connect

My Blog Goes to Facebook

Pernille Schmidt 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

Pernille Schmidt 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?

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Be the change, change, students

Where Did the Year Go? It Is Not Too Late to Make Changes

Pernille Schmidt Ripp
Today we go on spring break and as I keep telling my new teacher colleague, after spring break the yesar seems to speed up and disappear before our eyes.  All of a sudden even the most experienced teacher starts to feel like they are not doing enough, have not gotten where they though they would, and we intensify our desire to teach more, do more, push more.  Yet, the last few months of the year is not the time to get stuck in routines or expectations, for me it has always been the time to really explore, push my students, and create.

So it is not too late to

  • Start blogging with your students.  Even 3 months of blogging is an incredible experience.  This year with my maternity leave we didn’t start until mid-November and yet my students have taken our blogging to a new level amassing more than 1,600 comments.  Look at my friend Rob Hunt’s class, they just started a few weeks ago and are already master bloggers.  If you need help on why and how please see this page.  
  • Get a class Twitter account.  I admit it, I was a skeptic   Even though I love Twitter, I didn’t see much point in my students as a class being on there as well.  Perhaps it just seemed like too much.  On a whim, I went against my own senses and did create them one @MrsRippsClass and it has been amazing to see what they have used it for.  They have tweeted authors  and received replies (!!!), They have asked for book recommendations, recommended great videos, and shared their live learning   I am already excited about what else we can think to use Twitter for.
  • Do something hands-on.  I know we tend to pull the reins tighter as students get more squirrly but I have found that if I give them even more autonomy  choice, and freedom in our classroom they live up to the challenge.  Now is the time to really push them.
  • Put it all together.  I really start to focus more on themes in our learning and bridging it all during these last few months.  One example is their dream city project currently happening; a fantastic exploration of scale, area, and models combining math, art, and science.  The best part?  The students don’t even know how much work their brains are doing.
  • Give them authentic responsibility.  We love doing Mystery Skypes and have become pretty good at them, yet sometimes they just fall apart on us.  The students have taken on the roles as discussion facilitators and teachers and have changed our process quite a bit.  They are living up to the responsibility I am offering up to them and see the results directly in their work.  I step out of the picture.
  • Start planning for Innovation Day.  My students know this won’t happen until May but their wheels are already turning.  They cannot wait to do this day of intense student-driven passion-led exploration day and I cannot wait to see what they will come up.
  • Incorporate Genius Hour.  20% Projects, Genius Hour, Hour of Power, whatever you choose to call it but look for opportunities within your curriculum to have students self-explore topics.  The concept is simple; research, create, and deliver all within an hour of the week.  We will be doing this in social studies after break.
  • Get involved globally.  Whether through quad blogging, signing up for the Global Read Aloud (which won’t actually happen until October), or doing Projects by Jen; do something global.  My students are currently working on a video introduction of our classroom for a 12th grade in Singapore, contact facilitated through Twitter.  They love figuring out how to showcase our room in a positive manner and it is all student-led.
Now is the time to push your students, have a ton of fun, and let them be independent learners.  Trust me you will not regret it.
Uncategorized

Let’s Celebrate Those Kids

Pernille Schmidt Ripp
Ask my husband and he will tell you, I seem to have been in a funk lately.  Nothing serious but just the feeling of a cloud hanging over my head.  Today, during our staff meeting, as we discussed gains in test scores, I couldn’t help but feel a little more down.  Yes, gains in test scores are something to acknowledge but there are so many other things I would rather celebrate.

How about we celebrate the kid who 2 months ago couldn’t go a day without telling me how much he hated writing, who today told me his story was done but that perhaps he needed more details.

How about we celebrate the kid who asked if they could blog just one more time because they really had something they needed to say to the world.

Let’s celebrate the kid who told me they couldn’t wait for Wednesday where they would get to build their model in science.

Or the groups of kids who told me not to worry about a sub tomorrow because they know exactly what to do and could probably run the day without the teacher.  We promise we will make you proud, Mrs. Ripp.

Let’s celebrate the kid who volunteers, even for the boring stuff, just because they want to help.

Or the kid who always has a compliment to whomever seems to need it the most.

Let’s celebrate the child that remembered the formula for a triangle and then was able to teach the rest of the class.

Let’s celebrate the kids that know they are onto something but just not quite sure how to get there.

Let’s celebrate the kid who told me they were starting over because this was no good and they knew it and there had to be a better way.

Let’s celebrate the kids who try, try, try and then tell others about how they are trying.

The kids who aren’t afraid to put their faith in me every day hoping that the adventure we are about to go on is something worth there time.

Let’s celebrate those kids and their accomplishments.

Not always their test scores.

Not always their data.

But them, those kids.  Let’s celebrate them.

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grades, reflection

School Should Not Be About the Report Card so Why Do We Let it Be?

Pernille Schmidt Ripp
I feel like a fraud.  All week I have been discussing grades with my students as we prepare to release the second trimester report card.  All weeks I have been telling them they are “3’s” or “4’s” and why they are these arbitrary numbers.  I have wished for ownership of their learning.  I have wished for them to understand what that number means and how it looks in their work.  I have wished for them to see that everything they are working towards cannot just be distilled into a number and yet we are going to try.  I have had so many reflective periods in class that I am not sure they even know what they need to reflect on anymore in the hopes that they will buck the numbers.  And yet, when I sat them down, one-by-one, to ask them what their goals were for the final trimester, most answered, “To get more 4’s.”

Argh.

Yet, I know the fault is my own.  I have tried to humanize a report card   To make it mean something to the kids.  I have tried to elevate it to something of importance rather than just add it as another part of their journey.  I have let it take center stage rather than just pointing it out as one more representation of their learning and then moving on.

This is not what school is about.  This is not what school should be about.  I have tried all year to have my students own their learning and own their journey and yet, this week, I set them back so far.  I forgot how much I hate grades.  I forgot how much I do not want to talk about them.  I forgot about how little they truly mean in education.

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Reading, students

This Is Why We Hate Reading

Pernille Schmidt Ripp
“…Mommy, just one more book…’ Thea is yelling me from her bedroom after I have tucked her in, read her a book and handed her 3 more to “read.”  The book lover in me shrugs …”Just one, then sleep.”  I smile, we are a house of readers.

“…Mrs.Ripp, just 5 more minutes?”  My students are giving me pleading eyes, they want 5 more minutes to read their books even though they know it is the end of the day and really we should be packing up.  We are a class of readers,

And yet, the thought keeps nagging me.  Why do kids start to hate reading?  What will happen to Thea when she enters school, will she want just one more book, 5 more minutes?  Or will she become like many students; reluctant to read, hesitant to dream about more books?  Will my students lose their love when they go to middle school?

So I ask my students; what makes kids hate reading?  Their first response fills my heart, “But we don’t hate reading, Mrs. Ripp, not this year.”  So I prod and ask them why not?  What do you think I could do to make you hate reading?  What do you think happens in middle school where we seem to lose kids as readers.  They journal about it and then ask to go back to their books.

Reading their responses, I am not surprised   Kids do not want to be told what to read.  They do not want books assigned.  They do not want to sit in small groups and discuss a shared book. They want choice.  They want freedom.  But they also want a little bit of guidance.  Many of my students write how it is important for teachers to read and know which books to recommend.  Many of my kids realize that sometimes they will have to read things they do not want to but wonder whether it can be a short text rather than a guided book group..

One child journals about how teachers should always read the books first and then try to think how it will feel for a student to read it; to experience it the way they do.  Then they bring up the time factor; give us time to read.  We do sports, we want to spend time with our family and sometimes we are reading another book outside of school.  Reduce our homework so that we can read.  If you really believe in reading; invest in it as a class.

One student makes me smile with their answer; “Many teachers say they love reading but then their face is all gloomy when they teach it.”  Yes, perhaps we as teachers love to read but forget to bring in that infectiousness to our classrooms.  Bring in the passion, it’s contagious.

In the end, I was not surprised  not too much anyway.  We know how to make kids hate reading because it is the same things that make us hate reading as adults.

So take my students’ advice
Love reading yourself
Give them time to read
Know your books
Share your passion
and give them choice

Then see what happens.

Update; My students heard I had blogged about their responses and they wanted to add these two thoughts:

  • Don’t do reading logs.  Ever.  Trust them instead to read.  The logs get falsified anyway and end up being homework for parents.
  • Reconsider the classics.  we may have thought we know all the classics and that students should read them and yes, I have a love of classics as well, but add new ones to that list.  The One and Only Ivan will be a classic one day just like Charlotte’s Web so why not include that one?