education reform

The Creation of the Lifelong Learner

Pernille Ripp
Crossposted from The Cooperative Catalyst





“Mommy!!!  BUG!!!”  Thea screams at me as we walk around our deck.  ”Lookit mommy, bug,” she runs to me grabs my hand and pulls me near. Behold; the lifelong learner sans education.
Children are naturally curious; if you give them a box they are not allowed to open, they will beg and beg until they finally get to peek inside.  If you tape a box on the floor of your classroom, they will continue to guess at its purpose even past the big reveal.  Children do not need rules to be curious, or even strategies. They are born with this ability.  Now as educators we may fine-tune these skills but schools cannot take credit for their natural curiosity.
So why is it so many schools have a vision statement that includes “creating lifelong learners?”  Why this need to take credit for something they have not indeed created?   Do schools really think that children are not learners when they first enter the hallowed hallways and they therefore need to be fixed?   What an offensive statement to parents everywhere.  Yet schools and the rigidity of some classrooms can often be the reason that the lifelong learner is stymied.  Schools end up breaking the child’s curiosity only to try to take credit for it being re-built.
I would like to see a school with a vision that declares they want to “maintain lifelong learners.”  I would like to see a vision in which children are recognized as the insatiably curious learners they truly are.  We have to change our schools to allow time for curiosity and true exploration.  We are not in the business of creating robots, and yet, that is the direction our government wants to push us.  Bring back the curiosity, maintain the lifelong learner, and perhaps then our system wont seem so broken.
education reform, students

Come Into Our Room

Pernille Ripp
You say our kids are failing, not learning enough.  I say come into my room and see these kids.  Come into my room and tell them to their face that are failing, that they are not doing enough to learn.  To maintain, to comprehend, to test better.  Those kids you talk about happen to be my kids as well.  Those kids you mention in your articles, in your rhetoric, in your posts that tell us teachers that we are not doing enough, those kids are in my room.  And those kids…. they work and they work hard.

They get so excited sometimes that they yell out.  They get so loud in their planning that I just let them work because I don’t want to intrude.  They break their pencils because they just want to scribble so fast when inspiration strikes. They come to me and wonder what else can we do?  What other things may we try?  Is this idea any good?  And I say yes, try it, do it, think it, dream it.  You may not think that our kids are doing enough in school.  You may not think that our kids are learning enough.  I say, come into my room and we will prove you wrong.

students, testing

When We Compare Test Scores

Pernille Ripp
When we compare students based on test scores, we assume that when they took the test…

  • They have had a good night’s sleep
  • They are not hungry
  • They do not have any family or friendships issues distracting them
  • They have all had access to the same information
  • They have all had the same chance for practice
  • They have all had the same teaching leading up to the test
  • They all have the same type environment in which to take the test
  • They all speak and understand English at the same level

What if just one of those assumptions is incorrect, or worse,  what if they all are?

books

These 5th Graders Recommend

Pernille Ripp
In our classroom we have a running list of book recommendations we thought we would share with the world.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
Eragon series by Christopher Paolini
The Schwa Was Here by Neal Shusterman
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
The Alchemyst by Michael Scott
13 Gifts by Wendy Mass
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black
Camp Confidential by Melissa J. Morgan
Soulsurfer by Bethany Hamilton
Amulet Series by Kazu Kibuishi
The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson
The Lost Children by Carolyn Cohagan
Ghosts in the Fog by Samantha Seiple
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
Rules by Cynthia Lord
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
The Lightning Thief Series by Rick Riordan

being a teacher, students

Ability Grouping Versus Tracking – What’s in a Name?

Pernille Ripp
For a while now I have been wondering about the language we use as we group our students.  Not so much the labels we use but the method of grouping used.  For guided reading, you are supposed to group students at their reading level, which then in turn creates ability groups.  This is considered a great thing for teaching students at their targeted levels.  And I tend to agree, I do some whole class book discussions but for deeper teaching of reading strategies I like to meet with smaller groups to discuss pertinent strategies with books they can understand.  And that according the guided reading is what I should be doing; placing students with similar leveled students or similar skilled students so that they can work at the same task.

For math you can do flex grouping, also based somewhat on ability as determined through pre-tests and personalties, and this too is totally permissible.  It allows for smaller groups and different pacing of curriculum, as well as remediation and enrichment.

Yet, if you take away the gentler names and introduce the word “tracking”, then both of these scenarios lose their luster.  So I wonder, out loud as usual, is ability grouping really just tracking with a kinder name?

If we ability group in elementary are we setting students on their path for the rest of their academic career or are we indeed teaching them within their zone of proximal development and then spurring further growth?  Are we able to group students in such a way that all are challenged at their level without breaking them apart?  Can we effectively meet every single child’s needs within in a classroom setting during our instruction time without identifying which skill they specifically need to work on and them grouping them to work on them?

I would love your thoughts on this.

being a teacher, classroom setup, Student-centered

Theirs

Pernille Ripp
As I look around the classroom I see the piles, the papers, the snack wrappers.  I see the posters in progress, some ideas scribbled out, doodles and even a wayward shoe.   Computers that have been left on, carpet squares haphazardly stacked, and pencils on the floor.  When I started teaching this would have stressed me out.  I would have spent a half an hour or more straightening, re-hanging those posters and throwing out whatever I saw fit.  I would have wiped, sanitized, and organized.  Perhaps I would even have labeled and checked my supplies that nothing was missing.  I would have made a note to myself to talk to the kids about how they needed to clean more, how we need a clean and organized classroom to function well.  How their stuff shouldn’t be messed in with my stuff.

Now I organize myself, leave their piles, smile as I shut off the lights and think, “This is their room now.”