Pernille Ripp

I am fresh off of teaching a week-long class to teachers on how to integrate technology into their classrooms. This experience was a great one for me because it reminded me of how overwhelming technology that I take for granted can be to others starting out. And yet, these teachers got hooked. So how?

They all did a couple of things that took them from skeptics to believers (and comfortable!)

They figured out their purpose. Technology should never be used just for technology’s sake because then it has no educational value. These teachers narrowed in on which areas they thought could be enhanced by technology and then worked specifically with those.
Pick a few. I showed them more than 50 tools just to let them see what was out there but then we narrowed it down for each one of them. There were things they immidiately gravitated toward; Google Docs, and others that took time; having a classroom blog. Some they just thought were cool and got archived for later use – maybe, and I am ok with that.
Work on it right away. We have all been to classes where the instructor showed us a lot of cool things but we never had time to play with it, and guess what, most of the time we never go back to those tools. We introduced tools then gave them time to mess around, set up their accounts, mess up and get help. These teachers actually left the class with products they felt comfortable using and all had set up their own classroom blogs already.
Give it time and purpose. I shared why I use different tools, how it was meaningful to my students or parents, and also how mch time I spend on these tools. When teachers can experience for themselves why a tool may be easily integrated and valuable, chances are they are going to actually use it after the class. And that was the whole point.

So which tools were the most favored? Prezi, Animoto, Google Docs, Blogger, and LiveBinders won this week. Twitter, Edmodo, and StoryBird came in close second. All the teachers left more confident and couldn’t wait to go back and share what they had learned with others in their building. So although I may have only taught 12 teachers this week, the impact that they could have on their buildings is bigger and that is the beauty of getting teachers comfortable with technology; it spreads like rings in the water.

being a teacher, education reform, testing

Frog and Toad Make Me Think about Our School System

August 13, 2011 Pernille Ripp

A List

By Arnold Lobel

One morning Toad sat in the bed. “I have many things to do,” he said. “I will have many things to do,” he said. “I will write them all down on a list so that I can remember them.” Toad wrote down on a piece of paper:
A List of things to do today

Then he wrote:
Wake up
“I have done that,” said Toad and he crossed out:
Wake Up
Then Toad wrote other things on the paper.

A list of things to do today
Wake Up
Eat Breakfast
Get dressed
Go to Frog’s house
Take walk with Frog
Eat lunch
Take nap
Play game with Frog
Eat supper
Go to sleep

“There ,” said Toad. “Now my day is all written down.” He got out of bed and had something to eat.
Then Toad crossed out: Eat Breakfast.
Toad took his clothes out of the closet and put them on. Then he crossed out: Get dressed.
Toad put the list in his pocket. He opened the door and walked out into the morning. Soon Toad was at Frog’s front door. He took the list from his pocket and crossed out:
Go to Frog’s house

Toad knocked at the door. “Hello,” said Frog. “Look at my list of things to do,” said Toad. “Oh,” said Frog, “that is very nice.” Toad said, “My list tells me that we will go for a walk.” “All right,” said Frog. “I am ready.” Frog and Toad went on a long walk. Then Toad took the list from his pocket again. He crossed out: Take walk with Frog. Just then there was a strong wind. It blew the list out of Toad’s hand. The list blew high up into the air. “Help!” cried Toad. “My list is blowing away. What
will I do without my list?” “Hurry!” said Frog. “We will run and catch it.” “No!” shouted Toad. “I cannot do that.” “Why not?” asked Frog. “Because,” wailed Toad, “running after my list in not one of the things that I wrote on my list of things to do!” Frog ran after the list. He ran over hills and swamps, but the list blew on and on. At last Frog came back to Toad. “I am sorry,” gasped Frog, “but I could not catch your list,” “Blah,” said Toad.”I cannot remember any of the things that were on my list of things to do. I will just have to sit here and do nothing,” said Toad. Toad sat and did nothing. Frog sat with him. After a long time Frog said, “Toad, it is getting dark. We should be going to sleep now.” “Go to sleep!” shouted Toad. “That was the last thing on my list!” Toad wrote on the ground with a stick: Go to sleep. Then he crossed out: Go to sleep. “There,” said Toad. “Now my day is all crossed out!” “I am glad,” said Frog.
Then Frog and Toad went right to sleep.

The End

How many times do we have to stick to our list and pass by those teachable moments?
How many times do we not get to explore because that particular direction has not been dictated to us?
How many times must we take a path that does not engage the students?
How many times do we lose our list and instead just bumble along until we get to the end of the day?

How many times do we give up teaching curriculum in a meaningful way and teach to the test instead, hurrying so we may cross things off our list?
How often do we tell others that they must comply because our list says so?

being a teacher, classroom setup

Where I say Goodbye to an Old Friend; My Desk

August 11, 2011 Pernille Ripp

Today I decided to get rid of my teacher desk. Felling like a rebel, feeling a little brave, put the door it went to some other wanting teacher. And yes, while this may seem spur of the moment it is something I have been pondering for about a year now pushing it away whenever the thought crossed me. You see, I love my desk. To me it signifies being a teacher; sitting behind the desk, grading papers, surveying the room, feeling powerful. All things I used to take such pride in, particularly the grading of papers, and now that doesn’t seem to be me anymore. Now I don’t take pride in grades but rather in the conversations I have with my students surrounding their work. Now I love being away from my desk, preferably on the floor or next to a student working. Now I don’t feel powerful in an authoritarian way but rather in a “knowledge is power” type of way.

And yet that desk was my anchor. My teacher space, sacred to me and a no-no for the kids. Whenever I needed to retreat I scurried behind it, setting up my barrier. Whenever I needed to signal to the kids that I needed some space, there I was sitting in my chair working. The wall was up, the kids knew it and I was safe. The chair was too comfortable, the desk had too much space for piles, and the kids didn’t like to approach me whenever I sat behind it. And yet it beckoned for me, drew me to it almost like a magnet; come sit, come relax, come work. And so I did, finding myself nestled in its power, in its comfort over and over, when I should have been on the floor next to those kids. When I should have been out in the room walking, working, learning. Now don’t think I sat behind it teaching, just shouting out instructions, I never did, but I pulled kids behind it for one-on-one time. I had kids come there for help, for learning, and it didn’t work. They immediately felt the power of the desk and were not able to relax. They knew they were in my space, not theirs, and so their guard was up when I needed it to be down. The desk had too much power.

So today I say goodbye to the beacon of my teacher strength. I cleaned out all the drawers, emptied the files and wiped it down one last time. The remarkable thing was all the stuff I found in it that I didn’t even know I had; 13 white out’s, reward certificates, and numerous empty files. Apparently my so essential piece had become rather nonessential in its true purpose. I was nervous sure, I still am, but at the same time I knew it was time to say goodbye. I don’t want our classroom to be their space versus my space. I want it to be all of our space. I want the kids to feel they can approach me wherever I sit. I want them to have room to sprawl out on the floor, I want to sit with them as we learn together. I have said before that we were on this learning journey together; now we truly are. So farewell dear friend, you have served me well but now we have grown apart.

For more inspiration to give up your desk, please read this posts – they inspired me.

Russ Goerend’s Post on going desk less.

John T Spencer’s Post on how he was wrong.

being a teacher, education reform, Student-centered

What Do You Have Room For?

August 7, 2011 Pernille Ripp

With the school year upon most of us in Northern America, now is the time I start to dream. I know I cannot change the system in which I operate, although I can make waves, but I can continue to change our classroom, the journey we are on, and the road we take.

We all have such power; but do we remember it? Do we remember that even though much of our day is dictated by outsiders, we still have a voice? You do. It may seem like test prep, rules, and “routines” day in and day out but really there is room for you as well. There is room for you to give your students a voice and let them own the journey. There is room for you to not punish and not reward, those are choices you make. There is room for you to engage kids, to not be the center of attention, to let them speak, hope, dream, and inspire each other. There is room for all of that.

So although it is easier to say education is being done to us as much as it is to our students, it is not entirely true. We still have choices in our school, even if it is only how we speak to our students. And even that holds power within itself. So ask yourself; what do I control? What can I change? What do I have room for?

new year

On Those Two First Days

August 7, 2011August 19, 2013 Pernille Ripp

I am in the countdown, getting butterflies, and starting to have those back to school nightmares about how much the kids will hate me. Yes, school starts in 3 weeks. So yesterday I sat down and brainstormed what I would do those first two days or week with my kids. We start weird this year with orientation on Thursday and then full day Friday but then Labor Day weekend so I don’t plan out the lessons. But I do make a list of all the things we should do. Care to see it?

So what does it say?

Flag pennent – a way for my kids to show their personality and decorate their cubbies – it’s a 5th grade thing
Wordle about me – I have parents hand in 5 secret adjectives to describe their child and then we add 5 of our own and it make a really great Wordle about the kids which we hang up – the students get so surprised over the adjectives their parents use.
Intro to Blogging – we start to talk about blogging on the second day of school because it is a huge part of our classroom. And then we start to discuss safety.
Paper blog lesson – this is a great lesson shared by @McTeach and one that I love to do with my kids.
Lunch magnets – sign in, sign out
Name sticks – I randomly pull sticks when we discuss and use them for group work.
Pencil cups – I have tables this year so no more name tags on desks. Students will instead have a decorated pencil cup with their name on it. They work on this while I read aloud.
Writing sample – I love seeing how they grow. I think this year’s topic might be “What color is 5th grade?”
Read Dear Future Mrs. Ripp Student letters aloud. Every year my students write a letter to the new kids sharing information about this classroom and how to get the best out of it. This year some of those students are still with me so I am going to share their letters with the whole class when they work on projects.
Time Capsule – we measure height and write down our favorites and dislikes. The kids always crack up at the end of the year about what they wrote.
Make Animoto classroom vision – the kids figure out our vision for the room and put in into Animoto. It really gets them thinking and helps them take ownership of the room, here is last year’s.
Discuss classroom jobs – I have helpers every week and this year I added new jobs like Googler and Mapper. The Goggler will google questions we have submitted on a list and the mapper will keep track of where we connect with.
Morning Routine – we discuss expectations; what type of morning do the kids want? How do we get started for the day? We come to an agreement on how it will run best.
Random Pictures of Mrs. Ripp – I will be sharing a slideshow of random pictures from my life to see if the kids can guess what they mean to me. The following the kids will bring in their random pictures.
Connect the students – this is a great activity that only requires paper and sharpies. The kids all write their name on the border of the paper and then one person makes a statement like “I play soccer.” Anyone else who plays soccer gets to connect their name to theirs and then the next person states something and so on. In the end you have a huge spiderweb of how connected we are in the classroom which I display even though it is super messy but it kind of looks like art.
Rules discussion – I don’t set the rules, the kids do. So how do we want our room to function, how do we want it to sound, to look like? What will we do to maintain it. That conversation starts on the first day.
Be a tour guide – I have some of my students from last year so why not have them give tours of the classroom. I have changed some stuff but not everything so then everyone can feel at home.
Name your table. The students will come up with a table name and then create a banner for it. This will happen monthly as the students change tables.

So there you go, just a couple of my to do’s for the first couple of days. If you see something you like; borrow the idea.

blogging, connections, reform symposium

The Reform Symposium Recordings are Live

August 5, 2011 Pernille Ripp

I was lucky enough to present twice at the Reform Symposium 3, once with Matt Ray on our collaboration and once on why you should blog with your students.

Both presentations are now live as a recording and you can watch them whenever it fits into your schedule.

Here is the link to WisconsiNewYork

Here is the link to Ask the Children: Blogging with Your Students

I would love to hear your comments or help out with anything that I can.