being a teacher, books, choices, Reading, Reading Identity, student choice

Stop Rushing Kids out of Graphic Novels

Pernille Ripp

The books have been flying off our shelves once again in room 203. So many titles that barely get to rest for a moment before another eager set of hands attached to an even more eager reader grabs the book, so happy they finally got it. This book they have been waiting for, this book that everyone seems to be clamoring for. And while many books are receiving love this year, a few stand out above the rest; an entire format of books, as it has for several years now.

Guts by Raina Telgemeier

Boy-Crazy Stacy (Babysitters Club 7) by Ann M. Martin and Gale Galligan

New Kid by Jerry Craft

Best Friends by Shannon Hale

Books that at a glance may seem easy, or not that challenging, after all, we all know to not call books easy by now, right? Books that entice kids with their colors, their visuals, as they deftly maneuver complex topics but do it in an accessible way for many. In a way that grabs even my most vulnerable readers and tells them to give them a shot. That they, too, are readers and that this is just the right book for them.

I often step back and simply marvel at the wonder of graphic novels and how they make so many kids reconnect with reading or connect with it for the very first time. I am not alone, if we look at sales numbers for graphic novels they are dominating, circulation increase around the nation, and those who for decades have been holding them up as great books are being heard more and more.

And yet, I see so many adults, so many of us teachers, lament the fact that kids continue to reach for graphic novels, for comics, for books that for whatever reason seem to be too easy, whatever that may mean. I have seen it most often discussed when a book has pictures of any form. I hear it when we tell kids that it is time for them to graduate into chapter books. That they should read chapter books rather than picture books. When we tell kids that is time to try something harder and we stare at the graphic novel in their hand. When we pull out comics for fun but not for real reading. When we tell kids that we will take graphic novels away from them if we see them reading them (true story). When we tell them that, sure, they can read graphic novels, but just a few, because then they need to read something a bit more substantial. We say it with the best of intentions, after all, how will these kids grow in to “real” readers? Grow as readers if they only read “those” books? And we share the worry so that those at home start to worry too and they rush in with their questions and their eagerness to make sure their child is becoming the reader they always envisioned, a child who reads serious books that show off their prowess and skill. We do all this so casually that we don’t even see what it is we are all really telling kids.

“These books won’t teach you…”

“These books will not challenge you…”

“These books will not help you grow the way I hoped…”

“You will never be a reader…”

“You will never know how…”

“This will never be enough…”

And so we hand them other books. Anything but books with images. We search for recommendations in order to steer them away, to guide them on a new path instead of embracing the medium. Instead of letting them choose and celebrate their choices. Instead of immersing ourselves as fully as we can as their partners. Instead of embracing this newfound obsession with a complex medium and helping them challenge themselves within the format.

And it hurts kids’ reading lives.

And it hurts kids, period.

Because what we forget is what the research tells us about these books. About books like 150 Years Retold by Kateri Akiwenzie-Damn, Sonny Assu and many others. About books like Last Pick by Jason Walz, Pie in the Sky by Remi Lai, and Stargazing by Jen Wang. About the books that bring kids into our libraries and keep them there. That these books are not easy. That these books do not stop kids from growing as readers. From reading difficult texts because these are difficult texts. Sure, there may be less words but every word matters. Sure, there may be pictures but that every picture tells part of the story and if you skim them, you miss out on the depth of the story. That reading these formats of books will not stop them from growing, from challenging themselves, from gaining vocabulary, or understanding difficult concepts. But indeed, as Krashen and Ujiie remind us, ““…those who read more comic books did more pleasure reading, liked to read more, and tended to read more books. These results show that comic book reading certainly does not inhibit other kinds of reading, and is consistent with the hypothesis that comic book reading facilitates heavier reading.” (1996)

And so we must embrace it. We must celebrate it much like we do when a child goes for a deep dive into a specific genre or author. Invite them to build reading ladders as inspired by Dr. Teri Lesene and challenge themselves within their chosen format. We must hold them up as the successful reading choices they are and continue to surround students with amazing choices. When they pick up another graphic novel, encourage it by discussing it, not shun it and forbid it.

This doesn’t seem hard and yet for so many kids this is not their reality.

So the next time a child grabs yet another graphic novel, perhaps we should read it too. Perhaps we should help all of our students see the nuances within these masterful stories, help them read them correctly, to slow down and see all of the details. Honor this format by teaching them rather than thinking of them as frivolous, as desert books, as books we read when we need a little break. Help students create them.

We forget that the kids we teach are on a lifelong journey of reading; why do we feel the need to rush them into different books? Why rush them away from images? From pictures? From anything that embodies visual literacy despite it being the world we live in more and more? Why not embrace the books they read and help them find more books like it instead? Why not let the kids read and be there to hand them another book rather than tell them that it is time to read something different? Why not let kids choose their own books, graphic novels and all, because in the end what we seem to have forgotten the most is that they are books. End of story. Magical, mesmerizing, enticing, books.

It’s not that hard, is it?

If you like what you read here, consider reading my newest book, Passionate Readers – The Art of Reaching and Engaging Every Child.  This book focuses on the five keys we can implement into any reading community to strengthen student reading experiences, even within the 45 minute English block.  If you are looking for solutions and ideas for how to re-engage all of your students consider reading my very first book  Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students.      Also, if you are wondering where I will be in the coming year or would like to have me speak, please see this page.

new year, student choice, Student Engagement, talking, writing, Writing Identity

Setting Up Writing Circles in Middle School

Pernille Ripp

This summer, I read the amazing book, Comprehension and Collaboration, 2nd Edition by Stephanie Harvey and Smokey Daniels as I knew I wanted to focus more on building true inquiry into our classroom.

One of the ideas mentioned in the book briefly was the idea of using writing circles, think lit circles but for writing, with students in order for them to gain a more long-term writing community, as well as a more developed relationship to their own role as writers. I loved the idea immediately and wanted to make it work for our kids., as having my own writing circle of trusted peers has helped me tremendously whenever I write books.

To start us off for the year, we discussed positive and negative aspects of writing by brainstorming. The question was based off of the work we have done with reading and followed the same format, rather than post-its, though, they did it in their writer’s notebook on a t-chart and then created a group response at their table. We then discussed as a class and created our writing rights together. These now hang in our room as a reminder of the type of writing experiences we would like to have.

Image result for pernille ripp writing rights
This year’s writing rights, the yellow post-its are my notes from their group discussion.

Then I wanted to introduce the concept of writing circles to students using something I knew they were familiar with; lit cirlces. How are writing circles like literature circles? I showed my students this side-by-side comparison to help them get thinking about the potential process and benefits waiting for them.

So first, what are the components of our writing circles?

  • Students choose peers to be in their writing circle – 3 to 4 people through an interview.
  • They write together, physically, as well as at times, actually in the same project.
  • They can write on the same topic but in different formats.
  • They share their work, discuss and encourage each other.
  • They serve as editors for each other providing critical and constructive feedback.
  • They serve as long-term writing partners and will, hopefully, develop further skills from each other, as well as develop a more natural writing relationship.
  • They build accountability toward the group and the group is an immediate circle to turn to for help.

The first step toward establishing their writing circles was to reflect on their own writing identity once more – see the screenshot below. This was a continuation of the discussions we have had where they have reflected on how writing intersect with them as human beings, that started with their writing survey for the year.

After they had reflected, they then interviewed seven other people in order to hear more about their writing identity. This was on the same sheet and looked like this – very similar on purpose. To see the full survey, go here.

Why seven? I wanted them go beyond their friend zone and knew that for some that would take a few people. Once they had interviewed seven people, I then asked them to reflect on the following questions.

  • Looking at other people’s habits, who may strengthen your skills as a writer? Note, these are people who have DIFFERENT strengths than you.
  • Looking at other people’s habits, who may not be a good fit for you because you share the same areas of growth or skills.
  • Looking at other people’s habits, who may you help grow as a writer? Compare your marked areas of strength to theirs.
  • Choose only three peers who you think may be a good fit and who will help you grow as a writer. Go outside of your comfort zone if it will help you grow.
  • If you want, you can add peers who you do not think will be a good fit, this is only for strong reasons, not to list all of the people you don’t want to be with.

Once they had reflected, they handed the surveys in to me and the puzzle began. I told them I would try my best to have at least one “wished for” peer in their group but also knew that some kids may benefit from other peers than the ones they selected.

The following day, their writing circles were revealed. We told them it would be a test run to see how they did with each other and that we would reassess as needed. While almost all groups worked out beautifully right away, a few needed minor tweaks which we handled within a day or two.

After the reveal, we asked them to find a designated spot that would always be their meeting spot. While many chose great spots, a few didn’t, and after a few days we did create new spots for some groups that allowed them to work better together. The main culprit was having space to speak to one another and space to have their materials and with 29 sudents it can get a bit tricky. Then inspired by Tricia Ebarvia’s Jenga games to start off the year, we had them play Jenga with each other in order to get to know each other. Here are her original questions, here are the questions we ended up using, some new, many of them hers. I had bought 5 Jenga games and split them into 9 games with 30 tiles each and it worked out perfectly. not only did it allow us to see how the circles would function as a group, but they also got a chance to get to know each other more. Thank you so much, Tricia for sharing all of your work around this!

Then, it was time to actually write something. And so we have been. We have been doing small prompts that they have shared with each other, they have read personal essays and memoirs and discussed them, they have written 6 word memoir, and most importantly they have shared their beginning writing with each other. As the students just submitted their first draft of a memoir or a personal essay, upcoming usage of their writing circle will be:

  • Navigate the feedback we have left – what does it really mean? Where do they need to start?
  • Be peer editors – we will be working on specific revision skills in order to help them edit each other’s work better as this is not a skill they are ready to just take on. As I model my own revisions, they will be doing the revision work on each other’s.
  • Search for “simple” mistakes such as conventions of writing that their own eyes may miss because it is too familiar with the writing.
  • Challenge them in their writing, hold them accountable to create better writing than what they started with.
  • Assess each other’s writing using the rubric and comparing it to their own self-assessment.

On Monday, as we start a wonky week where the only academic day we have together is Monday, they will write a group story as we have been discussing components of great stories. They will then act it out. So far, having this built in writing community has benefitted us in a few way:

  • They already know who to be with when they are writing and since they are mostly peers they have chosen there is a more natural collaboration happening.
  • They have each other to ask when they are stuck, when they are fleshing out ideas, as well as when they think they are done but need someone else to look at it.
  • They don’t have to wait for the teachers to look at their writing, they can go to each other first and then when their time is for a conference with me, they can come right up rather than waste time.
  • The students really seem to like it, no groans or moans when we ask them to get with their writing circles.
  • There is a lot more talk surrounding their writing, which was the main goal. We wanted to work on the social aspect of writing and to offer the kids a way to know that they are not alone when they feel burdened by writing.

I will continue to share the work of these writing circles as they will be a year-long endeavor, but wanted to share this for now. If you have any questions, please ask, I am just learning myself.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my newest book, Passionate Readers – The Art of Reaching and Engaging Every Child.  This book focuses on the five keys we can implement into any reading community to strengthen student reading experiences, even within the 45 minute English block.  If you are looking for solutions and ideas for how to re-engage all of your students consider reading my very first book  Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students.      Also, if you are wondering where I will be in the coming year or would like to have me speak, please see this page.

being a student, being a teacher, new year

I Am Reminded

Pernille Ripp

We continue to get to know each other slowly. Dancing around each other in this forced community which we hope to make our own. Feeling each other out as we wonder where in each other’s legacies we will fit. Will we matter or will we be a forgotten chapter? Simply a footnote in a story that spans a lifetime.

Four weeks into a new school year and I keep thinking how I am already a much better teacher than I was when I started because of the truths these kids, my new students, are offering up. How though they barely know me, and yet in their stories enable us to start havinge these moments together that become our narrative as we weave our pasts together in order to create our future. At least for a little bit.

And I remind myself to slow down.

And I remind myself to pay attention.

And I remind myself to pick up my pen and take notice.

To start the conversations.

To listen fully.

To continue to search for connections, for the stories that pass easily in order to get to know them more.

To give hugs freely and feedback carefully.

To take a breath.

To take a moment.

To feel the power that the adult in the room inevitably holds even when we think we don’t.

And I am reminded of how writing identity carries so many emotions when a child bursts into tears in front of me not sure how to take my words surrounding their writing. Because we don’t know each other that well, not yet.

And I am reminded of how quiet it can be when a child tells me a part of themselves that they weren’t quite ready to share but shared it anyway and I hope I earned their trust a little more. Because they don’t know what I will do with the stories of their life, not yet.

And I am reminded of how much our students notice when they ask if I will do that thing for them that I did for that other kid, and was that a tradition and if not, it should be. That they don’t know that I will pretty much go along with most new traditions because that’s just who I am, not yet.

And I am reminded of the bonds we created the year before when the big 8th graders shout “Hey, Mrs. Ripp!” as they pass my room and sometimes sneak in for a hug or a book. And I wonder if any of the ones I get to teach now will even say hello next year.

Because these moments, the small moments that we take, the ones that we make through our conferring, through our greetings, through our questions and our listening. Through our shared read alouds, through our discussion, through our music playlists, through our stories. Those moments become the foundation for the trust that I hope these kids will place in me as I try to guide them down a path of learning.

Because what I am reminded of tonight as our daughter tells me that her day was great, as usual, but that there were not enough hugs, is that we have only just begun. That there should always be time for the hugs. For the moments. For the connections. And yet the pressure to cover the content, to get through the material, to offer up all of the opportunities to learn urges us on at a breakneck pace but that the only thing we will accomplish from caving to the pressure is relationships left behind.

So I pause once more. Plan accordingly and search for the moments that will tie us all together.

building community, new year, writing, Writing Identity

Illustrated 6-Word Memoirs

Pernille Ripp

We continue to work on developing our writing communities, slowly settling into what it means to write together, to be writers, and to feel free to write. We have written directions, we have discussed the rules of writing, we have read great writing, and we have set up our writing circles. All this work is centered in identity. All this work is centered in learning who each other are and developing a feeling of safety and community as we grow into this year together.

Now we inch closer to writing personal essays on topics centered on our own lives and so we used the 6-word memoirs. This ingenious little foray into writing has a long history. A great place to read more about them can be found here. They are exactly what they sound like; 6 word stories about our lives.

I introduced them by showing them examples of other 6-word memoirs, some serious, some not so much. I showed my own example…

Then we discussed the perimeters of the challenge: Exactly 6 words, it cannot be a list of adjectives, should reveal some part of your life that you feel comfortable with.

Then the kids brainstormed for a bit it their writers’ notebooks, playing around with sentences, words, and punctuation.

When they felt satisfied with their chosen words, they had someone spell check their final sentence. A few spelling errors were missed, which happens.

Then they illustrated them using these free blank face printables. I printed one out and drew a line down the middle, then made enough copies with directions on this handout. One side was for them to illustrate either as a collage or as an abstract image of of their words. The other side was for their words. I told the kids that they would be displayed so to put their names on the back for privacy unless they wanted it to be known that they made it.

We listened to music. Kids played with words, drew, and then handed them in. I couldn’t believe the care many took. While certainly there were many that spoke of sports, dogs, and other seemingly small-ish parts of their lives, every single one spoke of something they found important or showed a sliver of their personality.

A small lesson that showed so much about their identity once again. See for yourself, how they turned out.

being a teacher

A Little More Grace

Pernille Ripp

Maybe what we all need

is just a little more

grace

a little more

time

a little more

love

for ourselves

for our perceived flaws and faults

for the imperfections we pick apart

and hold up to the world

faster than anyone can point them out

to allow ourselves to fully breathe out

in order to

fully breathe in

realize that what we are doing

is enough

for now

that there will always be

more

that we will always need

more

of ourselves

of others

of money

of time

and yet the one guarantee that we all get

is that there is no

more

only now

so I am going to take my breath

care for myself

realize that the work

(always the work)

will still

be

there on Monday

and right now

just be glad that

today

I got to be

books, new year, Reading, Reading Identity, Student dreams

Kicking Off Our Reading Conferences For the Year

Pernille Ripp

We are two weeks into the year and slowly the routines are starting to shape up. We know each other just a little. Our community is growing. The incredible inquisitive and funny nature of our 7th graders is coming out more and more. And every day we start the same way; twenty minutes at least of independent reading. Twenty minutes to “Settle in, settle down, and get reading.” Twenty minutes where I get to book shop with kids, check in on their day, and also do initial reading conferences with the kids as we start to get to know each other more. After all, how am I supposed to help them grow as readers if I don’t know them as readers, as people?

Our first reading conferences are simple yet effective as we start this journey together. All it takes is a few things: our reader survey, their goal setting as it ties in with their 7th-grade reading challenge, my note taking sheet, my home information sheet and time. Hmm, maybe that sounds complicated, but it is not. What these different things do is allow me to slowly gather information on the students and open up conversation.

The reading survey helps me get insight into their reading habits and emotions tied in with reading. They do this within the first few days of school.

The goal setting sheet helps me understand where their priorities are. It’s part of our 7th grade reading challenge. This is about a week in after we set our reading rights.

The home sheet was used during our ready-set-go conferences prior to school starting but I also use it throughout the year to fill in more information. (The pronoun question/answer is an optional question from a different survey).

And my note-taking sheet, a constant work in progress, gives me a place to keep all of my information, in order to have a place to remember our conversations by.

Every class has its own binder where the information is placed alphabetically, and that’s how I start; alphabetically and call up two or three students every day during their reading time.

A few easy questions start us off: When we meet would you prefer to come to me or me come to you? (Many prefer the relative privacy of coming to me). Which book are you reading, how did you choose that one, how would you rank it on a scale from 1 to 10?

Then we move into their reading goal. Questions I ask are: What is your goal, how come you set that, and tell me more about your reading life last year? I take relevant notes throughout our conversations and I make sure the kids can see what I am writing down, I don’t want them to have to worry about what I may be recording. There are often follow up questions but I also want to be cognizant of wait time and the delicate nature at times of reading and how kids feel about themselves as readers.

Then we discuss their progress, how is it going? How is the book working for them? How is reading outside of English going? We also discuss what is hard about reading, no surprise, even my most adapt readers have challenges. Finally, I ask them if there are things I can do to support them right now better as we get to know each other. Many don’t have ideas right now but I like the openended question in case they do.

As we wind down, I ask them a few more questions. What is their favorite color? What is their favorite treat? And what do they do well? This information is used throughout the year as I celebrate them. It also gives me a peak into where they see themselves right now, many kids tell me they don’t do many things well, and so I always try to help them see great things about themselves.

I thank them for their time at the end. Thank them for investing in our class and allowing me this time with them and that I look forward to helping them grow this year.

The next time I meet with them, there are less questions so the conference goes quicker. Then it starts with, ‘What are you working on as a reader?” as you can see from the note-taking sheet and then evolves from there.

A simple way to start but one that sets us up together to work on reading, to maybe better their experiences in reading, to make it matter beyond the work, the pages, the labor that it is for some. I am so grateful for these kids and the conversations we get to have.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my newest book, Passionate Readers – The Art of Reaching and Engaging Every Child.  This book focuses on the five keys we can implement into any reading community to strengthen student reading experiences, even within the 45 minute English block.  If you are looking for solutions and ideas for how to re-engage all of your students consider reading my very first book  Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students.      Also, if you are wondering where I will be in the coming year or would like to have me speak, please see this page.