Pernille Ripp

image from here

I have had the privilege of being a student at Teachers College this week and thus now have a brain bursting with ideas of what to do in reading this year to continue to grow our passion for reading. One of the ideas I cannot wait to implement is book clubs, something I have implemented with limited success in previous years, mostly because I was going about it in a wrong manner. While I wish these were my ideas, they are not, they are the ideas of many of the fabulous instructors at Teachers College so please check their stuff out for even more great ideas. And as always, make it your own!

What I was doing wrong:

Thinking it was all about me. I used to run book clubs like a guided reading group. I facilitated all conversation, I decided the rules, I decided what to do.
Have large clubs. I thought it would be easiest if I grouped many kids together because then I would have to read and keep track of fewer books.
Have them meet on different days. Again, since every club had to meet with me I had to do it on different days meaning I didn’t have much time to pull other small groups.
Deciding the book. I thought I should determine the exact book because I knew best.
I set the goals. And they were not really individual goals, they were for the group not for the kid.
I thought it was about the reading and their opinions, not their thoughts. So kids just needed to speak about something, not actually engage in a discussion.

What I will do now:

Groups will be small. 4 kids at the most and they will get to write a list of 12-15 kids they would like to be in a group with.
Groups will meet at the same time. The noise level will work for everyone because everyone will be engaged in their own discussion.
Book choices will be determined by the kids. There will be many choices for them of which book to read together.
The kids set the rules. They determine how they want their book club to function, what the consequences should be for kids that don’t do their part, and how they will share.
The kids set their group goals. The kids will be setting their own goals for their reading, including how much to read and what direction they want the conversation to go in.
The kids set their individual goals. Whether with me through a conference or by themselves depending on their ability, they will also make these public to the group so that they can support each other and hold each other accountable.
I will coach in. I will not be in the middle but rather in the circle with the kids, helping if I need to, fishbowling for the class when needed, scaffolding if needed, and whispering in kids’ ears to get them to engage in the conversation.
Kids will problem-solve their club when needed. They need to fix their clubs to create their learning community and that comes through working through problems, trusting each other, and growing together.
Give kids the tools they need to push their discussion further: help in the beginning, prompts for later, chart paper, post-its – whatever they need.
Confer often. Pop in and out when needed and trust the kids. This is about digging deeper into the text not just sharing ideas or opinions.
Support the kids to think deeper and discuss deeper. Remind them that they should build off each other’s ideas and not just share their thought.
Book club meetings will be short. These will be 5 or 10 minutes at the most so that students can have high quality , intense discussions, not drawn out conversations where they are not sure what they should discuss next. This will also help create a sense of urgency and excitement.
Students will sit together in their clubs even when it is not a book club day. That way they can still rely on each other for help as they read their book, even if they are not officially meeting.
You can put kids in book clubs without an actual book. Early in the year you can group kids so that they start developing the trust and also develop their discussion habits. I love this idea of a mini group that they know is theirs to use throughout the year, even if they are not actually reading the same book.

In the end, my biggest take away was that these book clubs are about the students developing deeper thoughts about their books through engaged discussion. As Kathleen Tolan said, “We are not teaching kids to get them ready for the next grade, we are teaching them to get them ready for life.” Book clubs are meant to be passionate discussions about great books that make us think. I cannot wait to give this experience to my students.

I am a passionate 5th grade teacher in Middleton, Wisconsin, USA, proud techy geek, 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 “The Passionate Learner – Giving Our Classroom Back to Our Students Starting Today” will be released this fall from PLPress but until then I muse on education on my blog “Blogging Through the Fourth Dimension.” Follow me on Twitter @PernilleRipp.

Be the change, Reading, student choice

The Danger of the "Just Right" Books and Other Helpful Reading Interventions

July 1, 2013 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

My mother never told me what to read. Neither did my teachers. Sure, I was an insatiable reader, a child that loved riding her bike to the public library only to return with the biggest bag of books my handlebars could handle. Sure, I would sometimes stay up past midnight just to see what would happen next. Sure, I used to be able to read in the car without getting carsick. And yet, it wasn’t because I read just right books. It wasn’t because I logged how many minutes I read at home and at school so that I could see the pattern. It wasn’t even because my teacher told me I would love this book and I had to read it next. It was simply because I loved the freedom of reading.

The freedom of reading….

How often do we discuss that in our classrooms? How often do we just let our students read whatever they choose and then let them discuss however they want why they just loved reading whatever they chose? How often do we let them sing the praises of a certain book even if it is not just right for a majority of the class? How often do we let them try that book even if we think it may just be a tad too hard, too long, or too boring?

The freedom to read….

We seem obsessed with the particularity of reading. Of breaking it down into nothing but strategies so that students understand what great readers do. Of logging every minute and every page. Of finding “just right” books through levels and forcing them upon children because we know best. Yet the problem with breaking something down is after a while all of those pieces become just that; pieces, and we lose sight of why we did it at all. When reading becomes a strategy to master, we forget about the love that should be a part of it as well. When we take away students freedom to read, we take away a part of their passion, a step of the path to becoming kids who just love to read. And when we continue to tell them what to read, we take away part of what it means to become a great reader: knowing thyself.

So when we discuss “Just right” books don’t forget that that may just mean just right for that kid. Just right for their interest. Just right for their passion. Just right for their curiosity. Just right for their need. And that may have nothing to do with their reading level. When we discuss strategies don’t forget the big picture and what the goal is. When we discuss logs and minutes and genres, well, just don’t discuss reading logs, please. In fact, do your students a favor and gt rid of them. If you want to see why, read this post by Kathleen Sokolowski titld “How Do You Know They Are Reading?” and then think about it.

Give students the freedom to read so that they may want to read. How powerfully simple is that.

Be the change, reflection, student choice

Our Classrooms Don’t Have To Be Perfect To Be Wonderful

June 29, 2013July 24, 2013 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

image from icanread

Smeared glitter paint greets me as I step into Thea’s room and my heart drops a little. As I cautiously make my way through her piles of things, I spot more evidence of an artistic explosion scattered throughout the room. A drenched fluff ball there. Some brushes here. Finally, in the corner sits the artist herself; beaming as she turns to me and says, “Mama, isn’t it beautiful – it is for you!” She hands me a large, dripping wet, glitterfied painting in pink and purple shades and I bite my tongue.

I want to tell her she should have asked permission to use those paints. I want to tell her that she should not be painting on her bedroom floor. I want to tell her that she should be wearing her smock and have her hair pulled back. Instead I say, “Yes, I love it!” And I mean it, and I smile, and I hang it on the fridge, proud of what she has made all by herself. The mess we can deal with together.

I think of my classroom, of how I meticulously try to plan our days together. How I try to plan for when the students will create something and how that will be created. Although I give as much choice as I can, I still feel that there needs to be a plan in place. And yet, often the true beauty of a classroom lies within those independent, creative moments. When a child takes it upon themselves to create something beautiful.

We tend to overplan, oversee, and over-manage our students, afraid that if we don’t it will be a big mess. And sure, when students create on their own, it is messy, the room shows evidence of it, and yet, the excitement and pride cannot be emulated by any other activity. The way students show off what they came up with, what they pushed themselves to do cannot be replicated by a prescribed assignment.

So when I advocate student voice and student choice, I think back to Thea, who stands at the beginning of her school career. I hope that her teachers will see the artist she is inside, the creator she carries within her, and will build a classroom where creating, making, and exploring takes center-stage rather than just listening, doing, and producing. I hope Thea, some day, will turn to her teacher and beam with pride as she shows her work, just as my students do, when I step back and let them create.

My classroom on Innovation Day – our favorite day of the year

Be the change, reflection, student voice

We Must Do More Than Just Engage Our Students

June 24, 2013 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

I recently had the privilege of having a post published on SmartBlog on something I am passonate about: student voice. And while they called it ” How to give students a voice in the classroom” I like my title better, thus the title change.

Those who know me, know that student voice is one of my biggest passions in education. And not just any student voice, but including the voice of my students, all students, in the education that is being done to them every day. And yet, when I discuss student voice, many people assume it is just another quaint term for student engagement. The truth is that it is so much more. Student voice means giving students power to change the way education is happening, to offer them an outlet and an audience, to have their voices heard. To change the way I teach.

I fight every day to include my students in their own educational experience. I fight the standards that tell us that yes, students should participate but here is how. I fight the prescribed curriculum that tells us when to stop and discuss and tells us when to keep on moving because there are too many pages to get through in today’s lesson. I fight the traditional way of teaching where the teacher is in locked control, holds all of the power, holds all of the knowledge and decides how and to whom they dispense these precious droplets. I fight because if I don’t fight, my students don’t stand a fighting chance to have their voice heard either.

So every year, I give the classroom back to my students. Every year, I have them blog, and not just what I ask them to write about but whatever they feel like. Then I give them an audience through #comments4kids and Twitter and anybody else who will listen to the voice of these fifth-graders with their grand ideas. I don’t shy away from hard topics; I don’t shy away from criticism. I cannot grow as a teacher if I do not ask my students how I am doing. How do they feel about the education that they are forced to be a part of? I give the classroom back by asking for their ideas, what their path to learning should look like and then actually incorporating that into how we do things. If lessons are boring, we don’t just get through it; we stop, reflect, and then we change it.

I say all this because it is easier than we think. Giving students a voice is not the hard part in education; listening to it is. You have to realize that when students tell you that something is boring, boring may mean that they just don’t understand, boring may mean that they are having a bad day, and yes, boring may mean that it is putting them to sleep. To facilitate a community where students actually have the guts, because it is indeed about guts here, to tell you how they feel about what you are doing — that is the sign of ultimate success in my classroom. Not the grades, not the test scores, but the kid who raises their hand, looks me in the eye and says, “Excuse me, but could we change this, please?”

So how do you start? First, you give them an outlet. Give them a blog. Kidblog can be set up in less than five minutes. Give them a Twitter account to connect them with others. Set up classroom discussion time. Ask them to make the rules of the classroom. When they criticize; listen and change, discuss their ideas and come to meaningful agreements. Your change will give them the confidence that you are not out to get them. After each unit, ask them what they liked, ask them how it should change. At the end of the year, survey them. What was the best and what was the worst. Ask the tough questions and be prepared for the honest answers. Thank them every time they criticize in a meaningful manner. Thank them every time they come up with a suggestion. Sometimes their change is not doable, but oftentimes it is; be open, be aware, and be a learner alongside them. Ask yourself: Would I like being a student in this classroom? If the answer is no, then figure out where to start with your change.

reflection

If I Were at #ISTE13

June 23, 2013 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

While life got in the way for me to attend ISTE this year and present on the Global Read Aloud, I cannot help but think what I would do if I were there.

So if I were at ISTE, I would

Probably be totally overwhelmed but loving every minute of it. Big crowds, many people, millions of things to learn = brain overload.
Meet as many people as I could and not just the “important” ones. There seems to be a sort of twitlebrity thing going on at huge conferences which I find odd. Everyone that you meet could be the next big thing so why not treat them that way?
Talk less, listen more… I mean actually listen, not just pretend to listen until it is my turn to talk. (Thank you Jen)
Go to sessions I know nothing about. I tend to go to things that I kind of know something about but I think this time it would be all about discovering the unknown.
Go to hear about things I don’t agree with. I admit that I often shelter myself from opposing viewpoints once I have formed an opinion, after all, I am merely human, but here would be m opportunity to go and listen to why people do some things that I would never ever do.
Say thank you to the people who create the things I use. Thank you to KidBlog for creating the best blogging platform for my students, thank you to SimpleK12 for believing in me, to Edutopia for giving us all a platform to share, to Edmodo for making the behind the scens stuff so easy to do for the Global Read Aloud.
Be telling people about the Global Read Aloud. I am so proud of this project and how it has grown that I just have to share it with everyone I meet.
Find some alone time. I know that seems counterintuitive to my being overwhelmed comment but sometimes we need to take the time to just think and digest while we are in action.
Remember why I came; to connect and to learn and to be myself. I think sometimes when I meet people I think I need to be something I am not, so this for me would be my chance to be exactly who I am; an extroverted introvert who laughs at strange things and has a strange sense of humor.
Find as many as my #WIAmigos as I possibly can. What can I say bit that they are good group to hang out with!

If you are at ISTE what would you do?

being a teacher, reflection

Building a Team of Teachers

June 20, 2013 Pernille Schmidt Ripp

I happen to be on an incredible team, and while I have always been on good teams, there is something rather magical about the team I on now. Whether it is sense of humor or mutual respect, I am not sure, but my team, yeah, it jives. Yet we are pretty different and we do different things, some of our major teaching philosophy points differ, and we deliver lessons differently, most of the time that would spell disaster but on this team it doesn’t. So why not?

Mutual respect. I believe my team mates are capable of teaching well and they know that.
We speak to each other. I know this sounds like a “well duh” but I am constantly surprised by how many teams don’t. We are constantly in each others rooms, we have official meetings and unofficial ones. We hang out outside of school, we text each other, and tweet each other. We discuss students, and school sure, but also life and dreams.
We know each others’ strengths. We also know each others’ weaknesses which is just as important I happen to know that Jarod is really good at getting kids passionate about their writing and Mark is a math expert. Both of them have many talents and I use their expertise whenever I can.
We care about the same thing; the kids. We do everything for the kids and we support each other to be the best possible teachers for our particular students. We also switch kids around for math so that all of the 5th grade become our kids. This is huge for us.
We are open to new ideas. I am not afraid to share ideas with these two guys, sometimes they like them, sometimes they don’t. We borrow ideas vigorously and then adapt to fit our class, no hurt feelings if we don’t use something.
We are honest with each other. And that even means if we have differences. I don’t talk poorly about something one of my teammates has done (although I cannot think of what that would be anyway) but if something does irritate we go straight to each other and figure it out.
We hear each other out. My teammates know that I am passionate about the detriment of standardized testing and punishment in classrooms. They also know how I feel about homework, grades, and all of those things that make my classroom a bit different. They always hear me out without judgment and even sometimes see my point. That doesn’t mean it wil work for them and I am ok with that.
Believe in them as professionals. I do not think my team mates are poor teachers because they do not teach like I do. We are so quick to judge others that haven’t gone a more nontraditional route and it leads to strife rather than understanding. I believe every teacher needs to teach in a way that suit them best.
We lead at different times. Mark and Jarod will attest to the fact that I like to be in control at all times, hopefully they will also attest to the fact that i know when to step down as leader. I would say our team has three leaders we all step up at different times for different reasons, that balance is huge. No one feels like they have to do everything and everyone shares the responsibility.
We laugh together a lot. Being a teacher is supposed to bring you joy so when we can we share funny things or just crack each other up. We have enough pressures from the outside, I want to have fun at school with both my students and fellow teachers.
We support each other. When I put on #EdCampMadWI they both showed up. Took the time out of their busy day and came to something because they knew it was important to me. When they saw how much I tweet they didn’t laugh or call it silly, they got it. When I told them I get to have a book published in September they congratulated me. I do the same for them, I am not jealous of their succeses only eager to see them succeed more because it boosts the whole team.

We certainly can teach in our own bubbles. We certainly can keep to ourselves and nt worry about what other people in our grade is doing. But why should we? The power of a team is the same as the power of a global PLN. Why not be surrounded by people who build you up rather than break you down?

PS: If you want to see my teammates, follow them on Twitter: Mark and Jarod (they are still learning…)