Pernille Ripp

There I went and did it again, tripped myself up and got lost. Once again forgot what my students had told me, thinking I knew best. Thinking I was doing the teacher thing to do, whatever that is. And yet, that nagging feeling of something not being right just wouldn’t go away. So last night I tweeted

And soon, my own fear was confirmed. Many agreed; when we dictate genres it is almost the same as dictating books. What we want is for kids to read widely (Thanks Donalyn!), not selectively and whenever we mess with choice we may end up turning kids away from reading completely.

Yet, my reasoning remains; I want to expose students to new genres. As one student told me yesterday, if she had not been “forced” to read a historical fiction book she would have never known how much fun they would be. And yet, it is the whole “force” I have such a problem with. I was forced to read certain books in school and I hardly ever enjoyed them. I would read them as fast as I could, slowing down only enough to answer the mandatory question sheet and then resume the book I really wanted to read. Just the act of “having to” read a certain book ensured that it never made my top ten list of best books read that year. I don’t want to do the same to my students.

Yet, as teachers, there seems to be times when we have to “force” things on students. Otherwise we worry they will not be well-rounded learners. They might not be ready for the next step in their education, they might not be ready for the adult world. Or will they? Can we let students choose their own education and still become successful adults within a public school setting? I don’t have the answer.

So I will call a morning huddle today, lay my fears on the line, my dilemma and see what the kids come up with. Perhaps we will just read whatever we want. Perhaps we will have 4 free choice books and 2 from new genres. Perhaps, I will ask them to just read as much as they can in the limited time we have left. I don’t know what will happen but I know my students will have ideas if I only listen. I know they will set me back on track, they always do.

difference, reflection

When We Assume Sameness

March 31, 2013 Pernille Ripp

We look the same, well kind of, my husband and I. Both caucasian, both tall, early to mid-thirties, quick to smile and seemingly always taking care of a child. Our values are pretty much the same, our hopes and dreams. We aspire to be the best parents we can be. We aspire to be secure, in love, and involved adults. We dream much the same. And yet, even with all of our similarities, we are quite different. We come from different cultures and backgrounds that permeate every decision we make. Yet, to an untrained eye one would never assume that I hail from a country other than the USA. To an untrained eye I look as American as apple pie.

But those differences linger and they erupt from time to time. Our norms are slightly different, our expectations widely so at times. The way we treat friends, what we consider the norms of social behavior are different. Small tiffs can erupt based on this, moments where we do not see eye to eye and have a hard time doing so because our background dictates a different world view. The expectations we have for our children and their behavior vary, much of it based on what is deemed appropriate and respectful in our differing nations. And yet we look the same so you would never know but those differences linger just below the surface, ready to show themselves whenever a situation arises.

How often do we do that to students who look like us? We assume they must have been raised in a society and culture much like our own and thus set our expectations accordingly. We speak so much about recognizing students from other cultures and embracing them and our differences but often only apply it to those that look markedly different than us. If a child speaks another language, well then we expect differences in norms and behaviors But when a white kid, blonde, blue eyed like myself doesn’t act like a “typical” white, blonde blue-eyed kid, then we get confused. We might have to do a little digging to find out that child is not from the same background as ours. And then we realize, oh, they are different, not quite what I had expected.

And as for me? I get assumed American all the time and yet Denmark raises its children markedly different than the typical American ways. The differences are subtle, but they are there, and they explain many parts of my personality. So perhaps our assumptions of likeness need to just stop. Yes, it is nice to assume that w all come from the same background, but we don’t. Perhaps when we embrace children from other cultures we need to move past the skin color and language they speak and truly see the whole gamut of differences we may have. I know my life would be slightly easier if we did.

Be the change, Reading, reflection

What the #Nerdybookclub Taught Me About Reading

March 29, 2013 Pernille Ripp

I have always been slightly nerdy, ask my oldest friends and they will tell you stories of eye rolls whenever I discussed the latest sci fi flick I couldn’t wait to see. Or get me started on a favorite author and watch. I haven’t ever been a geek, I would have to be really good at math for that, but a nerd, that I could embrace. My adulthood didn’t change my nerdy ways but only sophisticated them. I could now pass ubernerdy things of as cool and stand behind them tall. And when being a nerd became kind of cool, I was so nerdy, that even my husband still laughed a little bit at me when i got too out there.

So when I fell into the Nerdy Book Club I knew I was at home. All of these book lovers in one group, oh and the hashtag and the chats; I was home. And yet even I could not have realized how much the Nerdy Book Club would change me and the way I teach.

So The Nerdy Book Club taught me that

It is okay to get really, really excited about a book and want to give it to everyone I meet. I am thinking of you “The One and Only Ivan.”

It is ok to want to talk books with friends, even if those friends are 20 years younger than you.

It is ok to bring in my books to school and perhaps sneak a chapter or two during recess.

It is ok to weed out my library and finally get rid of the books that no one has touched, no one will touch, and to give them to others who might.

It is ok to not do book talks.

It is ok to not do whole group books unless it is so deep and so rich that the whole class will actually stay engaged.

It is ok to tweet out pictures of new books you have received because you are so gosh darn excited about reading them.

It is ok to tweet authors and hope they will respond to you.

It is ok to have your class tweet authors and hope even harder that they will respond to them.

It is ok to have a pile of books beside your bed that never quite seems to diminish and yet entices you to sit down and read every time you pass by it.

It is ok to change from a clothes shopaholic to a bookaholic as long as you don’t go broke.

It is ok to watch your home library start to bleed into your classroom library because some of your kids are ready for a bigger challenge.

It is ok to do book challenges as long as they do not suck.

It is ok to not love a book and tell students that.

It is ok to make book trailers rather than book projects.

It is ok to think books, breathe books, talk books even if no one is listening or cares.

It is ok to have the reading taste of a 5th grade boy.

It is ok to think that reading and loving books is the most important thing we can ever model for our students and our own children.

Thank you Nerdy Book Club

Uncategorized

Not All Students Care About Their Test Results So Do We Make Them?

March 27, 2013 Pernille Ripp

image from icanread

As the testing machine continues to churn in our public schools we seem to have forgotten that not all students actually care to do well on them. Not all students do their best. Not all students try their hardest. Yet we operate under the assumption that of course they must care whatever the test result will be because it has an impact on their life, right?

Coming from a 5th grade grade perspective this is a reoccurring theme in class. Some students want to do well because they want to please me, some students want to do well because they like taking tests, and some students, well, they just don’t really care. And I don’t want to get them to care. I tried, once, by having them know their previous time for taking the test and encouraged them to slow down and really think about it, take their time and be meticulous. What happened? Most of them were so riddled with anxiety since I had ow placed so much importance on the test that they did worse than if I had kept my mouth shut. Lesson learned.

Yet, those same test scores will in the future be part of my educator effectiveness score thanks to our governor Those tests that most of my students whiz through not because they are mastering them but because they don’t really give a hoot, will directly determine whether I have a job or not. And yes, the computer tries to slow them down and even gives me an error rate which no one then cares about because they are only looking at the final score. So I face a dilemma; do I try to make them care or do I close my eyes and wish for the best? We joke around about sabotaging the first test of the year so that students automatically will show growth and yet, I could never do that to my students. What kind of lunacy would I be feeding into then? I would be placing importance on an arbitrary test that I don’t find important at all.

Standardized test operate under this false assumption that all students will try their best thus leading to an accurate view of their knowledge level, thus leading to how effective I have been as a teacher and how smart they are as students. How anyone can follow that logic and agree astounds me. It fails to take into consideration motivation, outside factors, and general attitude in classroom, and yet, all the “experts” say that it is fair. Fair to whom? The people who wrote the test and sold them? The kids who have to pretend to care what a computer tells them they can or cannot do? Fair to a teacher who works their tail off to make school engaging and relevant, everything the tests are not? I don’t know. But something is rotten in the testing machine.

connect

My Blog Goes to Facebook

March 26, 2013 Pernille Ripp

I am still not sure where I am headed with this, but I am trying it anyway. I felt that this blog, “Blogging Through the Fourth Dimension” needed another dimension, one in which people can interact more and express their opinions. I also wanted a place to showcase some of the incredible stuff I see and read on a day-to-day basis, somewhere to collect my thoughts other than Twitter with its fast pace.

So I have a Facebook page now for the blog, nothing too fancy, nothing too much, just a simple page where I hope others will share their thoughts on the thoughts I share. Where I hope others will post things that make them think. Join me there for another dimension than just this one.

Join this blog on Facebook.

achievement, students

Just Practice It Again and Again and Again

March 25, 2013 Pernille Ripp

“You’re going to practice it again and again and again and again. . . so there’s a chance you can finally do that level of work.”

Words taken directly from the video “From the Page to the Classroom: Implementing the Common Core State Standards – English Language Arts and Literacy” Words that chill me to my bones. If you ever want a child to tune out of their education, you ask them to practice the same skill again and again in the same way. Not reading a lot, but reading one book over and over until it is mastered. Doing the same math problem over and over. We know that it is not just repetition that fosters understanding, but relevance, interest, and engagement as well. Students stay engaged when they are faced with problems that they can successfully master or can access different ways of getting through them. Students become successful when their curiosity is piqued. How does repetition of the same thing pique anyone’s curiosity?

I was awful at math in gymnasium, and yet I had chosen it as my line of study. I asked my teacher for help again and again, and over and over she showed me the same way to do the same problem, failing to understand that us being stuck in this track of help led us nowhere. I needed a new approach, someone else to explain it to me and so do our students; if a book is not helping them, then we must search for something else. If the approach that I take to explain something is not helpful then another way must be found.

Now I now some people will say that repetition is how we learn anything, and yes, thoughtful repetition does help us learn. Repetition in the type of problem we encounter, but not the actual problem itself. So forcing a child to read the same text whether it is accesible to them or not hoping that they will catch up to their peers is ludicrous to begin with and then having them re-read it over and over in the hopes that it will all of a sudden click, well that is just insanity.

So when we now all rush to implement the common core, will we be the ones telling our students to just do it again and again and again? Or will we be the ones that find a way to work with the standards, ensuring that our students’ curiosity for learning is protected? And has anyone stopped to ask the students how they want to learn? Or do their opinions not matter?