Pernille Ripp

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

Uncategorized

We Don’t Own Their Learning

May 27, 2012 Pernille Ripp

We talk about summers as if they are our enemy, something to be combatted with reading lists, report card comments urging more practice and for some even packets that need to be filled in. We battle the summer slide with pep talks, with promises of learning to come and inspirational speeches. We battle it with threats of how much they will lose, how much harder the next year will be, how much they will have to catch up. But did it ever occur to us that we don’t own the learning? That just because school is out, learning doesn’t stop? Sure, it looks vastly different. No desks, no bells, no schedule. No dictated curriculum, no things to hand in, no feedback to be given or processed. Just learning, in it’s pure, childlike wonder stage.

Now I know that not all children will get amazing learning opportunities in the summer. Not everyone gets to go to science camp, have a tutor or even parents that are around in the summer. I didn’t go to any programs, camps, or staged learning envirnments; I played all summer long. I went to the creek and looked for frogs, I climbed trees and got stuck. Sometimes read a book. Some kids don’t even get that. Some kids get less learning opportunies than that even. And yet, perhaps, they are still learning too.

So, yes we can worry about our children when they leave our classrooms, but we should not pretend that learning stops. Instead we should show them what learning looks like outside of school, in case they have forgotten. Instead we should tell them what we look forward to doing, how we will be learning. I plan on reflecting, refining, reading, and exploring with Thea as much as this crazy pregnancy will let me. I will be learning away from school, away from classrooms, away from anything structured but I will still be learning and so will my students. I don’t own their learning, they do.

assessment, testing

Give Me More Data – When Students Are Just Numbers

May 27, 2012 Pernille Ripp

All night my mind has been spinning after watching this video posted first by Alfie Kohn and then discussed by Larry Ferlazzo. You see, my district just started using MAP testing this year so the conversation shown makes me wonder if I will be that teacher having that conversation. I wonder whether I will have to share a student’s weakness with them to get them to score higher, achieve more, and I shudder at the thought.

MAP testing provides a nifty number, hopefully one above 200 and also above whatever number I have been told the student should score above. And that to me is once again part of the problem; it is a number. An arbitrary number at best that changes when a student has a bad day, doesn’t concentrate or simply does not take this formal assessment seriously. This is evident in the video when the teacher asks the students what they think happened since their score went down. But even more so, that number is just a number, sure it breaks down into percentiles so I can compare my students locally and nationally. And yes, it breaks down into strands, but what in the world does that all mean? What does that number tell me that i can bring back into the classroom and teach those kids better?

Unfortunately having moved to MAP testing means I am no longer expected to assess my students face-to-face who score above a certain Rigby level, the MAP testing does the job for me, so no sub time is given to do so. And yet, those assessment conversations are the conversations we need to have. Those conversations are what should be shaping my teaching because I can weed out whether a student is simply having a bad day, whether there is confusion in the directions, or whether it is a true assessment that can be used to set goas. Apparently, though, a computer can do this better than I can. The computer is more efficient than me and apparently more trustworthy in its assessment. And yet I squeeze in the face-to-face assessments when I can, sub or not sub, because I need to hear my students read, I need to hear them discuss questions, I need to watch them problem solve in math. If I don’t see those things, I am not able to teach them well.

So I still meet with my students; not to discuss their weaknesses as is favored in the video but rather highlight what they are secure in and where they are developing. Language matters. I don’t sugarcoat the truth but I do choose my words carefully. I use the data as yet another piece of data but wonder why we are so data-obsessed in the first place? Why don’t we just use the data we have already in a better way? Why the need for more numbers to crunch, more numbers to graph? Is that all students should be reduced to; numbers? I don’t know what MAP testing will do to my teaching next year, I will have to withhold my judgment, but after watching the video, I am scared.

behavior, being a teacher, punishment, Student

"Why Do You Only See the Bad, Mrs. Ripp?"

May 23, 2012July 24, 2013 Pernille Ripp

“Why do you always notice me when I am bad, Mrs. Ripp?…”

I stand there, stopped in my tracks. Is that what I do? Only notice this child when they have done something I didn’t want, when they have done something “bad?” Do I ever praise them for when they are on task, not poking their neighbor, or just simply working really well? I think I do, at least I hope I do and yet, this child is on my radar more frequently than others. The level of distraction is just so high and the level of interference with others a constant. Do I ever just say, “Nice work…” or just bite my tongue altogether? I am not sure.

Perceived negative behavior zeroes us in wherever we are. The people that speak the loudest. The child that moves the most. The student that just cannot get to work because they just have to do that one more annoying thing that you swear they know annoys you the very most out of all annoying things. So if we let it, soon, that behavior is all we ever see. We only see them moving when they shouldn’t, we only see them messing about, we only see them breaking all of the unwritten rules we have worked so hard to establish. We only see the bad.

Why not give them a break? Why not let them move about if that is what they need? Why not smile or even just hold our words and let them shine for a little bit? Fill them up rather than tear them apart? Focus our energies elsewhere? Just for a moment at least. They know they are moving, they know they are poking, they know they are not working, and yet, let them figure it out. Let them feel that we don’t just see the bad, we see the whole, and that whole is good enough.

image from icanread

challenge, hopes, Innovation Day, Student-centered

What Is Innovation Day and Why Should You Care?

May 22, 2012 Pernille Ripp

On May 7th, I was lucky enough to witness almost seventy 5th grade students take full control of their learning, their time, their outcomes, and their work ethic. How you may ask? By having them all partake in Innovation Day, my second annual one. For those who do not know Innovation Day is the school version of FedEx Day (although they want to rename it); a day where students get to choose what they want to learn about as long as they create something to deliver. These creations are varied as can be seen by the different pictures in our video, but the one thing they all have in common is passion.

You see Innovation Day is all about passionate self-directed learning. I do not dictate what the students have to do or what topic they study. I do not give them output restrictions. I do not grade it. I do not guide them. What I do though is help them find a way to create, I guide them through discussion and preparation before the day and then on the day I step aside, fully confident that they can indeed achieve without me. And that is truly what is hardest about Innovation day; getting out of the way. not offering your help, not showing students how to do something or research something, but trusting their abilities and talents to navigate through every obstacle. Of course, I am there in the room with them, but I mainly film their progress and then stay in my own corner. In fact, most students are so focused on what they are trying to create that they have little time or desire to speak to me.

So why should you take the Innovation day challenge, because it is a challenge indeed! You should take it because the trust you hand over to your students is palpable. Because students realize that they can direct their own learning. Because students get excited about learning and see that many things can be accomplished at school. Because students get to show off their interests and their skills in new ways. Because this may just inspire you to do this more often, perhaps as a genius hour? Because this allows students to prove to you that they can manage their own time, that they can get things done within a deadline, that they do have a great work ethic; all things we tend to use homework for. Because my students voted Innovation Day their second most favorite thing of the whol e year and that says a lot.

So how do you get started? Well, here is my planning sheet I have students fill out a couple weeks prior. Here is the first post I ever wrote about it. Here is the post I wrote after my first one where I was totally blown away. Here are Josh Stumpenhorsts’ resources that I have used. And finally here are two videos to show you the results. One is of the day, the other is created on Innovation Day by Jacob who decided to do stop motion and by golly figured it out on his own. And that truly is what it is all about. So this year or next take the Innovation day challenge; give your students a whole day to direct their own learning and let them astound you. You will not be disappointed.

being a teacher, end of year, ideas, projects, students

What Do You Do in the Last Few Weeks of School?

May 21, 2012 Pernille Ripp

Some teachers start a countdown, others do a lot of reading. We instead have quite the to-do list to get through before my fabulous 5th graders get to graduate. So beyond the culminating projects we have going on, here are some things that are keeping us busy:

Writing thank you letters. This often overlooked skill is something I put a lot of value in so every year we take the time to thank all of the teachers and people that have helped us have a successful year. I love slipping these into people’s mailboxes.
Write Dear Future Mrs. Ripp’s Students letters. Every year I have my class that is leaving write letters to incoming students. This is way for them to give them top insider information, get them excited and I get to peek at what meant a lot to them in the year. I love handing these to my new students and seeing what they gain from them.
The Top 10. We brainstorm all of the great things we have loved doing through the year and fill a white board with all of them. Students then vote for the top 10 things of the classroom and a committee makes a huge poster for me to put on display for the new year. Again, this is a sneaky way for me to see what really stuck out to students and incoming students cannot wait to figure out what the different things are.
Clean the library and review the books. Not only do students help me get all the books back in the baskets they also get to rate all of the books. If they would not read a book they place it on the carpet and other students can rescue it. However, if no one comes to its rescue that books is given a new home.
How to Flourish in 5th Grade videos. My students have been busy writing scripts, rehearsing them, filming and soon editing videos for the incoming students on a variety of topics ranging from internet safety to how to transition to math (we switch classes). I love seeing what the students wish they had known and also having them use some amazing Adobe software to edit their videos.
Give me your favorite memory… Another committee project where every student has to add their favorite memory to a video. Again students are in charge of making this and I show it in the last days.
My favorite thing about…Every student has to a favorite thing about 3 other students on video. We then edit it together to make a montage of all the things we have loved about each other. This is always very secretive and students don’t know who has them.
Look at our time capsules. At the beginning of the year we do a time capsule with our favorite things at the moment and we also see how tall we are. At the end we remeasure and laugh about how much we have changed or not.
Give me your feedback. Students do a survey rating all of our classes, ranking their favorite assignments and their least favorite. They also give me advice and constructive criticism on what I should change.

So there are just some of the things we have to do. Like I’ve said there is a lot going on in 5th grade and every day counts. I used to have students write letters to their new teachers as well but it doesn’t work so well with the transition to middle school, however in other grades it probably would.