curriculum

So Instead of a Book Report…

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…

  1. Create a genre bulletin board where students can add a review about their book
  2. 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?
  3. Blog about your book; reflect, ask questions, see if others have read it
  4. Create a wordle about the word associations you had with the book
  5. Write a Haiku about the book
  6. Use glogster to create a collage about the book and references in it
  7. Read aloud the most interesting part, trying to get others to read it and then explain why you chose that part
  8. Do a book talk with a partner or the teacher
  9. Prove to the class in 5 minutes or less that you really read the book
  10. 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?
  11. Act out your character
  12. Write a letter/email to the author (even if no longer alive). Tell them what you thought of their book.
  13. Blog about what you learned from the book.
  14. Surf the net looking for pictures of references made in your book
  15. Do a book review in the style of a movie critic – thumbs up or thumbs down
  16. Venn Diagram characters in your book
  17. Do an author study alone or with a partner
  18. Create a VoiceThread discussing your book’s message
  19. Pretend you are the author on a Voki and tell us about your newest project
  20. Search for reviews of the book on the internet and add your own review
  21. Write to a penpal about your book and why you chose it
  22. Participate in the Global Read Aloud Project
  23. Create a book trailer
  24. Video tape the book talk
  25. Use Shelfari to post the book and then explain why you chose to post it
  26. 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

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

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

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

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.

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expectations, reflection, students

The Hidden Rules of a Classroom

Pernille Ripp
Today I lost my temper, yes, it is a rare occurrence, but it happened on the phone with a credit report company who claimed that I had signed up for their monthly services.  I had not and had to cancel my debit card because of this.  The Indian woman I spoke to kept telling me that the fee was right in the terms and conditions section of the site and that I therefore had signed up for it.  No matter what I told her she was relentless in her explanation.  I finally lost it and yelled that i would like to speak to someone in charge and who could help me since I had never seen their terms and conditions, let alone signed up for them.

This incident made me think about the hidden rules of our classrooms.  Sure ,we post rules and expectations, short and to the point, on our walls and expect our students to agree to follow them.  What we don’t post though, are our hidden rules and expectation, the terms and conditions if you will, for being in our classroom.  And those tend to be the most important rules.

I have pet peeves I call them, they include sharpening your pencil while someone is talking (me), waving your hand in someone’s (my) face to get attention, interrupting someone (me), not cleaning up after yourself, and not taking responsibility for missed/late work.  I try to divulge these in the first few days of school and yet there are always some that I miss.  Every year, I end up being internally disappointed by the actions of a student who really had no way of knowing that taking off their shoes really bothers me (it is unsanitary).

So, at the end of this year I asked my students to write about what they wish they had known at the beginning of the year.  Much to my surprise, Mrs. Ripp’s pet peeves came out on top.  Wow!  I had no idea that this was something important in the eyes of my students.  So this year, I am going to be honest.  Yes, I hate when you sharpen your pencil (switching away from electric pencil sharpeners because of this), I hate when you spin your ruler on your pencil (don’t poke your eye out), when you put your head down on your desk (are you sleeping?), and when you don’t tell me you haven’t done your homework and I have to find out.  But no one knows that unelss I tell them and then they can sign up to learn in my classroom knowing all the terms and conditions, not just the ones in bold on the first page.