being a teacher, education reform, grading moratorium, No grades, Student-centered

So How’s this Whole No Grading Thing Going for Ya?

Pernille Ripp

This year I threw out letter grades almost completely. Only almost because I am still required to give my fourth grade students a letter grade on their trimester report card. I thought I was crazy, doing this, and I am sure I wasn’t the only one. I thought I was going to regret it for sure, face uphill battles from confused parents and upset students, yet instead, nothing…

I have battled with grades my whole life myself, from being a student that never applied themselves enough to a staunch, anxious overachiever with a ridiculous GPA. I never quite found the balance. I just couldn’t get my grades to fit me, they never showed my interests, my smarts, my deficits. They were just an arbitrary number on a piece of paper, something that said nothing about my future or my past. Not even a snapshot in time.

So when I became a teacher, I fiddled, I muddled, and I tweaked. Those poor averages and grades I came up with never seemed to tell my students their story either. An A meant little but an F meant something,right? We finished a product, stamped a grade on it and end of discussion. So this year I stopped grading and I was terrified.

When you tell people you don’t believe in grades, they mostly think you are crazy and have no place in teaching. After all, life is one long file and rank and grades make us all fit in so nicely. And yet, my parents on orientation day believed in me. They seemed to get it because I explained to them what I would do instead. I promised to engage their child in discussions, to constantly evaluate and more importantly reevaluate what knowledge their child had secured. I promised to set up learning opportunities where their child could show off their skills in different ways than written work. I promised them to monitor, alert, refine and reteach whenever needed. I promised them that they would know what their child knew and what they were still working on. I add to these promises whenever I can.

So has it been perfect? Oh I wish. But neither were my letter grades before. Averages never told the full story, and often it was hard to fully explain why a child was a B or a C. Now I can talk about where the child stands, what they have secured, where they are developing. Now when I discuss strengths of my students, I have checklists, specific samples and conversations to refer to. The students are aware of their progress and they know what they need to work on. Getting rid of grades has meant more work for me focused on the student. It has meant more time spent talking to my students, more focus on our goals, more time to really prepare and think about my lessons instead of all that solitary grading. For me, it has meant I can hold my head up higher when in conferences with my students. For me, it has meant a new way of teaching, of preparing my students for a life that will try its best to label them somehow. A way for me to help them tell their story right now and perhaps even point them to their future story.

So that whole no grade thing, maybe not such a bad idea after all.

PS: I couldn’t have done this without support from Joe Bower (@Joe_bower), Jeremy MacDonald (@MrMacnology) and some wisdom from the guru that is Alfie Kohn.

being a teacher, education reform, Student-centered

Let Them Speak – If You Missed It

Pernille Ripp
Last Saturday, I was excited to be a part of the incredible New teacher Reform Symposium.  Not only did I get to participate in some incredible presentations, but I also got share my journey in my own classroom toward a more student-centered classroom.  Thank you to all that participated in my presentation, I learned so much from the comments and feedback, and I am forever amazed at how many people are willing to reach out, share, and learn from others.

If you missed my presentation, it can be viewed in this archive.

Here are my presentation slides, which probably need to be viewed along with my notes, otherwise they do not make a lot of sense.

being a teacher, fun, students

Warning, This Will Not Be On a Test!

Pernille Ripp

Today we went sledding. 23 screaming kids, 3 excited teachers and one measly hill covered in snow that did not know what was coming. My students didn’t earn this experience, well, I am sure they have, but not in the traditional sense of earning. Instead, I looked out the window yesterday during class and realized that the snow was just perfect. The kind of snow that only comes a couple times a year in Wisconsin; pristine, fluffy, begging to be used for childish pursuits. So I declared that we would go sledding today, and indeed we did.

There was no educational value in this experience, nothing that will be assessed, reviewed or graded. I didn’t veil it as such either. I wanted to have fun, I wanted the kids to all play together, I wanted to be a kid for a while. So there we were, celebrating that literacy assessments were done with our sub and speech teacher. All kids sharing sleds, a student with autism not sledding but giving pushes to any child that needed one for extra speed. We were all there, loving the moment. Pictures? Nah, I was too busy having fun. And that is ok.

being a teacher, education reform, Student-centered, students

Let’s Set the Record Straight

Pernille Ripp

Today was a great day for quiet excitement; I was thrilled to see that the archive from my presentation at The New Teacher Reform Symposium had been released. So it was with much anticipation, thrill, and dread that I sent the link to my biggest fan and critic; my husband, Brandon. Certainly he would have something for me to work on, I was not disappointed. After some wonderful compliments he wondered whether people now think that my students run around chaotically in the classroom, just exploring wildly without any direction.

Hmm, I thought, I better set the record straight.

My classroom is a bit loud, that I will admit. And not necessarily because I like loudness, I don’t, in fact I like it to be silent when I write, but what I do like is learning. So because I have spent too many minutes shh’ing kids for the wrong reasons, there is more chatter and movement in my room then there used to be. There is also a great deal more choice, as in, I chose the direction in which we are headed but the kids help me figure out how we get there. While some label this student-centered learning, I am not sure that is what I do; I just figured out something needed to change and that something turned out to be me.

So while I have as much curriculum and standards to race through as other districts, assessments that must be done and certain assignments that belong in fourth grade, I also have a lot of freedom in how I get there. Sure we have a set math and science program, but even under those constraints I find a great deal of autonomy. If there wasn’t, I do believe, it would be stifling. This also happens to be a strength of my building and my district; while certain things are mandated, others are not, so we can be ourselves, the types of teachers we want to be without others wagging their fingers at us.

So to set the record straight; my classroom is not an explosion of exploration (most days), but what it is is an environment created to offer choice in learning style and rigor. I find that happens best for me when I point the direction and then let the students steer with me. The direction I am headed this year; I could never go back.

normal day, Student-centered

A Day in the Life of…

Pernille Ripp

I was asked by Kim to describe a typical day in my classroom to show how I fit it all in, so here I go.

First bell is at 8:15 and my students start to trickle in then, and by trickle, yes, it takes a while for all of them to get there.  They know they have 15 minutes until math starts so in those 15 minutes they have to sign in, read the morning message, work on geography and spelling for the week, help correct grammar on the board, and hand anything in.  Most students have extra time so they end up chatting with friends, filling water bottles, or reading.  1 or 2 minutes  prior to my math timer going off I will run through the day with the kids so that they know what to expect.  I also showcase any special events in my morning message to diminish questions.

At 8:30 math begins, we have a routine every day for the first 5 minutes which include a fact test based on the given day and a hypothetical test questions where they have to come up with 3 wrong answers and one right one.  After that I start my lesson by explaining the goal to them, asking for previous knowledge, and then we start.  I try to limit my talking so often they share in their groups or show me solutions to examples o white boards etc.  By 9:00 I better be done with the lesson so that students can work on their math work and I can work with kids that need extra help or even an extra lesson in something.  We have all the way until 9:45 for math, which is such a huge help.

15 minutes for recess and students come in for 70 minutes of literacy.  The first 10 minutes is snack time so we will often correct the two grammar sentences from the morning and then discuss the lessons goal and check in with student progress.  Every Monday we then do a 20 minute exercise called weekend web, Tuesdays we take 20 minutes to infer meaning behind a selected poem or song (often we sing the song as well), Wednesday and Thursday are dedicated to whichever writing project we have going, and Friday we do 15 minutes of writing Op. Ed.  The remaining time is dedicated to at least 20 minutes of read to self or someone, in which I meet with my daily book club or single students that need an extra conference, and beyond that we work on our writing projects.  It is quite amazing how much we get done in those 70 minutes!

Social studies or science are taught in 45 minute blocks, again we discuss the goal of the lesson (2 minutes max), relate to previous lessons and then are off.  My students rarely need a lot of instruction, in fact, they beg me to not talk at them too much because they would rather just get to work.  I think it helps that at the introduction of any kind of new project we discuss goals, expectations and timeline for it so the kids are keenly aware of the direction we are headed and the purpose of it.

So as you can see, there is nothing magical in my room, just a sense of urgency because we have a lot of fun things to do and learn about and the kids dig that.  We are never in a rush though, just rolling along at a good pace.