Be the change, education reform, students

Who Wants to Teach "Those" Students?

Pernille Schmidt Ripp
I became a teacher because I believed that all students could learn.  I believed that children have a purpose in life; that all children do not start out mad or confused, or hopeless.  I continued being a teacher because children proved to me that they wanted to learn, be happy, have a better life, and they they did not mean it personally when they acted out.  And yet, as I read articles like the one posted in the LA Times today (via @LarryFerlazzo), I wonder how many young people entering college will want to become a teacher; a believer in all children.

America’s education policy is a numbers obsessed community.  We rank our students comparatively so that proper interventions can be given, we dole out pointless letter grades based on obscure percentages, we graph, we draw, we list from highest to lowest all in the quest of how to teach with more meaning, more ability, more effectiveness and more adherence.  This number obsession is now targeting teachers through merit pay suggestions, firings based on test scores, rewriting of school wide goals based on  the percentage of yearly growth in academics by individual teachers.  Nowhere is it mentioned where students started at the beginning of the year, what happened during the year, or any other factors that may have a play in how a child (and teacher) performs.  After all, how many of us have ever failed a test simply because we did not get enough sleep or had something else on our mind?  To use those test scores as the sole basis of observation of someones teaching skills is an injustice that we cannot afford to let pass.

I am not saying that there aren’t poor teachers out there, of course there are.  However, we all know many educators that are passionate about their job and passionate about their children.  Because that’s what they are; our kids.  We take them all; the hungry, the poor, the talented, the needy, the angry, the hopeless, the mutes, the ghost kids that are there one day and gone the next.  We invite them all into our room, into our lives and we do our best in teaching them something, even if it just means teaching them that ours is a room they can feel safe in.  And that is why I became a teacher; to invite them into my family, to show them all that someone cares about them, even if they have an overabundance of people who support and cherish them.

So as merit pay is discussed and jobs are cut because of test scores, I wonder; who will teach “those” kids?  The ones with the files as thick as a Harry Potter book, the ones everyone knows even if they have not taught them. the ones with the missing files that never seem to materialize, the ones that leave class to go to doctor’s appointments, counseling, therapy, or just never show up.  The ones that so brighten my day, even if they are  there half of the week.  The ones that are forced into an adult role when they are 9, the ones that carry their little sister’s backpacks in the hallway and hold their hand when they get on the bus because it is them against the world.  Who will teach those kids when you may lose your job because they did not live up to an inane standard set by a far removed government?  I will…will you?

PLN

Just an Every Day PLN Moment

Pernille Schmidt Ripp
I, too, have joined the ranks of the faithful PLN supporters; the ones that proclaim all of the amazing things that have happened to us because of our connection with others whether we choose to call it a PLN or simply a community.  And yet, today I was reminded of just how big of an effect my PLN, or whatever you want to call it, has had on my everyday life.

In the last 2 days, my PLN has helped me with:

  • Convincing my principal that less homework = more learning.  Thank you to @Nunavut_teacher for sending out articles that I was able to pass on to my principal.  No meeting needed, the research spoke for itself.    
  • Share Everyday Math Resources with my school from another tweet.
  • Create a Google Map for the Global Read Aloud Project as prompted by the wonderful Laura Fleming.
  • Strengthen my argument for limiting grading in the classroom through conversations with @MrMacnology and @Joe_Bower. 
  • Purchase 8 Flip Camera’s for the price of 4 thanks to a link sent out a long time ago on Twitter (if it was by you – thank you!)
  • Work out again – thanks to the fantastic people involved in #temt, now I don’t want to be lazy.
  • Promise 500 people that I follow that I would get them a free IPad – thanks Twitter hacks.
This does not mean that I couldn’t have figured this all out on my own, but the point is that I did not have to.  My PLN did all the legwork for me and in turn I tried to help them out.  
So thanks PLN, every day you make my life a little easier; my students (and husband) are grateful.
aha moment, being a teacher, reflection

My Very Own "Aha" Moment

Pernille Schmidt Ripp
The following is a new regular feature that will be posted every Monday.  I hope that other’s will be interested in sharing their  “Aha” moment with the world so that we as teachers can see how different we get to our life altering moments and how random people can end up shaping the rest of our lives.  Join me into the journey of “Aha” moments.

We all hear about them;, rumors,whispers, hushed conversation in the hallway, “Did you hear so and so had that moment.” Shock, joy, jubilant outbursts often follow.  That moment being, of course, the evasive “Aha” moment.  This moment is something I chase every day, hoping that my students will experience the sheer joy when everything clicks into place and a concept becomes clearer.  As I grow professionally, my desire to create more of these gets even more insatiable and thankfully so.
Think back to your own childhood, though.  What was your biggest Aha moment?  What, all of a sudden, clicked into place and your future molded in front of you; now you had a direction, a course to steer from, a goal to reach.

Mine was about 6 years ago.  I was 2 years into my teaching degree.  Mind you, this was the second time I had entered college, the first time electing to be undecided, and undecidedly uninspired.  So there I was, my 23 year old self, thinking that maybe this whole teaching thing could be kind of interesting.  After all, I come from a long line of educators and they seem to really enjoy it.  Yet, my heart was not in it.  I had no inspirational stories about my favorite teacher, or how I could not wait to get with the kids.  In fact, I was reaching a rather critical point in where I though the whole degree was kind of a joke since all we were being taught was how to teach fictitious students.  College and teaching just did not seem to be worth it.

Then, I was assigned a practicum.  A teacher, that for some reason really liked me, set it up for me.  It was convenient, close to my house, and it was in special education, something that I had to learn about anyway.  With no delusions of anything grand, I arrived at the school and walked into Melanie’s classroom.  Well, hold on, it wasn’t quite a classroom but rather the old book room where she had been placed for convenience.  The room was full of kids, all sitting around a table writing.  Not a small feat, come to find out, since they all had varying degrees of special needs and they were all being serviced by this one teacher.  I introduced myself and immediately she put me to work making me listen to a child read aloud.  As I sat there listening to this young girl, so eager to share the basic book she was reading, I looked around the room.  This kids loved their teacher and she loved them back.  The praise, the admiration for their effort, and the respect that emanated throughout this room was tangible.  Melanie knew what it meant to be a teacher of all children and they basked in her genuine caring for all of their aspirations.

The 2 hours flew by and I had to go to work.  I thanked her profusely and promised I would be back.  As I got in my car, it happened; my “Aha” moment.  So this is what being a teacher can look like, feel like, be like.  Melanie’s teaching skills and person skills changed my entire outlook on teaching and what teaching meant for me.  During this practicum I developed this high sense of urgency in reaching these students and fell in love with  really, truly, believing that all children can be reached, that all children have a chance at learning, and that you have to believe.  Melanie is the reason I became a teacher.

This story has a fairy tale ending if you would like.  I came back to this school for a year, always making up excuses and twisting my practicum placements so that I could continue to be in Melanie’s room.  When it came time to say goodbye, I cried as the students gave me their handmade cards and pictures.  I promised to stay in touch, which I did, and over a year later, Melanie set me up in my student teaching experience in a 5th grade room in the same school.  Through that I got a long-term sub position that ultimately led to my regular position as a 4th grade teacher at the same school.  Melanie and I are still great friends, and I will be the first to yell the loudest about just how phenomenal of a teacher she is.  She was the conductor of my “Aha” moment, the reason why I am so happy with my life now.  She continues to inspire me in how she teaches her children, how she reaches out and how she touches a community.  I owe her more than she will ever know and every day I hope that some day, somehow I will be the provider of such an “Aha” moment.

students, technology

So, let’s Get These Students Tech Ready

Pernille Schmidt Ripp
Since I am teaching a 4/5 combination class this year, and 8 of the students are my old students, I have had to throw all my usual first week projects out.  (Which by the way is incredibly liberating; you should try it!)

The first week of school, or more accurately the first actual 7 days of school, will therefore be a great chance to integrate tech into my classroom and get my students ready to participate in the Global Read Aloud.
So what will we do?

  • Using Skype, parents will be invited to call us in the classroom at the end of the day so we can share what we have been doing.
  • Using Wordle, students will think of adjectives to describe themselves and parents’ adjectives will be added as a surprise.  These print-outs will go in lockers.
  • Voki will be used to create book hooks describing one cool book they read over the summer.
  • We will write a letter to ourselves about our expectations for the year using Future Me.  We will plan to receive them back the last week of school.
  • Wallwisher will be used and shared with parents to showcase something we learned in class.
  • We will blog about something we hope to learn and post in our kid blog.
  • Voki will also be used to introduce another classmate to the class.
  • We will use Google Earth to look up participants in the Global Read Aloud and then do pins on a world map in the classroom.
  • Digital Cameras will be introduced by having them go on a scavenger hunt in my room and having to photograph the “treasures” – these will be posted on VoiceThread as a guide to our classroom for parents to see.
  • We will use Animoto to come up with our hopes and wishes for the year letting each child add a picture and a sentence.
  • Wordia will be used when students have to come up with the definition of student, classroom, community, teacher, and school.  We will tape and post our own definitions.
How will you integrate technology into your classroom?  How do we get the kids excited about using it and how do you make it purposeful and not just technology for technology’s sake?
students

The Elusive Hunt for the Goal of Education

Pernille Schmidt Ripp
This is my guest blog that I wrote for Edutopia 2 weeks ago
“So tell me, what is your goal of education?” It’s a question asked in interviews throughout the globe as nervous candidates vie for that elusive teaching job. Well-researched, with philosophy of education chosen, the candidates offer answers that they hope will score high on the interview rubric. Successful words often include “kids,” “learning,” “citizen” and any other buzzwords floating around the education community. Yet ask a veteran teacher, or even a semi-veteran, and they may come up with an answer that would not fit into any interview rubric, knowing full well that the goal of education cannot just be summed up in one sentence.

So really, as a community we must ask ourselves: Is there such a thing as a common goal?

The question of what is the common goal of education was the recent topic of #edchat and one that I hesitated to participate in. I love the forum, however, this topic seemed listless to me. Isn’t the goal of education to teach? Well, maybe not, if you ask teachers around the world.
Some people say that the goal is to shape citizens, or to create lifelong learners, or even to be guides. All wonderful goals, but can any one of them claim to be the ultimate goal for us all? The one constant in the discussion is just how different we all feel the goal of education is. Some people need the goal to be retention of information so that their school is not closed. Others need kids to perform better so jobs are not lost. And still others need to prove just why the community should support their school with another referendum so that they can buy new textbooks. I teach in a school where we have wonderful community support, as well as above-average academic standing; therefore my goal of education is vastly different than most, and then again, maybe not.

My goal is simple: It is to learn.

Not just learn about the topics, or the tests, facts, assignments, how to get from point A to point B, but instead how to learn and how to love learning. Granted, I did not love school as a child. My classroom teacher hated me for being different and locked me in a closet on a summer day, no joke. Nor did I love the homework that seemed pointless and unrealistic, or the parent-teacher conferences where my mother would be told that I did not apply myself. Yet, my mother continued to believe in me as a learner, knowing that I did love learning; just not the way the school presented it. Reflecting on it now, I recognize that there was no goal that included me in it.
So when we discuss a common goal of education I liken it to the tale of the Loch Ness Monster. Some people claim to have seen it, some people pursue it relentlessly, and many hope in their quiet minds that maybe our world is magical enough to really possess such a thing. I agree that if we had a common goal of education, it would make it much easier to participate in the debate.

But how would that play out?

You could use that goal to twist and mold it into whichever educational philosophy you choose. Policy makers and big talkers could point to the goal and use it to push their way of thinking onto unsuspecting teachers. One single goal could mean one single voice in the debate. And yet, that is exactly what we, as educators, fight against every day. We fight against complacency and average pursuits. We fight against one way of learning, of teaching, because we know we will not reach all of our students that way. We fight for our classrooms not to be framed by one sentence since we are multidimensional teachers who bring vast arrays of learning into our rooms and would prefer to stay that way.

So the goal of education can be many things.

You may choose to answer the question in whichever way you want, because ultimately you have to believe in the goal that you choose. I cannot tell you what goal will work for you, that is your own path to explore. I just hope that you realize that it is okay to choose a different goal every day, every topic, every student. After all, we are the shapers of the future and not just people hoping against all odds that true learning is not just a myth but something we participate in every day. So explore your goals, change them, turn them on their heads, and use them for inspiration. But most of all do not let them become inflexible.

Do you agree or did I miss my mark?