Pernille Ripp

As I wrap up the year I have been tallying absences for my students with some notable surprises. Wow, that kid was absent that much, I would have never known… Or, wow, that kid hardly missed and yet they didn’t grow as much as I would have thought. This end of year project reminds me of a student I had once that missed more than 20% of the year and yet still succeeded academically. How was this even possible? He was a fast thinker, had parent support, and probably didn’t miss out on that much, which yes, is a total indictment of how I used to teach.

So fast forward to this year and conversations we have about the importance of students being here or else…I can’t help but wonder if this applies to all students, I mean, let’s face it, there are students that cruise through school no matter how many challenges we throw their way. And on the flip side there are also students who hit every bump in the road even when they are here. So is being present in school enough to spell success? Or is it just one more factor that can lead down a certain path? I think I know the answer here, that it is just one factor that can lead to success, but then what is behind our thinking and our obsession with students coming to school? Why do we get so stuck on attendance with some students but not with others?

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To You It May Be Just Politics, But To Me It Is Personal

June 4, 2012 Pernille Ripp

I became a teacher not for dreams of riches or glory but because I believed I could make a difference. I believed that I could be the kind of teacher that would inspire children to themselves become teachers. I would be the kind of teachers that would make school a place students would want to go to. I would make a mandated education meaningful and relevant. I didn’t become a teacher to get rich or even well-off. I didn’t become a teacher to get a free ride from the public or to mooch off of society. I didn’t become a teacher to have long leisurely summers off where I could do whatever I wanted, which apparently mainly involves scoffing at those who work.

And yet, if you ask the Governor of Wisconsin and many of his supporters, I had no glorious or noble intentions when I chose my profession. It is much more simple than that; I became a teacher to catch a free ride. To hustle the public into paying for my mediocrity with unlimited job protection so I can do as little as possible while collecting a big fat paycheck. I have become the reason for the recession we are in. I have become the reason for the dumbing down of American society. I have become the reason for the deficit, the lack of pay raises and the general bad state of the state of Wisconsin.

So these days I turn off the radio when the ads come on. I turn off the TV when the governor proclaims that his reforms are working, that taxpayers support him, that he is moving us forward. Forward doesn’t involve taking the voice away from the people of the state, even if they are public workers. Forward doesn’t involve cutting programs for the poorest people of the state. Forward doesn’t include dividing an entire state because you cannot reach across the aisle. Increasing class sizes and not being able to hire enough teachers is moving forward? Cutting my salary, which already is laughable, and giving me no chance for a raise, because there isn’t money for it, moving forward? I can’t even bargain for one, like they can in the private sector because that has been taken away too.

Yes, I believe in being held accountable, yes, I believe in paying my fair share, but I don’t believe that slashing the education budget is forward. I don’t believe in the governor when he says that Wisconsin is on the right path. I don’t believe that Wisconsin will become a better state because of what the politicians have done and that to me is just sad. Those who lead us should be role models, much like the teachers that are bashed every single day. So this isn’t just about politics, this is my life every day. The decisions made in our capitol affect every single thing I do in the classroom, yet where is the accountability for those who make the decisions? I hope someone can give me an answer.

being a teacher, feedback, grow, parents

Have You Asked For Parent Feedback – You Should, Even If It Hurts…

May 31, 2012 Pernille Ripp

I click on the link nervously, not sure that I really want to read what I am about to see, and yet I must if I want to continue being a reflective teacher that realizes that she still has a lot to learn. What has sent my palms into such a clammy mess? Results from my end of the year parent survey…. Something I have forced myself to do the last two years, all in the name of bettering myself.

So why the trepidation? Well, even though most parents don’t take issue with how I teach, or we iron things out along the way, sending someone an anonymous survey to fill out makes anyone nervous. Particularly when those someones are people who have seen the direct result of your teaching on their child for a whole year. Particularly when those someones speak to other someones who may just have a child going into 5th grade. Particularly when those someones really have a right to tell you exactly how they feel because their kid is involved, which means they are involved.

And yet it took me 2 years to get to that point. It took me that long to want to hear what parents truly had to say. It took me 2 years to have enough confidence to be able to really listen without getting offended, without taking it like a personal attack. Without feeling they were automatically in the wrong if they didn’t love everything I had done.

So now it is with gratitude, and of course still trepidation that I read the answers they provide. I know I do school differently than most of them are used to. I know my philosophy sometimes stands in a stark contrast to those of my amazing team members. I know this 5th grade experience may be vastly different than that of 6th grade. So I ask the tough questions and then hold my breath. I ask how I can improve, what I should focus on next year, whether I did a good enough job, because I truly do want to hear the answers. I truly do want the truth so that I can grow. There are always answers that go straight to my heart, those that make me reflect and rething, refine and reconsider. And I am thankful for that.

Asking for feedback is never easy. Listening to the feedback is even harder, and yet, I don’t look back. I urge others to do the same; ask the questions and then really really listen to those answers. Don’t ask because you feel you have to, ask because you want to grow. Even if it hurts and stings. Even if it is not what you had hoped to hear. We are not perfect, or at least I am not. I still have a lot of growing to do.

PS: My parent survey changed a lot this year thanks to help from Kaitlyn Gentry who was kind enough to share her end of year survey with me.

alfie kohn, assessment, Be the change, being a teacher, change, choices, grades, homework

Change Doesn’t Have to be All or Nothing

May 30, 2012 Pernille Ripp

I remember the first orientation day when I had to face parents and explain to them that their child would probably not have much homework in my classroom. I remember the fear that almost made me choke on my words, the way I had to remind myself to look up, the way I held my breath waiting for a reaction. Then I added that instead of letter grades students would get feedback and we would set goals, grades would only show up on trimester report cards and no where else. By now I was breaking into a cold sweat, my stomach churning, hands were clammy. Somebody had to react, and then…nothing. No raised hands, no sour faces, just a quiet wait for what else I had to share.

Big changes for sure coming from this sophomore teacher. Big changes that I felt had been necessary for me to be a better teacher and to provide a better education for the students. Big changes that I had decided to do all at once. And yet, you don’t have to. Even though I speak passionately about how throwing out grades or limiting homework has been the best decision I have ever made, that is exactly it; it was my decision. Something that I knew I had to do to restore my sanity, my passion for teaching. And yet, that doesn’t mean it is going to work for you. Perhaps my ideas are too extreme, or just do not fit with your educational philosophy and that is perfectly fine. But maybe, just maybe, you would be willing to try it for just one little assignment?

Perhaps you are curious but just not ready to go all out. Perhaps the idea of limiting homework overall sounds insane but maybe it could be tried for a unit? Perhaps rather than a letter grade, for one project, feedback could be given or students could assess themselves? Perhaps just trying something different one time will work better for you? Perhaps, you might like it, perhaps you wont, but perhaps one time will change your mind?

As a first year teacher, if someone had told me to limit homework, or to get rid of grades, I would have rolled my eyes and not listened. I would have thought them radical, extreme, or totally clueless. I was not ready for that type of teaching. I was not ready to take my teaching in that direction. That direction had to come from within me, the timing had to be right, as did the purpose. And that is ok. It is ok to not embrace what Alfie Kohn says. It is ok to have faith in whatever one believes is the way to teach, there is room for us all in education. But perhaps, we should all try something else, just once, and then see if that change is meant for us or not.

assessment, being a teacher, discussion, word choice

Let’s Discuss Your Weaknesses and Watch You Soar

May 29, 2012 Pernille Ripp

As someone who doesn’t hand out grades but rather assesses and has feedback discussions with students, I shudder at the word “weakness.” I shudder at the thought of sharing a child’s weaknesses with them based on a test. I shudder at the thought of pointing anything out as a weakness. Now, don’t call me sentimental or foolhardy, but hear me out. I know that all of us have weaknesses, I know that we all have things that need work and time and dedication. And yet, how many of us soar to the challenge of overcoming a weakness when we are told those words exactly; this is a weakness for you?

Weakness tends to connotate something set in stone, a character trait that cannot be manipulated or changed. Weakness means that a child fails in an area, that this is their achilles heel that can slay the rest of their results. Weakness is everything opposite of strength. You tell a cild multiple times that math is their weakness and yes they will believe you. They will leave your classroom having resigned themselves to the fact that math is something they will never master, that it is a weakness, and totally out of their hands.

Why not flip the word on its head and tell them it is a challenge? Why not discuss with students how they are still developing in some areas and they should focus on conquering those? Why not be realistic but not demolish their learning? We all have things we need to focus on. We all have things/ideas/concepts that are not our strengths. And yet, when we choose to call them weaknesses we accept them as such. We are done fighting to change them and instead can hold up our badge of weakness and shrug, oh well, it is just my weakness.

Words have power, we know that, and the word “weakness” has so much power it can effectively slay a person. Let’s use our words to build, to challenge, to be realistic but make it attainable. Let’s not stop a child in their tracks.

assessment, being a teacher, discussion, No grades

Throwing Out Grades Doesn’t Mean Throwing Out Expectations

May 28, 2012 Pernille Ripp

I used to be the queen of the “F.” If a student wasn’t handing in their homework, I whipped out the calculator and quickly showed them what would happen to their percentage if they kept getting zeroes. If a student wasn’t paying attention, I would show them how they would probably not do well on the test and boy that would lead to an F as well. And what if they didn’t behave, well somehow, the threat of an F could be used even then because I couldn’t have a child who was being disrespectful get a good grade. They simply didn’t deserve the good grades if they couldn’t sit down, listen and be good students. So that 60% nipped them in their heels, waiting to swallow them up if they ever slowed down in our academic race. We had things to do, papers to complete, and projects to hand in. Get on it or that F is coming for you.

Now I don’t worry about the F because in my 5th grade room a child cannot get it as a grade. And before you throw me in the fires of being an unrealistic teacher who isn’t teaching their students what the “real” world is like, let me explain. The students I get to teach are all learning. Some faster than others, some more deeply than others, but even a child that hands in a mediocre project at best has learned something. They have garnered some sort of knowledge and that to me means they have not failed. That F is removed from the equation because it ends up being meaningless when grades are not used throughout the year. It loses its strength, its threat, and frankly I don’t miss it.

Instead we discuss strengths and goals. We conference on where the child wants to go with their learning and then hatch up a plan. I don’t talk about their weaknesses but rather what they still need to focus on, where they need to go, and then the students set their goals. I don’t. Because it is not my goal to own. I am there to participate in the conversation, to hopefully ask the right questions, but I am not there to make the final decision of which path they need to travel. I am not there to talk as much as I am there to listen.

So as I get ready to write the year end report card that I have to write, I am also getting ready to have the conversations with my kids. I am ready to ask them if 5th grade was what they hoped it would be, if they feel they have learned as much as they wanted to, if they feel ready for the next year. I even ask them if they are smart. Why? Because their answers reveal more about their coming learning journey than a grade ever could. Because to a kid being “smart” is something an adult tells you whether you are or not, and that ties directly to self-confidence and how they will tackle challenges. And when the last kid leaves on the last day of school I take all of their answers with me, wanting to become a better teacher for the next group. Wanting to serve the next set of kids even more, help them take control of their learning as much as a 5th grader can, help them set goals and then attain them. I want them to come in as learners and stay that way. Not because I threatened them into it, but because they took ownership. No F’s in this room, there simply isn’t the need for them