Pernille Ripp

This post first appeared on Volunteerspot’s blog. I thought it apt to share here as well.

With summer quickly fading into the distance and school starting again in North America parents are doing their best to gear up for another year. Sometimes it can seem positively overwhelming so before panic strikes, here are some things teachers would love for you to know to make the upcoming year a smashing success.

Give them a break. It’s ok if your child didn’t study the upcoming curriculum all summer because we get it; summer are for relaxation and family time. So your child does not need to come in knowing everything, in fact, we prefer they don’t so that we may teach them instead. Have them read books over the summer but give them a break from the homework if you can.

We welcome your visits, but not all the time. I love having parents in my classroom but sometimes they are just a massive distraction. So if you want to come in unscheduled, please don’t. Let the teacher know that you would like to come in and check if it is a good time, sometimes it just isn’t, and please don’t take it personal.

Let your child do the work. While some parent assistance is nice, this is not your time to shine. If your child does not get something, we need to know and there is no way for us to find out if you help them too much with their homework or projects. Instead, let the teacher know that this was difficult, that way we can do our job and you don’t have to go back to school.

If we have a concern, please take it seriously. It is very difficult for teachers to bring up new concerns but sometimes it needs to be done, so if your child’s teacher does bring up a new concern, please listen to them. Even if the behavior described is something you have never witnessed please keep in mind that there is a real reason for the teacher to bring it up. Together you can figure out whether there should be steps taken or if it just is an adjustment period.

Remember teachers are human too. We are not perfect nor do we pretend to be, so sometimes we mess up. Whatever your concern may be, discuss it with us, bring it up, but please be kind. There is never any reason to treat us terrible just because you are upset. Treat us the same way you would like to be treated.

Give us time to respond. Often your emails or messages are given prompt attention but sometimes the school day just gets in the way. Give us a couple of days, or tell us if this is time sensitive so that we may respond appropriately. We would rather give your matter the attention it deserves than a rushed response.

Trust us. We are professionals who have been hired because the district believes in us. This year will not work if you do not trust us at least in the beginning. Almost all teachers are in this job because they believe in making a difference for all students through teaching. If we get undermined at home your child learns to disrespect us as well and that makes for a tough relationship.

Let your child be responsible. Sometimes your child will fail an assignment, forget their homework, or have a bad day. Let them navigate these things to learn the deeper lessons. We all became responsible adults because our parents let us navigate life. Support your child in school but don’t help them make up excuses or come to their rescue every time they mess up, this is all part of growing up.

What did I leave out?

Be the change, being a teacher, choices

We Make Kids Hate School

September 7, 2012 Pernille Ripp

image from icanread

I think it is time I take responsibility for the damage I can do. Most definitely for the damage I have done to those kids that came to me loving school who left my room changed. Those kids that thought they were good at math until my long-winded lectures and explanations confused more than clarified, and in the end they did not know whether to ask for help or just pretend that they got it. I changed my teaching because of the damage I had done. I still change my teaching hoping that the students I teach will not leave my room hating school, but loving it instead, seeing it as the ultimate learning challenge to be embraced and celebrated. Not scorned, survived, or floated through.

So how do we make children hate school so much? I teach 5th grade and by that time certain subjects have already become hated for most kids. Math tops the list but social studies comes in a close second. Most love recess (which so doesn’t count), art, reading (not often writing) and science. PE is up there and as is music for the girls. But math and social studies, yikes. I think of how I used to teach math; lecturing at the students with hardly any time to actually apply. I thought they could go home and “practice” on their own time. Often we had so much to get through that questions were not always answered thoroughly and discussion was certainly discouraged; can’t you see we have a lot to do here? Social studies belonged to the textbook, to spice things up we would share the reading aloud of the text and I would try to catch students not paying attention so I could point out that they were not paying attention. Nothing beats a good old fashioned public embarrassment routine. By the time I was done with them in 4th grade they knew how to follow along in a textbook and fill out worksheets really well. Too bad the incredibly fascinating history we had just read about got buried in the disgust.

So what is so different now? Well, I don’t talk as much. That’s huge. In math I prepare just what is important, then showcase it, and we discuss, answer questions, and practice as we go. Time is given to finish pages in class and I never feel I have to assign it all if need be. If a students asks one of those questions that are just too hard to miss out on, we explore it and deal with the time constraint later. We pull out manipulatives and whiteboards whenever we can. We work together when desired and we move around when it makes sense. I stress that not all concepts are meant to be conquered that day and that the most important thing is growth; no longer rote memorization but application and deeper meaning. We discuss the similarities between concepts and how they are connected; I hope students see the red thread that runs through our year and why things are presented in this order.

Social studies starts much the same way; I don’t talk as much! And I no longer fool myself into believing that reading round robin style counts as interaction. Instead, the massive text book is used as a spring board for discussion. We find the key concepts and then we set off through projects to explore them. Students have choice in how they explore and often in what they explore within a topic. History is brought up to the now as we discuss the parallels we can see between the past and the present. Student questions are invited and we debate whether we would have proceeded the same way or anything else that needs to be debated. Student voice is as important as my own and so is their understanding of why we are where we are now in the world, how we got there, and that doesn’t come through rote memorization either.

So while not every kid that leaves my room falls back in love with school – sometimes the damage takes years to undo – I try to put them back on the path. I take responsibility for my own actions as a teacher and realize the damage I can do. I go to school every day with the mission for kids to love learning and to show my own curiosity and be a rolemodel for loving school. I go to school knowing that I can be the difference between love and hate and between further success in school or not. I hope everyone takes that responsibility.

behavior, being a teacher, community, new year

We Should Act Like Our Students

August 27, 2012 Pernille Ripp

image from icanread

You can feel it when you enter. It hangs around you like a fog, enveloping you wherever you go, emphasizing the true nature of the school from your eyes. Climate, and particularly a bad one, surrounds you when you enter into a school and can quickly soak its way into any perception otherwise presented. It doesn’t matter how many smiles you get, if a school is suffering from a lack of community, those smiles will not be able to mask it.

We spend so much time and thought in how we will build the community in our classrooms, perhaps even in our grade level, and yet where is our thought to how we will build community in our school for the staff? At my school, we have new staff every year, and sometimes quite a bit, yet we assume that the community we have created in years past will just flow into the new year and welcome the new staff. What a strange notion! We know as professionals that community must be nourished and preserved throughout the year and that every year we start anew. So why does this not carry over into our staff development? In fact, often in schools we act the opposite of how we expect our students to act.

We ask our students to work in groups, yet often close our own doors during collaboration time.

We ask our students to branch out and meet new people, yet we often stick to the same familiar faces, making it hard for anyone new to feel like they belong.

We ask our students to discuss problems face-to-face, dialogue about issues, and come to an amicable agreement, yet we often speak ill of one another and shy away from conflict or confrontation.

We ask our students to work with new people and not always pick their best friends, yet we sit with those we know at our staff meetings and try to get into each others groups.

We ask our students to trust us as professionals, yet we don’t extend that trust to all of those we work with.

We ask our students to actively listen when we speak, yet we often bring work into meetings or have side conversations when someone speaks.

We ask our students to be up for the challenge, to embrace change, yet we roll our eyes and fight change whenever we can unless we are the ones wanting to do it.

We say this is a bully free zone, yet sometimes the bullies can be found amongst the teachers.

So we must focus on community and not just within our rooms. We must act more like our students.

advice, Be the change, being a teacher, education reform, new year

Who Is to Blame? Who Cares…

August 23, 2012 Pernille Ripp

image from icanread

In the ever expanding debate on the state of education, it seems a lot of blame is passed around. Teachers blame parents, parents blame teachers, public schools blame society, charter schools blame public schools, and politicians, well they seem to blame everybody. Not a day goes by without another blaring headline of one side versus the other and frankly I am sick of it. I know there is blame to be passed, I know there is blame to be had, but in the end, who really cares?

Blame doesn’t do us any good. Blame doesn’t fix the problem. Yes, I can lament the fact that not all of my students have the same socioeconomic background, the same level of parent commitment, heck, I can get upset about their varying degrees of pre-school involvement, but at the end of my teaching day, none of it matters. What matters is what I do now. What matters is how I work with the students, with all of their background, and how we keep them successful from there. Blame is great to discuss, it can get us all riled up, it can get us more invested in the debate, but really it takes our focus off of where it should be – what we can do in education with the students we have.

So this year, I am going to try to step out of the blame game. Yes, I know there are many ills in our public schools and society in general. Yes, I know poverty is a major factor in many students’ lives. Yes, I know that I cannot control what happens outside of school or what happened before they became my students but I can control the now. I can play a part in what happens starting September 4th and for a whole school year within the walls of our classroom. I can focus on the students as I have them, rather than the blame I would like to assign. I am going to take my energy off of blaming and place it back with my students. I will continue to work and fight for change. I will continue to be a voice in the debate. But I will not continue to just pass the blame and do nothing. Are you with me?

change

To Change Your Change

August 21, 2012 Pernille Ripp

image from icanread

I have often pondered change and how it truly starts with me. How change is something we all probably strive for, but few of us fully embrace. How change doesn’t have to be all or nothing, but can be small steps in one direction and giant leaps in another. Sometimes change comes about out of necessity, sometimes out of sheer survival needs sometimes change comes from boredom, other times from inspiration. Wherever change comes from it does seem to be a constant in education today.

And yet, sometimes, ever so often, change is simply not enough. The idea that you have, however grand and wonderful, just doesn’t win anyone over. It doesn’t change anyone’s mind, or approach, indeed it changes nothing at all. And that’s perhaps when one has to focus on a different change; changing the people that you present your idea to. Perhaps your change would benefit from a new audience and a new approach. Perhaps your change is simply not being heard by the right ears or viewed by the right eyes. So rather than going to the one trusted confidante seek someone else out. Perhaps rather than going to your circle of cheerleaders go to someone who you think will disagree, someone who may be reluctant, someone who may argue, and then see how your change holds up.

Perhaps your change can meet someone else’s change and together you can change something really big. Perhaps together you will find out that change is not really what is needed but instead refinement or further exploration will do just fine. Perhaps change is not really that frightening and someone new may embrace it. Whatever happens, think about what you want to change and why you want to change it, then see how you can change your approach to changing it. And perhaps, in the end, you will find that change was not really needed but a new collaboration was.

advice, being me, new year

Take Your Moment

August 18, 2012 Pernille Ripp

image from icanread

Tonight I had to get out of the house. Leave with no children needing things. Just me, alone, caring for my own whims, doing nothing and everything, whatever I needed right at that moment. Being a new mom of 18 day old twins and a very active 3 year old, I am not surprised that I hit this point, indeed, it was nothing dramatic, just a realization that a break was needed so that I could continue to function optimally. And so I left when the opportunity arose, went to the mall of all places, to surf from store to store, aimlessly, yet breathing and thinking of nothing except for putting one foot infront of the other.

This has happened to me as a teacher as well, that moment snuck up on me on an ordinary day where things just were not working and I knew a break was needed. For me, for the students, for the room to clear the air so we could all start over again. How many of us haven’t had that time where our tricks didn’t work? Where our glorious lesson fall apart? Where there is nothing going right and we know we either start to get angry with the students or we just take a moment. A moment to breathe, a moment to step out if possible, a moment is all we need.

So this school year, I will take those moments if needed. I have found that with the way I teach they are very far and few in between, however, now with the addition of sleep deprivation who knows what will happen. I hope you allow yourself to take those moments as well, to realize that you are human, that you cannot solve, soothe, or fix everything all by yourself. That it is ok to call in the troops, that it is ok to step away. As long as you return, after all, it should just be a moment you need.