Pernille Ripp

So What is Your Assumption?

July 19, 2010 Pernille Ripp

We do it all the time, assume… We assume people are a certain way, or they like certain things, or that they will answer in a certain way, just because we know better. I do it on a daily basis, whether I like it or not. This weekend was no different as I attended a pageant for the first time to watch a dear friend’s daughter pass her crown on. I sat through talent and all i did was assume; that girl looks like she is easy, that girl has no chance of winning, that girl was obviously told she is a good singer but my lord someone needs to tell her the truth. And I felt good about my assumptions, after all, I am always right.

Well, as I went back to hotel room I thought more about these assumption and just how closed off they make me. And even more so, how these assumptions hurt me more in the long run than anyone else. It also made me realize how on a daily basis in my classroom I assume many things.

Home Life:
All the time, we assume that students have a certain type of home life depending on their socioeconomic status, their skin color, their language, their homework completion etc. Often these assumptions lead to how we “deal” with the students in terms of giving another chance to do homework or extended time on a test. Even more often we don’t have the time or chance to find out what really is going on in their home life and in turn affecting them greatly at school. How many times do you assume that the smart student who is always happy is actually experiencing her parents fighting all the time? We are good at assuming that our poor students come from broken homes and good at assuming that our white kids have both mom and a dad. It is time we stopped thinking we know “those kids” and really get to know our students.

Cooperation:
We always know which child will be the difficult one after orientation day, you can just see it on them, right? Wrong. That child may have a bad case of the nerves, I know I do, or just wake up super grumpy; guilty of that as well. I will not believe anyone that says they can judge a person within the first 5 minutes. If you think you can, maybe you should look at how often you were wrong. I can tell you countless times those first day perceptions were dead wrong.

Intelligence:
This is something we all partake in whether we are willing to admit it or not. We base our misconceptions on things such as hair color, height, weight, skin color, accent or dialect, clothing and the list goes on. How many times have you heard someone describe someone’s intelligence level with a knowing look and a hint to where they come from, because that explains it all? Well, it doesn’t. Being both blond and foreign I have two things stacked against me. People either assume I am Swedish or stupid, I disagree with both when needed and get offended when I have to.

Basic Knowledge:
As a teacher, I hope that all of my students have learned all of the curriculum they are supposed to have learned by the time they get to my room. I certainly know that my co-workers do their very best in teaching them. And yet, how many times have I been proven wrong when I think I know exactly what my students know or don’t know?. That kid that struggles in math might be really good at math facts, or that kid that writes 3 grade levels below might be a strong reader. And it even goes the other way; strong readers may be terrible writers. Just because we think we know does not mean we really know it all.

So, I am not a saint; I will go on assuming as I always do. And yet, I do promise to try to assume less or at least check out my assumptions after I have made them. I feel that we assume because it provides us with a sense of security; when we can label a person then we know how to handle them. I wish I could tell you that at the beauty pageant I had many “hallelujah moments” where I was shamed out of my assumptions; I didn’t. However, it wasn’t because my assumptions were right, I just thought it was much more fun to think I knew everything instead of being proven wrong. I am after all just a human being.

curriculum

So Instead of a Book Report…

July 9, 2010 Pernille Ripp

How many of us read a book and then create a craft project to show our friends all about what we read? I don’t, and I have yet to find anyone that does. Maybe those adults do exist but still why is it that I was under the impression that book report meant diorama or a puppet show?

So this year I am taking a leap of faith; having students read for the fun of it and share their opinion of the book – novel idea I know. So instead of a craft project, how about…

Create a genre bulletin board where students can add a review about their book
Have students read two books within a genre and do a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the two books? Or read two books by the same author?
Blog about your book; reflect, ask questions, see if others have read it
Create a wordle about the word associations you had with the book
Write a Haiku about the book
Use glogster to create a collage about the book and references in it
Read aloud the most interesting part, trying to get others to read it and then explain why you chose that part
Do a book talk with a partner or the teacher
Prove to the class in 5 minutes or less that you really read the book
Sell the book to your classmates, how can you get them to read it – written or oral – try this even if you did not like the book, can you still convince others?
Act out your character
Write a letter/email to the author (even if no longer alive). Tell them what you thought of their book.
Blog about what you learned from the book.
Surf the net looking for pictures of references made in your book
Do a book review in the style of a movie critic – thumbs up or thumbs down
Venn Diagram characters in your book
Do an author study alone or with a partner
Create a VoiceThread discussing your book’s message
Pretend you are the author on a Voki and tell us about your newest project
Search for reviews of the book on the internet and add your own review
Write to a penpal about your book and why you chose it
Participate in the Global Read Aloud Project
Create a book trailer
Video tape the book talk
Use Shelfari to post the book and then explain why you chose to post it
This idea comes from Mrs. Pilver – use a Voki Book Hook , so cool

Anymore ideas? My students will greatly appreciate them…

collaboration, global read aloud

A Global Read Aloud

July 5, 2010 Pernille Ripp

I have been thinking about the read aloud. Every day I read a part of a book aloud to my students, usually a book that they would not pick themselves to read and then we discuss what is happening. Sometimes the book is tied in with curriculum, often times not. My favorite author happens to be Neil Gaiman, both for children and adult books and so when I saw that his book, American Gods, had been chosen as the first One Book, One Twitter book club I was excited. What a great concept; read a chapter a week and then discuss it via Twitter. That made me think; why not do that with a read aloud book and connect classrooms across the world?

So here is what I propose: Choose a book, we can set up a poll and take suggestions, and read a chapter aloud a week. Students will then have to blog about the chapter or a wiki could be set up for them to share the experiences as they read the book. How phenomenal would it be to know that your class is reading a book that another class across the world is also reading?

We strive to make connections on a global scale and so the intimacy of a book can do just that for us. I am hoping others will agree to this because this certainly excites me as an educator.

Amazing feedback already on this, so here is the link to fill out the Google Form for the Global Read Aloud

If you would like to contact me with questions please do so at either Psripp@gmail.com or Pripp@mcpasd.k12.wi.us

Be the change, classroom expectations, new year, reflecting

A Promise to Me

July 5, 2010 Pernille Ripp

Yes, summer has just started and yet I am already thinking ahead to the coming year, perhaps because I am unable to enter my classroom at the moment due to its newly waxed floors. So I plan and prep from home and meanwhile get more and more anxious/excited about the new year. This year is my 3rd year teaching and I am ready to shake things up so these are my promises to me.

I promise to not be bored. The last 2 years I have stuck to what my team members have taught and developed and it honestly made me complacent. The lessons are solid but not my style, so this year, I am doing it on my own; out with the old and in with the new. After all, if I am not excited about the lesson, how can I expect the students to be?

I promise to not be scared. I have many ideas screaming for attention and every year I take a cautious step with one or two of them. This year because of my PLN and its support I have 100’s of ideas that all want to be tried. So I am going to try as many as I can without freaking out about the loss of control. So what if the lesson fails, at least I tried it.

I promise to be true to myself and reveal the techy geek I am. Sure, my students know that I like technology but not just how deep that love runs. So this year, we will make technology work for us. No more using computers just to type on, I am ready to get them sucked into the world of innovation just as I have been.

I promise to be quiet and listen, well sometimes anyway. When you have a lot of ideas like I do it can be hard to not want to share them.In fact, I can be like that annoying lapdog that barks and barks until you pet it. I have learned the hard way that sometimes people don’t want to hear about new ideas, and although confounding to me, I have to accept it. So I am not going to throw my ideas in someone’s face but try to entice them to come to me instead.

I promise to have more fun. Being a new mom and a new teacher can feel like you are carrying the weight of the world. But you’re not, you just feel like it. So I promise to loosen up a bit, not get so freaked out by deadlines, and continue to joke around with my students. After all, it is your personality that might just make them listen to you.

I promise to embrace the year no matter what it brings. I love to control everything; maybe that is why I am a teacher. So this will be the year that I learn to trust my students more and let them take some of the control. This is supposed to be a learning journey that we embark on, not a down-to-the-minute planned march.

reflection, student blogging

Writing versus Blogging

June 29, 2010 Pernille Ripp

Writing has always felt like a solitary process. Of course, the outcome is shared and sometimes even the process is debated and fine tuned, but really once the piece has been written, it is done. When you blog about something, rather than just write about it, the written piece is merely a “midpoint” a place to rest on the path, but not the destination. This is important to understand as I think of how to sell the idea of the usefulness of a blog to my parents. I don’t need to sell the idea to my students for even last year, when I had just a classroom blog, they begged to be allowed to share on it. I foolishly didn’t let them. Now, however, we are going out into official blog territory and so I need the parents to come along and support this journey. It is therefore vital that they understand that the blog is not just a way to put writing up on the Internet but rather is a whole different way of writing.

The main point for me in considering a student created blog is because they need to write for an actual audience. Not just their classmates who hardly ever given them honest or even constructive feedback. I am sick of the days of, “That’s really great.” It is not that I want to feed my students to the wolves through their writing but rather that their writing needs to become an ever-shifting process, something they revisit and reflect upon, thus deepening their connection to it. By adding the potential for the voice of others; other students, parents, other classrooms, my voice as the teacher becomes just one of many and that is a wonderful thing as well. They are not writing for me anymore but for themselves to produce something that they can be proud of to share with the world. I do not determine how long it must be, as long as the effort is there. However, how do you define, or even worse, asses effort? Through a blog you can see the effort put in when students choose to partake in the dialogue that has risen from their writing. No longer static, but an ever-changing idea, molded perhaps by many and owned by even more. That is the difference between writing and blogging for me.

Be the change, new teacher, new year, reflecting

Go in There and Earn an Oscar – 10 Myths for New Teachers

June 29, 2010July 24, 2013 Pernille Ripp

Image from here

As a new crop of teachers are slowly being introduced via email by my principal, I thought about what I was told in college about what to do as a new teacher. And then I thought about how horrible some of that advice was. So here is my top ten of new teacher myths – feel free to add more, I know they are out there!

Myth 1: Children are only learning when they are quiet and focused on the teacher.
Reality: So we all know this one isn’t true, right? Well, maybe not at first. I thought if students were too noisy they couldn’t hear the most important person; me. Come to find out that often it is through these “disruptive” student conversations that deeper learning takes place. So of course you must talk, but be brief and get to the point; simply put, get out of the way of the learning.

Myth 2: As a new teacher, you should never send a student to the principal’s office. because it shows weakness.
Reality: Your principal is your liaison so use them if needed, trust me, they do not keep a tally of which teacher sends more students to their office (I hope). Realize though, that when you do send a student to the office, the outcome of the situation is no longer your choice, so if you want to have a hand in it, then engage the principal in a conversation with the student, rather than just a referral to the office. My first year I had a very temperamental student that scared the other children, when things got heated both of us needed a moment to breathe and gather our emotions; the principal helped us with that.

Myth 3: Never ask for help but if you must, do so in private.
Reality: Always ask for help, big or small! My first year, I was so petrified that people would think my hiring was a mistake because I did not have all the answers. Well, guess what? No one has all the answers and hopefully they never will. When you approach someone and ask for help you are showing trust and through trust you build community. And that sense of community can carry you through many years of teaching.

Myth 4: Listen, but do not talk, during staff meetings.
Reality: I am a perpetually hand raiser, there, I admit it. And I am also one of those people that always has an opinion. While I don’t recommend turning staff meetings into your one-person show, if you have a question or god forbid, an opinion, then share it. You might be surprised the discussion that ensues because of something you said. Successful staff meetings rely on discussion so become a partner in that, not just a fly on the wall.

Myth 5: Take a break from school/professional development your first year since you will be so busy.
Reality: I know college is hard, I worked all the way through while going to school full-time, it was tough! And the first year of teaching is even tougher but that does not mean you should stop learning. Check out what professional development your district offers or better yet create a PLN so that whenever you have time you can be engaged in conversation with educators from all over the world. Model for your students what a true lifelong learner looks like by becoming one yourself.

Myth 6: Show up at all extracurriculur activities your students participate in.
Reality: I know students love to see us outside of school and I love to see my students as well but it is okay to say no once in a while. Between piano recitals, dance performances, football games and basketball events, my first year I hardly ever saw my husband, my family, or my friends. I was so busy seeing everybody else, even though I already saw the kids in school all day. So pick a couple of events; I always go to whatever my school puts on and see almost all of my kids in one swoop. Besides, if you pick one student’s event then you have to go to as many as possible and that can be exhausting if you have 27 students.   So yes, they love to see you out in the real world but don’t forget to keep your own life, after all, that’s what makes you interesting!

Myth 7: Work through your breaks to show you are serious.
Reality: There is nothing more serious than a first year teacher, always rushing about, eating lunch in the hallway while helping their students with that extra bit of work. I did it, and I still do it, but give up your breaks in moderation. Going to the teacher’s lounge may seem like a silly event but it is where I have had some of my most meaningful conversations and also developed actual friendships with other teachers. I always have frequent flyers, kids that do not turn in their homework so they want to stay in and do it during recess with you. Imagine the shock on their face if you tell them, “No, today that is not an option.” It might even help them realize that homework is work we do at home.   And who says teachers don’t also need a break once in a while?

Myth 8: Don’t try too many new things.
Reality: I am an idea person. I see inspiration in random places and get so excited to do/share/tell them that I am about to burst. Yet I was told repeatedly to not put too much on my plate, after all this was my first year of teaching. So I was bored and uninspiring. Busy, well sure, we all are but it wasn’t necessarily with stuff I wanted to be involved in. If you have dreams or crazy ideas, do it, get involved with the school and get others involved too.

Myth 9: Model/scaffold/show everything you will expect students to do.
Reality:   I am not against modeling, scaffolding or showing, but have found that often students like a challenge. So instead of showing them the whole process, tell them the goal, give them a beginning and let them discover. Learning is after all a long journey into discovery.

Myth 10: You must be/act happy at all times or go in there an earn an Oscar.
Reality: Students respond to human beings, and in particular genuine human beings. While I do not recommend teaching in a foul mood it is okay to be mellow, as long as you explain why this is. The explanation, of course, depends on the grade level you teach. So if you are having a sad day or you are really excited about something – share it! This is how meaningful connections are made because you show them that you care enough to trust them with your real life. Maybe they will trust you then too.