Pernille Ripp

classroom management, hidden rules, Student-centered

How We Became that Room

December 23, 2011 Pernille Ripp

“…And if you walk into our room you may be surprised at the noise and the mess, but to me that means the students are engaged.” So ended an elementary teacher’s presentation to my class on classroom management and I was horrified. Noise? Mess? Not this teacher! I was going to run my classroom like a machine. Those kids would know routines for everything, even down to when they could sharpen their pencil, and they would love me for it because that was part of my expectations as well. Equipped with all of my Harry Wong ideas, I was ready to whip these kids into shape and they would be so thankful. After all, how could anyone possibly learn in noise or out of their desks?

Now some years later I look around our room and we are that classroom. The one you can hear coming down the hallway, the one where students are splayed out on the floor, discussing, laughing and gosh golly sharpening their pencils whenever they like. There are no laminated rule posters hanging on our walls, there are no reminders of how to get their stuff or how to come into the classroom. There are no sticks to move or stars to give. Just a classroom being run with the students and by the students. To the untrained eye it may seem chaotic. After all students crave routines, even in their classrooms. But if you look closer, you will notice they are there. Students get to work and stay focused, they treat each other with respect. They tell me in the morning when they forgot to do their homework and they ask to work on it during recess or to get it to me the next day. They have their things organized, they know when I need their attention, and they know how to treat each other. Behold, the managed classroom without the overt rules.

I did not start this way, in fact, I am not sure any new teacher should. As a new teacher it is so important that you discover who you are as a teacher, that you discover your own best practices and then start to question them. Question the ideas you are taught and see how they fit into your vision. I was taught that I should post the rules of my classroom so that the students would be continually reminded of what the expectations were. Except I like clean walls, and I don’t think students need constant reminders. Down came the posters and my room somehow got uncluttered. I was taught that I had to be the ultimate authority in the classroom or it would turn into Lord of the Flies, except I found out that by sharing the authority I created autonomous learners that were much more engaged. I was taught that students would learn better if they were rewarded with stickers or A + but found that we didn’t need the extrinsic motivation if the learning was worth it. How did I learn all of this? By watching my students and questioning my own practices and then trying it. I was terrified the first year I threw out the rules. When I told my students there would be no rewards and no punishment I thought I would have a riot on my hands, kids who refused to work, homework that would be weeks late, and instead? No change. In fact, the kids shrugged, no big deal, they knew they had to get to work.

So this year I did the unthinkable; I didn’t tell the kids the rules. I instead asked them what the routines should be and what type of classroom they envisioned. They discussed without much of my input and that was it. We didn’t make a poster, we didn’t all pledge to follow the rules, we moved on to more exciting things. Now students live up to the they expectations set and they help each other work well in the classroom. If a day is louder than normal, then I know we need to get out of our desks and I adapt our learning to their moods. By being clued in to what their behavior is telling me, we have a lot smoother days because I am not trying to squeeze them into my box of expectations. They are in the truest sense of the word active learning and teaching participants.

So how can you make this work for you? Start to question what you have been taught. Question those tips and tricks you were given that didn’t seem natural to you. Ask yourself how do you learn best and then ask everyone else you meet. The answers may surprise you. Ask the students; their voice is the most important one in the room. Yes, that’s right; their voice, not yours. Create a space where the students feel comfortable, welcome, and have ownership. Show them you trust them to make great decisions and then give them an opportunity to do so. Change your curriculum to fit their needs and get them moving; long periods of stationary work lead to restless bodies which means their minds have long since wandered off. Have i fit their age; I teach 5th graders so I can expect a lot more autonomy than I can from a roomful of kindergartners, but even our youngest students can own the room. And most importantly; believe in your students. Believe that they have buy-in in the room, believe that they care about it, and then give them a learning experience that they actually do want to care about. Tear down the authority between you and them and give them a chance to prove you wrong. Give them a chance to show that they can work without the overt rules, that they can set the expectations, that they can rise to the occasion.

being a teacher, Student, testing

It’s the Least We Can Do

December 21, 2011 Pernille Ripp

Image via Wikipedia

In this numbers obsessed society, test makers have figured us all out. They have realized that if they make the test long enough, tedious enough, and fill them with multiple choice or scantron-able answers then we will assume they are valuable. What more is that they have figured out that they can even sell us software that will grade the tests for us, break down all of the date, and create a nice graph. Testing done. Results at hand.

Except if we are to test students, then at the very least we should look at those tests. We should try to decipher their answers, create our own data, and meet with them to discuss it. Yes, a multiple choice test is cleaner and easier but it also provides less of a view into the heads of our students, into their thoughts, into their learning. A clean test that a machine can correct provides us with data, nothing else, points to be graphed with no clear direction or at the very least not a very detailed one.

So if we must test the children, then do them the favor of correcting it yourself. Give their work the time and effort you expect them to put into taking the test. It’s the least we can do.

being a teacher, social media, Student

How We Fail Young Students with Facebook

December 18, 2011 Pernille Ripp

Image representing Facebook as depicted in Cru...

Image via CrunchBase

A gaggle of 5th grade girls all sit around a lunch table obviously in a deep discussion. As I walk past them, one word makes my ears perk up and my step slow…Facebook. Immediately the teacher in me wants to interrupt, remind them that they are 10 and 11 which according to the law means they are not allowed to be on Facebook, and yet I don’t. I let them and their conversation be and instead head to my room and ponder the hypocrisy that is the age restriction on Facebook.

To be a legal member of Facebook you have to be 13 years old. The site makes this very clear, and yet we all know that the this rule is being broken on a daily basis as 4th and 5th graders sign up and start using the site. And while we can sit here and discuss how kids are just too young to handle to the responsibility of such a decision at that age, I think we should instead move on and discuss the real ramification of these sign ups: Kids that are not being taught how to use the site safely, because we choose to pretend they are not signing up. And yet, they are signing up, and they are using it to their full potential; the good, the bad, and the bullying. So rather than releasing educated students onto a social media site, we stick our heads in the sand, cover our ears and pretend it isn’t happening.

So as teachers we are once again put in a situation where we cannot teach kids skills that would be beneficial to them in the long run. Skills they for sure will need in middle school. Rather than confronting Facebook head on in the classroom and discussing how to use it, we ignore it, give stern warnings, and move on as if this will stop kids from signing up.

In America we seem to have a tendency in general to cover our ears and pretend kids are not doing things they shouldn’t, rather than actually teach them how to do it safely. Just look at how sex ed. and underage drinking is being treated. So as a society we would rather hold up the rule and say, “Well, they shouldn’t be doing this!” rather than face the facts and give them the proper education to handle it well. Again, this discussion isn’t meant to be about whether kids are too young to be on Facebook, much smarter people have written oodles about that. It is to bring up how we as a society should be giving kids an education in social media before they start to sign up rather than trying to patch things up later in life.

We fail these children when we pretend that they are not on Facebook at ten years old. We fail to teach them right, to show them how to behave and move around in a virtual social media site. How to deal with being friends with people or un-friending, how to post properly, what not to post, and how to treat others with respect. By being a restriction that is still so easily accessible to children, it becomes the ultimate must do. And perhaps Facebook isn’t what is so scary about this whole thing, but rather kids that have no idea how to use it properly. And that is for us to fix, if society would let us.

attention, choices, Student-centered

How Do You Get Kids to Pay Attention?

December 15, 2011 Pernille Ripp

I see a lot of articles discussing how to get the attention of students and am continually amazed at what these advice pieces seem to miss. Often the advice includes asking questions, which I agree with if they are the right kind of questions; please don’t ask them what page you are on, that does not count as a great question. It also includes giving students an incentive “The first 5 kids to buckle down will get to pick what we do next!” Or even to have a vote on something totally irrelevant to snap them out of their boredom; “Raise your hand if you like Christmas!’

It is not that I am better knowing, but I shake my hand at all that is missed through these suggestions. How about instead of bribing or tricking students into pay attention, we offer them learning opportunities that they actually want to pay attention to!

I know most of us are under guidelines for what we need to teach, but, a lot of us also have a choice in how we teach that. How about we transfer the choice to the students? How about rather than telling them what to do, we explore it with them, thus creating natural buy-in. Now I am part of a scripted math program as well and there the rigidity is more noticeable. Instead of bribing the kids, we work hard and then we get to do more in-depth explorations. I change it up often, even if it just means having the students move around and we do a lot of $2 whiteboard activities that involves all of the students rather than me standing up in front talking.

The point is; if we want students to pay attention, make it worth their time. We cannot keep expecting them to pay attention just because we want them to. Just because we were forced to pay attention in class doesn’t mean we should do the same thing to our students. It is our chance to not do school to them as it was done to us. Take it.

being a teacher, student driven, Student-centered

Keep the Focus as the Break Nears

December 15, 2011 Pernille Ripp

We are all a little antsy and just a little busy as the holidays draw nearer. To keep the focus in school and still have some fun here are some things we have been doing in my room.

Start a lunch time book club. All three 5th grade teachers did this so that the students had some choice in book. We meet once a week to eat and discuss the latest chapters. I love the extra connections being created between classes.
Get up and move. We have increased our dance breaks as the break gets closer. Except now we tend to listen to holiday music from around the world, nothing like “Julebal i Nisseland” to get their bodies moving.
Participate in something global. we are doing the holiday card exchange this year and the students are so excited to see the mail we are getting. They are also learning about other parts of the country and world through the letters. The cost: 30 stamps!
Take the time to appreciate. We don’t have a lot of time but I try to tell the kids either face-to-face or via post it note how much I appreciate specific things about them. It starts a wave of appreciation which boosts morale.
Keep busy. The less we have to do, the more we can focus on the upcming break. So we keep working to reach our deadlines and the reward is no homework over break.
Mix it up. Our schedule has been a little more flexible to fit our moods more these weeks. So if the kids are super antsy we get out of our seats and learn in a different way. This is not the time to force them them to sit still and listen (is it ever?).
Have some fun. I love to show educational videos when we have minutes left at the end of the day or during transitions. This week we started watching crack us up videos as well to get us in the spirit. George Couros shared this video to my students’ delight.
Relax – it might not all get done. Teachers seem to get more controlling and more frantic the closer break gets. The exact opposite should happen. get excited with the kids, set the tempo and then have some fun. Learning is meant to be fun, so do your part.
Let them choose. Buy in is much larger when the students get choice. I scrapped my original social studies project this week so that the kids could work on something of their choice. They get to work right away and stay focused through the whole period.

What do you do to keep students working and have some fun?

being me, homework

A Father Helps His Son With Math

December 12, 2011 Pernille Ripp

Last night as I sat in the San Francisco airport waiting for our flight home, I could’t help but listen in on an exchange happening across from me. A father sat with his child helping him with his math homework. My curiosity was first peeked because the lesson they were doing was one I had just taught that week which meant the boy was a fifth grader. And yet I stared fascinated as the dialogue continued:

Father – how did you get this solution?

Boy – I am not sure…

Father – Well, if you don’t know it is not right! Erase it properly and do it again.

Boy starts to erase the page…

Father – Now how are you doing this problem?

Boy starts to explain how he has been taught but is interrupted.

Father – That is not the correct way, why can’t you understand that! That is not how you do it.

Boys’ shoulders visibly slump.

Father – You need to get this done right now and do it right or we will erase it again.

As I sat there, horrified at this exchange, I almost jumped in and offered my help. But I didn’t because it wasn’t my place. Yet in my head I could not help but go there. How do parents expect us to teach a child to love math when this is how they help with homework? Obviously this father was frustrated, it was a Sunday evening and they were traveling, so that time was not the best to do anything that required brain power for the boy or for the father. Why do it in public like that? Why humiliate your own child with a raised voice? The effect on the child were immediate and very apparent. That child did not want to do his math anymore, he did not want to learn the method the father wanted to teach him. That child lost a little more faith in his education and I wonder how he felt? I felt horrible for him and I felt bad for that child’s teacher who had no idea that this boy had struggled with the math and that his father had helped him in such a way.

We do not always see the damage that homework creates outside of our room, or how well-meaning “helpers’ distribute their knowledge. All we see is how it affects the child in the long-run, how their love of learning diminishes and we wonder what we could have done differently? Well sometimes not assigning the homework is a huge step in the right direction.