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.

presentation, Student-centered

Giving the Classroom Back to the Students

January 30, 2012 Pernille Ripp

I am super excited to be giving my third webinar for the awesome blue bunnies group; SimpleK12 this Saturday during another one of their Days of Learning. This time I will be presenting on something incredibly near and dear to me; student-centered learning and teaching in this type of a classroom. I have done other webinars for SimpleK12 and they are a wonderful creative way to get PD for free! So consider joining me Saturday at 1 PM ESt/2 PM CST for this webinar. See how to register below.

Giving the Classroom Back to the Students: Letting Go and Learning More

Would you like for your students to connect at a deeper level with the curriculum, to really love school and learning? Then this session is for you – a beginning guide to student-centered learning.

To Register, please click here

being me, power

I Am the Job Creator

January 29, 2012 Pernille Ripp

As the rhetoric fills the airwaves, I keep hearing two words over and over… job creators. The job creators need tax breaks, the job creators have the right to be heard, we must focus on the job creators. Well I am here to tell you something…

I drop my child off at daycare every day with a wonderful woman that teaches her how to be a member of this society – I am a job creator

I drive my car to work and sometimes stop for diesel at the local gas station, I am a job creator

I go to school and teach students the skills they need to be successful, I am a job creator

I shop for groceries to feed my family and try to stay local as much as possible, I am a job creator

I spend my extra money at the mall chasing the American dream, I am a job creator

When the economy dries up, my paycheck gets cut so that I can feel the pain of the real world. Well I have felt the pain all along working a job that pays me little in money but much in love. So don’t tell me I am not a job creator, because I am the one the spends the money that keeps the economy going. I am the one that keeps it local, buys American made, and worries about how my actions in my community affects those who held the jobs. I am the job creator with everything I do.

Be the change, being a teacher, mistakes, reflecting

We Need More Courageous Conversations

January 27, 2012 Pernille Ripp

I am wrong. I made a mistake. It didn’t work. These are all words I have had to say frequently in all of the years of my teaching career. They are not easy to say, nor easy to swallow, and yet those words are what have made me the educator I am today; someone who reflects, someone who realizes they are human, someone who admits fault.

In education we often put ourselves on pedestals, assuming no wrong. We have all of the answers because that is what we need to have. We have the solutions, the right ways. We are trained professionals after all. Except we don’t always have those answers, or the right way to do something. Things may not always work and the students do not always get the best education.

We must learn to admit when we are wrong. We must learn to reflect upon our mistakes and make ourselves better. We must realize we are not perfect and that others don’t expect us to be. We must have these courageous conversations about our own teaching, our grade levels, our classroom, and our schools. We must reflect, we must discuss, and we must learn. If we all fall under the illusion of perfection we will never change the way we do teaching. We will never change to be better. Our students will never learn from s that mistakes are glorious occasions that move us forward. Start the conversation with yourself and then spread it. All it takes is one courageous person to set the example.

And right after I sent this out Chad Lehman reminded me that we need courageous actions. He is so right; take your courageous conversations and turn them into action.

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