Pernille Ripp

My 5th grade team met with some of the 6th grade team at the middle school, one of those rare occurrences where everyone’s schedule just meshes and you finally get to sit down and discuss expectations. Hallelujah! While the whole meeting was a gem to be a part of, one thing that struck me was that the kids who are struggling in elementary are the kids that end up struggling in middle school. Simple conclusion, yes, but think about the impact of that…

Those kids who have problems handing in work, or don’t know how to ask for help, or who sit back and wait for someone else to figure it out, they keep doing it in middle school. Those kids who don’t show up to school, or show up with half of their things, who seem unaffected when we ask where their work is, or why they didn’t finish something. Who horse around, who get in trouble at the blink of an eye, those kids that the whole school seems to know. Sure ,those kids come to us like that in 5th, much like they came to their teachers in 4th the same way, and yet I wonder; what are we doing to change their habits?

The age old system of losing recess, docking points for late assignments, a stern talking to, parent phone calls, and drill and kill don’t seem to be putting these kids on a different path. Neither does compassion and community, showing that you care and giving them extra time. We don’t seem to be having many eureka moments. So what can we change? How can we intervene differently? How can we stop the cycle? That’s what I left wondering after today.

being a teacher, internet safety

I Found 8 Students on Facebook…

February 12, 2012 Pernille Ripp

It finally happened; in a passing conversation my principal mentioned Facebook and one of our students. Curious I jumped onto my account typed in the name and there it was; his profile for the whole world to see. No protection, no privacy, but all the information you could want about this 10 year old kid. I noticed he had more than 800 friends and so I scrolled through and sure enough about 8 more of our 5th graders showed up and even some 4th and 3rd graders. Yes, I felt like a creepy stalker but also I couldn’t help but think why hadn’t anyone taught them about their privacy settings? I shouldn’t be able to see his pictures, his walls, his friends

This post is not to debate the merits of Facebook. I think a lot of 5th graders are on there, whether they should be or not. It is to discuss how we are not able to teach them the safety lessons they need when we stick our head in the sand and pretend they are not. I have written about it before and it continues to irk me. As a school we do internet safety, sure, which mainly teaches the kids how scary the Internet is, instead of devoting our time to teaching them how to use the internet properly.

Now some may argue that it really is the job of a parent, but with Facebook changing its privacy policy more times than I change shoes, can you blame them if they are as confused as their kids? So I propose that we as teachers figure out a way to teach the safety and proper privacy policy of Facebook. Maybe not in younger grades than 5th although my searching found 8 year olds on there, but there needs to be some sort of open discussion. There needs to be some sort of acknowledgement that these young kids are on there and that we need to teach them to do it right.

I have used Edmodo with my students and my students are probably more internet savvy than most other 4th or 5th graders. And while I like Edmodo one drawback is that my students don’t have control over their own settings. I set it all up so that they are protected. I decide what they can post and who they can post to. Edmodo is a step yes, but it is not enough simply because it is not the wide-open world of Facebook We don’t expect kids to learn how to drive by keeping them on a bumper-padded closed course either? Instead, we take them into the real world and navigate it with them, we need to do that with Facebook. Facebook comes with such immense responsibility; why are we skirting ours when it comes to teaching safety?

being me, blogging

Is Blogging Worth Our Time?

February 11, 2012 Pernille Ripp

In June 2010 I started to blog, a journey I will not bore you with here. Since then I have updated my blog, now blogs, almost on a daily basis, letting my thoughts, mistakes and achievements flow freely. Most of it here has been education related with snippets of my personal life shining through. The change in my life has been dramatic from the smallest things such as constantly thinking about whether I can blog about something or not, to large things like the time I have dedicated (thus losing it other places), the connections I have made, the conversations I have been engaged in and even the criticism I have faced from strangers and friends alike. So I wonder whether it is worth it?

Is blogging and baring your soul really worth it to anyone? Can we outweigh the negatives, the backlashes we may create in our professional lives all in the name of transparency? Can we say the time spent blogging has been worth it when I look at my daughter and see how she seems to be growing in front of me? The self-doubt created on whether I made my mind clear or if I just said something I shouldn’t have? The scrutiny faced by others when we put it all out there? Is it all worth it?

I started to blog because I needed to reflect on my journey as a changing educator, I blog now to keep myself honest, to reach others, to connect, and to perhaps change education. But am I really doing that? Is my investment worth it? Or are the goals too lofty? Can we really change education by blogging about it?

classroom management, classroom setup, organization

10 Easy Things You Can Change in Your Classroom Today

February 8, 2012 Pernille Ripp

Let’s be honest, most teachers at the halfway point in the year are feeling a little overwhelmed with all of the great ideas they want to implement. Our students are grooving, perhaps even getting a little too rambunctious, the routines are in place and yet it seems like there are so many things on our plate. So I present to you 10 simple things to change to make your life a little easier….

Assign jobs. I have jobs for everything and they change weekly. My students take attendance, pass back papers, run messages and help pick up the classroom. They love to help, they know it is expected, and together we take care of our room. I don’t have to hound people to do their jobs, at most I give them a reminder but it is a lot easier for me to say “Do your job” than remind 23 students to sign in every day.
Be on a need to know basis. My students don’t need to ask for permission to go to the bathroom or get a drink, just let me know either through a raised hand, a look or a gesture. Class keeps going, students take care of themselves, everybody is happy.
Have extras. This year has been the needy year for markers and calculators. Instead of asking whether they can borrow something students just grab whatever they need, put it back when they are done. If they accidentally take it home, so be it. I will have to find more then.
If you can, plan right away. After my morning math class my students leave for recess. I take that opportunity to finish correcting fact tests and plan the next day’s lessons. This works much better for me since what they are secure in or not is fresh in my mind. The next morning the lesson is ready to go and we are picking up right where we left off, reveiwing, securing and deepening our knowledge.
Keep a Google Calendar. On our classroom blog we have a Google calendar where I put everything related to the classroom as soon as I know. If I am gone from the classroom, it’s on there, if we have a large project due it is on there. Parents know I update it faithfully and go there to answer their questions regarding upcoming events. This has cut back on a lot of confusion and questions from everyone, plus I refer to it in later years.
In fact, have a classroom blog. Our blog is our hub of activity; upcoming events, extra project information, pictures, videos – all have a home on our classroom blog. The students post there sometimes, I post often, and parents have a place where they can go for the information they need. I showcase it on orientation and encourage them to add it to an RSS feed or get the email updates, this has cut back paper copies by a huge amount.
Ask your students. This has to be my mantra for our classroom. Winter is here, colds are all around us and I am pregnant – all reasons that lead to less creativity in lesson planning. Yet my students are still amzingly creative and have no problem sharing their ideas. The problem lies in that we forget to ask. So take 10 minutes at the beginning of a lesson and ask them what they would like to explore, what would they like to create and then actually listen to their ideas. I promise you, you will not be dissapointed. (And yes it can fit into your standards and goals no problem – those don’t dictate the path you take).
Dance a little. This time of year can be rather depressing, particularly with winter in Wisconsin, so to bring in a little bit of fun and a little bit of sun, we take 4 minutes to dance. The students pick the song (I usually check the lyrics) and then we crank it up. We get back to work right after with a smile on our face and tensions gone.
Ask your papers where they want to go. I used to have a very strict organizational system that required me to do a lot of thinking of where I put things. I cannot tell you how much time I spent trying to remember where I had organized something to. So one summer I decided to let my papers tell me where they wanted to go. Those places now have trays in them for said papers and everything is in its place. By letting your subconscious mind create your organizational system, things seems to stay organized.
Follow the one minute rule. I am a procrastinator when it comes to filing or dropping things off. It seems like I always have something more urgent to do than to take care of whatever I have in my hand. So now I live by the 1 minute rule; if it can be done in 1 minute, do it right away! My room is cleaner, my emails are more quickly answered, and I feel on top of things. I even do this at home, what a difference it makes in a home with a toddler!

So there you are; 10 easy things you can do right now to, indeed, make your life easier. Do you have mroe to add, please do share.

being a teacher, classroom expectations, classroom setup, Student-centered

5 Steps to Letting Go and Learning More

February 5, 2012 Pernille Ripp

Yesterday I had the wonderful privilege to give a webinar for SimpleK12 on the topic of student centered learning. I am not an expert on this topic, far from it, but I am someone who has done it by following her own instincts and now can marvel at the classroom I get to be a part of. The webinar was very short and we had a lot of questions, the biggest one being, “How do I get started?” So here are the first 5 steps I took to give my students more control:

Search your heart. Before you let go of certain aspects of the classroom you have to figure out what you can live with. Can you live with more noise? More movement? More conversation? Someone asked me if it was a lot more work to teach in a student-centered classroom to which I answered no, it is the same amount of work as I put in before but now I do it in school rather than outside of it. If you cannot handle more noise you may want to dig a little deeper and try to figure out why, it may be that you fear students will goof off or get off task, which yes that still happens but much less frequently. If they are engaged they will work.
Tell the kids why. Too often we make decisions and never tell students what led us to those decisions. Every year I start out with a discussion of why our classroom is the way it is and how I envision it to run. I set high expectations for my students who are always surprised at the environment and I let them ask questions. One thing that inevitably comes up is whether they can earn rewards (nope) so I politely discuss why they should not expect that from me. That also includes limited homework (if they work hard in school I don’t need to take up their time outside of school), no letter grades except for on report cards (we have conversations and feedback instead), and no punishment (no lost recesses here most of the time).
Then let them talk. I tell the students this is our room and that they need to decide what type of learning environment they want to be a part of. This conversation is totally student-run, they brainstorm in small groups and then share their results. They do not post a list of rules or even vote. We discuss, decide and then move on to bigger things. Throughout the year we re-visit our expectations and tweak them if we have to. The level of responsibility and buy-in to the classroom immediately increases without me having to beg for it.
I challenge them. Every year, I have some sort of team challenge right after they have set the rules to see whether they can figure out how to work together. This year it was the amazing Bloxes challenge that brought my students together and got them excited. Throughout the year we do mini-challenges to continue working on teamwork and expectations for the classroom. Different students step up as leaders, again without my direction, and they share the success of the challenge together. And challenges doesn’t have to be anything crazy, it can be to give them an extra science lesson to explore whatever they want. Teachers think there is no time for this sort of thing but there is, because our engagement level is higher we get through our curriculum quicker which gives us time to explore. The biggest time waster in a classroom is usually the teacher talking at the students – how much do you really need to talk?
I ask the kids. No single thing is more important in our classroom than the voice of the students. How do they want to learn something, how can we improve, what are we missing? All of these questions pop up on a regular basis and they add so much to our curriculum. I know what the goals of learning need to be but the students can certainly work on how we will get there. Even at an elementary level these kids have incredible ideas and methods for covering curriculum thus getting natural buy-in (no carrot and stick needed) and increasing their enthusiasm for school.

This is how I get started in my classroom every year. I didn’t read a book that told me to do these things, instead I asked, “Would I want to be a student in my own classroom?” That answer is now a resounding yes! We do a lot of hands-on learning, student-led exploration, and try to keep school fun no matter what we are doing. I love coming to school, I love my students, and I am proud of what they accomplish every day.

being a teacher, future, technology

Do High-tech Gadgets Improve Learning – What a Dumb Question

February 1, 2012 Pernille Ripp

I love Time For Kids; this magazine invokes deep discussion in my classroom, it lets the kid explore career opportunities and it delivers news to us every week. This week’s blaring headline was “Technology Takeover…Schools Nationwide Are Using Technology to Teach Lessons. But Do High-Tech Gadgets Improve Learning?” At which I immediately scribbled on a post-it – what a dumb question!

Dumb because the gadget has nothing to do with the learning. Dumb because any new thing introduced to a classroom could be considered a “gadget” which makes it sound not quite serious, not quite ready to be used by students properly. Dumb because it has nothing to do with the access to a new tool but rather how you use it. In fact, you could change this headline to truly show its idiocy thus “Do Paper and Pencils Improve Learning?” Well no, not really, but how you use them do! We have all witnessed classrooms where paper and pencils do nothing to enhance the out-dated instruction being lectured. Many of us have rebelled against the stale classroom by bringing in technology tools to connect our students with the world, to give them the tools they need to succeed, while still using paper and pencils. So no high-tech gadgets do not improve learning but how you use them can.

Yet this question keeps popping up in media and school conversations. Can tech gadgets really improve learning or is it all a rueful ploy orchestrated by Apple and its minions to get us to spend more money on it? Should we be getting rid of textbooks in favor of iPads, will students ever use paper and pencils again, what will becomes of this generation? Magazines discuss these topics as if technology means a farewell to everything else we hold dear, to everything else we know and trust. But it doesn’t. Technology adds (if used properly!), technology deepens, and it can enhance. That can lead to improved learning but only if the facilitator uses it right. Like with anything else we bring into a classroom, we determine whether it is worth it, or whether it should be forgotten. We must embrace the future but that the tools of it will be the magic pill. A poor instructor remains a poor instructor with or without the technology.