Pernille Ripp

An Exploration Into Found Poetry

March 16, 2017March 16, 2017 Pernille Ripp

My students don’t love poetry. I know this because when I told them we would be creating poetry, the cacophony of noise that erupted was not one of joy or happiness. It sounded more like some of them were sick.

But this is exactly why I love teaching poetry in 7th grade. It is a chance to rewrite and reclaim the whole notion of what poetry is. To help students see that they too can create things with meaning without feeling like poetry is just one more thing they are not smart enough to produce.

So instead of “regular” poetry, we create found poetry. Introduced to us by the amazing David Daniel, an actor who does a weeklong poetry workshop with us every year (the kids have no idea how much they will love it). We create poetry out of words that were not made by us. We make poetry out of our surroundings, out of noises, out of words found in books and on books. And I see the change, I see the spirit with which kids embrace this task. How they all of a sudden feel like poets.

What are the different components?

Video:

Every day we share a video of a spoken word poet, some of our favorites are – if you have others, please share them in the comments:

To This Day Project by Shane Koyzcan

Knock Knock by Daniel Beaty

What Kind of Asian Are You? by Alex Dang

Somewhere in America by Belissa Escobedo, Rhiannon McGavin, and Zariya Allen

An Ode to Whataburger by Amir Safi

Why I Hate School But Love Education by Suli Breaks

Different Concepts:

There are many ways to create found poetry, here are a few of our favorites

Black-Out Poetry

Where students black the words out on pages of books, leaving only the words of their poem behind. We use discarded library books for this.

Found Words Poetry

Students search the classroom for words to fill out in a table on a piece of white paper. Once they have filled all of their boxes, they cut them out, put them in the order they want and then glue them down.

Book Spine Poetry

Students create poetry using the titles of books, by stacking them on top of each other and then snapping a picture of their creations. We shared them on social media using the hashtag #OMSreads

Collage Poetry (or Ransom Note poetry as the students coined it)

Using images and words from magazines, students cut out what they need and create a poem collage.

Conversation poetry

Send students to a busy area listening for sounds and snippets of conversations. Write them down and then use them as lines in your poem.

Model poetry

Who says poetry needs words? Using maker space materials create a visual poem that tells its stories using words or not.

There are many other ways of creating found poetry, if you have other ideas, share them in the comments.

While this may seem like just fun and games, it has been quite amazing to see the transformation. We have also spoken about poetic terms that the students have been exposed to before, but may have forgotten. This great word wall came from our 8th grade English teachers and help kids get reacquainted with terms they may either need or would like to be inspired by.

So while my students didn’t love poetry in the beginning, and some might not still, many have realized that can be poets. That poetry should make them feel something. that poetry can be all around us. I have loved this exploration so much.

If you like what you read here, consider reading any of my books; the newest called Reimagining Literacy Through Global Collaboration, a how-to guide for those who would like to infuse global collaboration into their curriculum, was just released. I am currently working on a new literacy book, called Passionate Readers and it will be published in the summer of 2017 by Routledge.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 teacher, being me

On Turning Older

March 14, 2017 Pernille Ripp

Birthday card from a student today – one year closer to death, I love it

I turned 37 today.

Every year I receive an email from myself on my birthday, a letter from the previous birthday reminding me of what is important. Asking myself the questions we tend to ponder when our birthday rolls around and our own mortality becomes more apparent.

This year I noticed the pattern; are you slowing down? Are you relaxing? Are you eating better? Are you exercising more? Like the ghosts of long lost new years resolutions, my birthday letters have become reminders of what I should be doing but don’t.

As I see my children grow older, I feel my own years adding up. I don’t feel old, but I know in the eyes of my kids, I have never been young. I have never been a teenager, nor an early twenty-something who had no idea what her future would hold. Instead, I have always been Mom, someone who seems to have many things to do and who sometimes raises her voice or is tired. Who sometimes misses that amazing dance move or that quiet moment playing. Who sometimes tries to be everywhere at once and thus ends up being nowhere. Who never misses the big moments, but is sometimes absent from the small. Who carries more guilt about how she uses her time than should be allowed for anyone.

And so as I drove home this evening after a day of celebration, it struck me that perhaps I am going about this whole life thing a little bit wrong. That perhaps it is not about changing habits, although, I should do all of those things, that perhaps it is, instead, about changing my attitude.

Perhaps the change I need to make this year is not to do less work, but instead to enjoy the things that I do more.

Perhaps it is not to slow down, after all, when does that really work for most people, but instead to live in the moment of what I am doing and find pleasure in that. Because is it not in the mundane details that our lives are lived?

To stop feeling so guilty and instead embrace the things I am doing rather than pining away for the ones I am not.

So for the year ahead, I will enjoy more. I will not try to fight the battle against time or carry the guilt of all of the habits I cannot seem to change. I will find the pleasure in what life has to offer, even the details we seem to never notice and be at peace with that. Be at peace with myself. That is the gift I can give myself right now. And for right now; that will be enough.

Be the change, being a teacher

It’s On Us

March 11, 2017 Pernille Ripp

We know we set the mood of our classrooms.

We know that the power we have to make a day better or worse is immense.

We know that what we think about a kid, or a class, sometimes matters more than what we actually do. After all, kids can read us in ways we have yet to fathom.

So when I had gotten stuck on a class being negative. When I had formed a narrative in my mind that a class was never excited to come to English. When I had decided that this was my least engaged class, I was right. Because the moment I decided it, it became true.

Kids will gladly live up to what we believe they are.

And every day I would think of ways I could get the kids to change.

Every day I would think of ways to re-engage them. To discuss with them what the room felt like. To ask them how we could get better.

This went on for months. Wrack my brain to come up with ways to make it a “better” class, yet dreading the energy of the room. I even told others that I didn’t know what to do.

One day, after I had asked the class what else we could try, a child asked me this, “Is it all of us, Mrs. Ripp? Is it me…”

For some reason, I didn’t know what to say. It took me a while at least and finally, I realized that when I told him “It was the energy of the class…” I had lied.

It wasn’t them.

It was me.

I was the one that had determined the fate of this class.

I was the one that had shaped the narrative of our community and the kids, while responsible too, could not do anything to change my mind.

And so I took a moment at home and realized that what I had pegged as negative energy, was just 7th graders being calm.

That what I had taken as disengagement was instead a quiet pondering of facts.

That what I had taken as hating English, instead was an investment, albeit a quiet one, into learning deeply.

My class wasn’t a negative class, it was a chill class, and as a 7th-grade teacher, I was not used to that. I created a problem, breathed in the narrative, and then looked for evidence to back it up. It wasn’t the kids, it was me.

So before we blame the kids.

Before we blame the class.

Before we assume there is nothing we can do because we have tried everything. Stop. Look at yourself. Look at what you have determined to be true and then what you are doing to make it true.

We hold more power than we can ever imagine, let us never forget that.

Be the change, being a student, being a teacher, Literacy, Reading, Reading Identity, student choice, Student dreams

Can We Please Stop Grading Independent Reading?

March 11, 2017March 23, 2017 Pernille Ripp

“But how do you grade their independent reading?”

I am asked this question while presenting on how to create passionate readers.

I am stumped for a moment for an answer. Not because I don’t know, but because we don’t. Why would we? And yet, it is a question I am asked often enough to warrant a decent response.

My middle school does not issue a grade for how many books a child has read. For how many minutes they have read. For how far they have gotten on their book challenge goals.

And there is a big reason for this.

How many books you read does not tell me what you can do as a reader. How long you can sustain attention to a book may tell me clues about your relationship with reading but it will not tell me where you fall within your reading skills. Actual skill assessment will do that. Explorations where you do something with the reading you do will tell me this. The amount of books you have read will not tell me what you are still struggling with or what you have accomplished. Instead it will tell me of the practice you do with the skills that I teach you. With how you feel about reading in front of me and when I am not around. About the habits you have established as you figure out your very own reading identity. These habits are just that; skills you practice until something clicks and it becomes part of who you are. Those are not gradeable skills but instead a child practicing habits to figure out how to get better at reading. A child figuring out where books and reading fits into their life.

So just like we would never grade a child for how many math problems they choose to solve on their own, how many science magazines they browsed or how many historical documents they perused, we should not grade how many books a child chooses to read. We should not tie pages read with a grade, nor an assessment beyond an exploration into how they can strengthen their reading habits. Number of books read, minutes spent, or pages turned will never tell us the full story. Instead it ends up being yet another way we can chastise the kids that need us to be their biggest reading cheerleaders.

So when we look to grade a child on how they are as a reader we need to make sure that the assessments we provide actually provide us with the answers we need. Not an arbitrary number that again rewards those who already have established solid reading habits and punish those that are still developing. And if you are asked to grade independent reading, ask questions; what is it you are trying to measure and is it really providing you with a true answer? Are you measuring habits or skills? Are the grades accurate? If not, why not? And if not, then what?

PS: And for those wondering what we do assess in our reading, here is a link to our English standards.

being a teacher, being me

Introducing Passionate Readers – My New Book

March 9, 2017March 11, 2017 Pernille Ripp

When I moved to 7th grade English, I didn’t know how much this change would affect me. How I would spend more hours than I had ever spent trying to help all of my students like reading more. How their reading truths would shape me as a teacher. How there would be lost sleep, but also triumphant moments of knowing that what we did together made a difference to a kid. That what we did together meant that a child might actually keep reading or even start back up.

I have shared our experiences here. I have spoken about it wherever I have been invited. I have taken the words of my students and held them up for others to learn from because they have taught me so much. Through their insight, I was able to become a better teacher, even if I still don’t have all of the answers.

And so I wrote a book. A book to hold all of their ideas. A book to hold all of mine. A book to take the ideas of others that have pioneered better reading instruction and meshed it with what we are asked to do within our English instruction, within our 45 minutes, within the confinement and the pressure we feel. And I asked a woman I admire so much if she would read it and possibly write the foreword. I couldn’t believe it when Donalyn Miller said yes. After all, her groundbreaking book The Book Whisperer is one of the books that gave me the courage to change in the first place.

I have poured every ounce of truth that my students gave me into this book and this book is now ready for the world. Or, almost ready. With a release month of July or August – the book is written and now I am ready to reveal its cover. So world; meet the book that I hope helps others. Meet the book that I hope will be inspirational for those who need it. Meet the wisdom of the kids from room 235D and may their words be a light for you as they were for me. To pre-order your copy, go here.

Passionate Readers: The Art of Reaching and Engaging Every Child (Paperback) book cover

Be the change, being a teacher

In Favor of the Slow Learning Movement

March 6, 2017March 7, 2017 Pernille Ripp

We have been going kind of slow these days in room 235D. Taking our time. Finding our groove, digging in, digging deeper. Talking more, asking more, and sometimes even relishing the calmer, quieter new us. Well, calm to an extent, this is after all 7th grade.

It’s not that our curriculum disappeared. It is not that our time expanded (still 45 minutes to teach everything!). It is not that I figured out how to cram more into the heads of the children I get to teach in the time we have. I didn’t flip, I didn’t give them more homework, I didn’t hand them all of the work to do on their own and then finally got to the point. No, the truth is much simpler; we have slowed down our learning.

We have cut out the extra.

We have cut down on the projects.

We have cut down on whole class instruction.

We have taken our time with a few things. We have taken extra days when we needed. We have taken detours when we needed. I have stopped and listened better to the students in front of me and then tried to adapt to their needs. It is a luxury, sure, but it is also making a difference.

Gone are all of the extra little projects that I would try to squeeze in just to make sure they understood. Gone are the small assignments where I check for understanding, replaced with conversations. Gone are the days where we seemingly jumped from one thing to another, hoping to find time for the bigger learning at some point.

The projects we do now count for more standards. Take longer with all the work-time built into our class time. I circle or pull small groups. The teachers that support our kids also work with small groups. Anyone can join us, no stigma attached.

And the kids? They are understanding more. They are calmer. They are grasping the importance of some of the work we do, and also finding it easier (hallelujah). They leave happier. They leave more invested.

And me? I feel like I am a better teacher. Like what we are doing is actually making a difference. That they are growing more as learners. That all of the knowledge I want them to explore and even be able to apply is within their grasp, if not already conquered.

We have realized that by doing less, we actually learn more.

So what can you do to join the slow learning movement?

Cut out the extra. What are the nonessentials crammed into your schedule? What are the things you value most? How can you find more time for the things that matter and give less time to the things that do not? I realized that while there were certain things that I would like to do, such as a quick write every day, that within our 45-minute framework they did not make sense. So I let them go; what can you let go?

Make a project count for more. We are standards-based and so it is common that our projects and explorations count for more than one standard at a time, but I have also been purposeful in planning this. So the projects we do now tend to count for three or even four standards, all graded separately. This way I do not need to create as many different opportunities for the students to show their understanding. This way students can focus on one longer project and go deeper with it.

Remember that when students speak, more learning happens. I have really been working on letting student conversations run their course rather than rushing them through it. This is where the connections are being made, this is where the understanding broadens. So before you ask the next question or move on to the next task; wait a moment and let them continue to speak. Listen in and even let silence fall for a few seconds, you may be surprised at what other thoughts are shared.

Keep the larger purpose in mind and front and center. All year I refer to the same goal that I have for our English class; for the students to become better human beings. This is something I refer to often and also tie in with our curriculum. So when we write, we do it to be able to be better storytellers who can influence others, when we speak it is to understand, when we listen it is to build connections with others. While the projects may change, everything we do is to be better than when we started, and that includes me.

Know your students. I teach 136 students, I think. It takes months to get to know the kids and, in fact, there are still kids I feel I barely know, but I am trying. So to know your students, you have to ask your students; what do you need from me (be prepared that sometimes they do not know), how can I support you, what will be helpful to you if we have to get to this point? By asking my students, I can read their moods and modes better. I can slow down further if needed, I can let them loose when needed. I can scaffold and cheerlead at the same time. And I can help them know themselves.

This year I swore it would be the year of less rush, of less get-it-done, of less “more, more, more.” And it has been, and it is working, and I can tell that my heart no longer pounds as quickly when the day gets started. We laugh more. We learn more. We are more because we do less. How can you find the time to slow down as well?

If you like what you read here, consider reading any of my books; the newest called Reimagining Literacy Through Global Collaboration, a how-to guide for those who would like infuse global collaboration into their curriculum, was just released. 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. I am currently working on a new literacy book, called Passionate Readers and it will be published in the summer of 2017 by Routledge. I also have a new book coming out December, 2017 . Also, if you are wondering where I will be in the coming year or would like to have me speak, please see this page.