013August 12, 2013 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

I wrote my post asking administrators to inspire us back to school simply because of my own hopes and dreams. I wrote it in the hopes that it would make someone think while they prepared their own meetings and activities, and it seems to have done just that. One question I have then gotten is which videos to show at back to school? And while I had a few in mind, I asked on Twitter and got many great responses. So in no particular order, here are some of my favorites. (I tried to pick shorter ones because I know my own attention span is limited at the beginning).

Brave by Sara Bareilles – I will be showing this video to my students as well, but the message in it applies to everybody; I would love to see how big your brave is!

The Fairy Scientist – to remind us how kids wonder and we should cultivate that.

Suli Breaks – Why I Hate School but Love Education. I use this with my students to discuss what the difference is between education and school and how we can change it. I would love to see this as an all staff conversation.

Suli Breaks – I Will Not Let an Exam Result Decide My Fate. Again, phenomenal spoken word that is sure to get discussions started.

Rita Pierson – Every Kid Needs a Champion. Phenomenal video discussing those kids that need us the most.

Diana Laufenberg – How to Learn? From Mistakes. Another phenomenal Ted talk from someone I admire greatly, this will spur a great conversation with anyone.

Introduction to Genius Hour. I am super biased here since I do both Genius Hour and Innovation Day so why not spread this wonderful way of learning.

Kid President – A Pep Talk. One of my favorite videos from last year and one that still resonates with me; It’s time to do something!

Jimmy Casas shared the videos he shows, there are some great ones here too I haven’t shared.

And then why not create your own school vision video like we did a few years back. Let everyone know what we stand for.

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