Pernille Ripp's Blog, page 78

Have You Heard of the Teachers Leading Teachers Conference?

Being a teacher who presents, which is a very new adventure for me, has been quite interesting to say the least.  I didn’t know just how few of us there are that actually are able to go out and talk about the things that we do with our students and still stay in the classroom.  In fact, I have been to a few places where there were less than a handful of teachers presenting and yet the entire conference was geared toward teachers.  Hmmm… But I get it.  It is hard to leave my classroom.  It is hard to leave my family.  Presenting and sharing the words of my students is an incredible opportunity that I am honored to get, but it is like having two full-time jobs at times.  Yet, I can’t help but wish that more teacher’s voices were heard at all of the conferences that surround us.

Well, that is exactly what the founders of the Teachers Leading Teachers Conference, John T. Spencer and A.J. Juliani thought so too.  But instead of wondering about it, they decided to do something about it.  So what are the details of this awesome totally online conference?

The Teachers Leading Teachers Conference (from July 16th-20th) is bringing the best teacher leaders from around the world together to present and share their failures, wins, and practical strategies for teaching today’s student.

Here Is The Best Part

The entire conference in online (no travel or paying for accommodations)! Each session is available live, and as a digital copy. This format allows you to bring back the learning to your colleagues and school leaders at anytime.

It’s often difficult to explain the experience of an Edcamp or conference when someone wasn’t there, but the TLT Conference gives you access to that learning at any time. Sign-up now and take part in this first of it’s kind, online conference for teachers.

What You’ll Get As An Attendee

Over 20 Live Presentations From Top Teachers Around the World – Mine is all about empowering students, one of my very favorite things to discuss and share about.
Digital Recordings and Access to the ALL Presentations Forever  – think of the wealth of knowledge you will have access to!
Certificates for work completed and each session – I love this because my district gives me PD Hour credit for conferences like this.
20+ Hours of How-To Sessions from Teachers Still Working in Schools
Bonus Resources From Our Presenters That You Can Use Right Away
Free eBooks from the Presenters and Conference Leaders
The Best Online Experience with Cisco WebX Platform
Live Q&A Before, During, and After Each Session
Sessions on STEM, Design-Thinking, Project-Based Learning, Student Blogging
Classroom Design, Robotics, 21st Century Literacy, Genius Hour, 20% Time, and Global Projects

Schools, Group Packages, and Early Bird Pricing

We are currently offering Early Bird Pricing from now till June 16th. You’ll save $50 on each conference ticket with the early bird price.  And if you use the coupon code “Pernille” you will save an additional 10%!!!!!

We are also offering group packages for schools and districts. If you are a school district leader who is interested in purchasing a school/group package please contact me at ajjuliani[at]gmail[dot]com.

Learn more about this conference at TLTconference.com – and we’d also love for you to send in a proposal to speak (on the website we have a Call for Proposals).

So I hope you consider being a part of the conference or even presenting at it.  I did my very first presentation 5 years ago at an online conference and I can tell you; it is an incredible experience to share the work of your students with others!

I am a passionate teacher in Oregon, Wisconsin, USA but originally from Denmark,  who has taught 4th, 5th, and 7th grade.  Proud techy geek, and mass consumer of incredible books. Creator of the  Global Read Aloud Project , Co-founder of  EdCamp MadWI , and believer in all children.  The second edition of my first book  “Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students” is available for pre-order now.    Second book “Empowered Schools, Empowered Students – Creating Connected and Invested Learners”  is out now from Corwin Press.  Join our Passionate Learners community on Facebook and follow me on Twitter @PernilleRipp.

Filed under: being a teacher, PLN, student voice

10 + 1 Picture Books that Spark Creativity

It is well-known that picture books are my favorite secret weapon when it comes to teaching pretty much anything.  Within the pages of these incredible books we can find the courage to be better, to be friends, and to be creative.  While there are many to choose from, here are my 10 favorite picture books to inspire more creativity for us and for students.

The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires continues to be a crowd favorite in my classroom.  I love when students pick out the details that are in the illustration and we refer to it often when we create ourselves.  Leave this book and watch conversations unfold.

Something Extraordinary by Ben Clanton arrived in my mailbox today and is actually the book that inspired this post.  As I read it with Thea, my oldest daughter, I saw her eagerly turn the pages to see what would happen and then declared that she wished for many things as well.  What a marvelous book to inspire a more creative world.

Peter H. Reynolds is a creative genius and his books provide me with that needed starting point to have many conversations with my students.  While his more famous book The Dot is more often the one highlighted and read to students, I have found that Sky Color should have its rightful place next to The Dot.

On my daughter’s 6th birthday she was gifted Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg.  I took one look at it and then bought a copy for my classroom.  Students are so quick to dismiss their own mistakes, but this book with its simple show of what you can do with those “oops” is sure to inspire a moment to re-thing and re-draw before a supposed mistake is discarded.

I am sure I was not the only one jumping up and down when the Caldecott award was announced this year and The Adventures of Beekle – The Unimaginary Friend was the big winner.  I have cherished this book in the classroom for its simple message about imagination and taking control of ones own destiny.  The illustrations are divine in the book and have inspired many students to draw their own imaginary friends.

I love the giggles that students, yes even 7th graders, get whenever I read aloud Froodle by Antoinette Portis.  The message to embrace their uniqueness and let their true personality shine is not one that is lost on them.

Oh Chalk by Bill Thomson, I adore thee.  This inspiring wordless picture book has been inspiring my students to let their imagination run wild.  It is a great book to inspire realistic fantasy stories (I may have just made up that term) where students base a fantasy story in their own world.

I have used Meanwhile by Jules Feiffer for a few years to inspire creative writing in my classroom. Students love the fast+paced action and the way it reads like a graphic novel.  It may technically not be a picture book, but it is a book with pictures and it deserves to be on this list.

What Do You Do With An Idea by Kobi Yamada has been a great read aloud in our classroom, but more importantly, I have seen kids reach for it when they are stuck and not quite sure what to do.  I think sometimes simply being able to find yourself within the pages of a book is a powerful thing for a person.  And especially if you are not quite sure to ask someone else fpr help just yet.

Thea and I were lucky enough to attend an author reading of Open This Little Book by Jesse Klausmeier and that afternoon Thea asked me to make her a little book for her writing.  The simple ingenuity of the story within the story has inspired many of my students to create, bith in writing but also in what they read,

My plus one has to be Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett.  I have loved using this book to discuss theme with students but I also love how it shows that you can take something simple that you can do and turn it into something extraordinary.  Often this is the biggest aha moment that students get from this book.

So there you have it, a few picture books to spark creativity in the classroom.  Which would you add?

PS:  Some times great minds think alike, check out John T. Spencer’s post on his Favorite Fifty Books on Creativity.

I have loved seeing the suggestions roll in from Twitter as well, so I have added them as they come in:

Not a Box and Not a Stick by Antoinette Portis – yes, the same author that brought us Froodle.

Rosie Revere Engineer and Iggy Peck Architect by Andrea Beaty

Violet the Pilot by Steve Breen.

I am a passionate teacher in Oregon, Wisconsin, USA but originally from Denmark,  who has taught 4th, 5th, and 7th grade.  Proud techy geek, and mass consumer of incredible books. Creator of the  Global Read Aloud Project , Co-founder of  EdCamp MadWI , and believer in all children.  The second edition of my first book  “Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students” is available for pre-order now.    Second book “Empowered Schools, Empowered Students – Creating Connected and Invested Learners”  is out now from Corwin Press.  Join our Passionate Learners community on Facebook and follow me on Twitter @PernilleRipp.

Filed under: being me, books, inspiration, Passion, Reading, students

Before You Hand Out Those Rewards – 4 Questions to Ask Yourself

I have been reward and punishment free for 5 years in my classroom.  I have loved it and yet rewards seem to still crop up every year, typically through school-wide initiatives or team decisions.  Because I try to be a team player, I go with it as much as I can, and yet, the voice inside of me still screams that for most students, extrinsic rewards do not help.  Sure there are a few kids who may become more motivated because of a reward, but I have yet to see a child really change their behavior because of an extrinsic reward system.  So if you are not quite sure whether to give up rewards or not, please ask yourself the following questions.

1.  Will the rewards only go to certain kids?

Rewards have always, in my opinion, been the surest way to create a divided community within a classroom.  A community where there are those that get and those that don’t.  I really tried to make sure that all of my students had lunch with me, which was one of the rewards they could earn, and yet there were always kids that didn’t make it, at least not legitimately.  Those kids that seemed to slip through the cracks when I was handing out points, or tickets, or money or whatever it was I was handing out, and not because they weren’t well-behaved, but because they were quiet, that child that seems to slide through our day and does ok on everything, they tended to not get the rewards because of their middle of the road-ness.  I tried keeping track but that created more work. And the kids that typically were misbehaved, well, I had to go out of my way to make sure they were rewarded too but they were rewarded for  things like doing some work or staying in the classroom.  I remember how other students felt about those types of rewards being handed out and that inherent feeling of it being unfair. In the end, handing out individual rewards did little to create a deep community and so it was easy for me to give it up.

2.  Have you seen long-term changes as a result of giving extrinsic rewards?

I haven’t.  I have seen students willing to do something in the short-term to earn that thing they want but I have never seen long-lasting changes, unless the reward was increased over time.  So while the child’s behavior changed a small amount, the reward grew significantly until we couldn’t increase it anymore.  Then the child typically reverted to their old ways or even got worse.  I think when we spend more n a child earning something rather than the relationship we are building, then we are investing our time poorly.

3.  Will the rewards increase or devalue the learning?

I have found that when we tie anything academically into rewards, that becomes the focus, not the learning or the growth that students have shown.  When we reward students when they do their homework, do well on a test, or complete a project, we are telling them that the learning they just did is not the main focus but the completion of something is.  We are also telling them that they must get something tangible whenever they finish something, which is not at all the reality of our world. When we tie in rewards with learning we can create a cycle of “Gimme” which should not be our intention as teachers.

4.  Will students actually care?

Most of my students didn’t care one bit about the rewards that were handed out.  They shrugged when I handed them a ticket to pick a prize, or left the prize at school, some even traded their token cash away.  I remember being angry when I saw the prizes left behind, but later realized that because it was just another small thing, it didn’t mean anything to them. And why should it?  Most of our students are bombarded with trinkets and disposable things wherever they go.

What did matter to my students was the time we spent together and what we did during that time.  Not what reward they would get from me.  So I gave up rewarding the individual students and started celebrating more with the whole class.  I gave out more compliments.  I had more individual conversations to talk about behavior.  I started noticing more of what my kids needed and tried to give them that, rather than just dole out punishment or hand out a reward.

For me giving up rewards (and punishment) was one of the best decisions I made.  Students don’t expect something other than learning when we are together, they don’t have the same sense of entitlement I saw at times, and they don’t have the threat of not being rewarded hanging over their head.  Bottom-line; giving up individual extrinsic rewards meant that I could focus on the child in front of me, rather than the systems I had in place.   What do you think?

To read more about my journey away from awards and punishment, click here

I also highly recommend reading Alfie Kohn’s book

I am a passionate teacher in Oregon, Wisconsin, USA but originally from Denmark,  who has taught 4th, 5th, and 7th grade.  Proud techy geek, and mass consumer of incredible books. Creator of the  Global Read Aloud Project , Co-founder of  EdCamp MadWI , and believer in all children.  The second edition of my first book  “Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students” is available for pre-order now.    Second book “Empowered Schools, Empowered Students – Creating Connected and Invested Learners”  is out now from Corwin Press.  Join our Passionate Learners community on Facebook and follow me on Twitter @PernilleRipp.

Filed under: aha moment, classroom management, rewards, students

Summer Literacy Academy For Teachers in Wisconsin

I am proud to be a part of a district that takes their literacy training very serious and also taps into their own experts, while focusing on what is best for all kids.  Since this is open to the public but has not been advertised much, I thought I would use my blog to offer more people this opportunity because I think it is going to be amazing and is one of the cheapest professional development opportunities I have seen in a long while.  As part of  working for the district,  I do get to be the keynote speaker for it and also head a few of the training sessions.

Oregon School District Summer Academy – June 17-19, 2015

The Academy, co-sponsored by CESA 2, focuses on literacy best practice and current hot topics within English language arts. The Academy will kick off with keynote speaker Pernille Ripp, OSD teacher and author of Passionate Learners: How to Engage and Empower Your Students. Oregon District staff, CESA 5 Literacy Consultant Heidi Walter and the Cooperative Children’s Book Center are just some of the experts that will be presenting a variety of sessions in the areas of reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

Need course credit? Registrants of Friday’s full day option “Need a Writing Intervention for RTI? SRSD to the Rescue” presented by Heidi Walters may be eligible for 1 graduate credit through Edgewood College (1 credit/$165). Registration is $25 for a single day or $50 for two or more days. To review session options and register please use the links below. We hope you will join us, be engaged and leave with a passion to put what you learn into practice!

For more information on Sessions: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GaSiu6Mz-_YweqTk3oF7K9kHC9jcyv0KukR1amnrEyM/edit?usp=sharing

To Register: https://docs.google.com/a/oregonsd.net/forms/d/1H8DFbcdJpiR8f7YrgeLZMU-lUKRrq9szOZPlye0hvzE/viewform

All Questions to Oregon School District Contact:

Sheryl Helmkamp | sah@oregonsd.net | (608) 835-4007

Filed under: being me, Passion, PD, Reading

Some Favorite Reads From The Year

Cross-posted from my reading review blog, Mrs. Ripp Reads.

I read 80 books this school year.  A goal I was not sure I would meet, and yet with two days to go, I have started my 81st book and am feeling pretty good.  But that doesn’t mean I am done reading, no way!  My massive to-be-read pile is practically screaming at me to start.  But before I fall in love with some new books, how about a sampling of a few books I loved this year?

All of the summaries have been taken from Goodreads, by the way.

My opinion:

Red Queen is amazing, couldn’t put it down even if drew a lot of resemblance to many other amazing books.  I cannot wait for the 2nd book to come out.  And I cannot wait to hand this to as many students as I possibly can!

Age Range:  5th grade and up.

Summary:

The poverty stricken Reds are commoners, living under the rule of the Silvers, elite warriors with god-like powers.

To Mare Barrow, a 17-year-old Red girl from The Stilts, it looks like nothing will ever change.

Mare finds herself working in the Silver Palace, at the centre of

those she hates the most. She quickly discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy Silver control.

But power is a dangerous game. And in this world divided by blood, who will win?

My Opinion:  A student recommended Paper Towns to me and I read it over two nights.  I, of course, wanted to see what happened, but also enjoyed the memory of what it meant to be 18 and graduating with life awaiting.

Age Range:  7th grade and up with some mature language and high school scenes.

Summary:

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs into his life—dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows. After their all-nighter ends, and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues—and they’re for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew…

My Opinion:  Oh Sunny Side Up, I adore you.  An incredible example of why graphic novels can be so powerful.  I know many, many kids who will love this book.

Age Range:  4th and up.

Summary:

Following the lives of kids whose older brother’s delinquent behavior has thrown their family into chaos, Sunny Side Up is at once a compelling “problem” story and a love letter to the comic books that help the protagonist make sense of her world.

My Opinion:  Growing up in Denmark, we are surrounded by the Holocaust and WWII, yet this true story, The Nazi Hunters,  I had never heard.  Once I gave up on keeping all of the names straight, I was able to just enjoy this thrilling story and be awed at the true events that happened so many years ago.

Age Range:  4th and up, it does discuss some details of the Holocaust though.

Summary:

In 1945, at the end of World War II, Adolf Eichmann, the head of operations for the Nazis’ Final Solution, walked into the mountains of Germany and vanished from view. Sixteen years later, an elite team of spies captured him at a bus stop in Argentina and smuggled him to Israel, resulting in one of the century’s most important trials — one that cemented the Holocaust in the public imagination.

My Opinion:  I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Forget Me, it was another page turner that many of my students enjoyed.  This one won’t stay with you for a long time but ti will envelop you while you read it.

Age Range:  5th and up.

Summary:

On the three-month anniversary of her boyfriend Flynn’s death, Morgan uploads her only photo of him to FriendShare to get some closure—but she’s shocked when the facial recognition software suggests she tag him as “Evan Murphy.” She’s never heard of Evan, but a quick search tells her that he lives in a nearby town and looks exactly like Flynn. Only this boy is very much alive.

Digging through layers of secrets and lies, Morgan is left questioning everything she thought she knew about her boyfriend, her town, and even her parents’ involvement in this massive web of lies.

My Opinion:  Oh this book, Conjured, freaked me out but in a good way.  Terrifying, confusing, and yet it sucks you right in.  This book made me remember why I used to love reading Stephen King books and that is not a bad thing.

Age Range:  7th and up.

Summary: 

Eve has a new home, a new face, and a new name—but no memories of her past. She’s been told that she’s in a witness protection program. That she escaped a dangerous magic-wielding serial killer who still hunts her. The only thing she knows for sure is that there is something horrifying in her memories the people hiding her want to access—and there is nothing they won’t say—or do—to her to get her to remember.

At night she dreams of a tattered carnival tent and buttons being sewn into her skin. But during the day, she shelves books at the local library, trying to not let anyone know that she can do things—things like change the color of her eyes or walk through walls. When she does use her strange powers, she blacks out and is drawn into terrifying visions, returning to find that days or weeks have passed—and she’s lost all short-term memories. Eve must find out who and what she really is before the killer finds her—but the truth may be more dangerous than anyone could have ever imagined.

My Opinion:  The only thing I hated about Every Last Word is that it doesn’t come out until June 16th, which means my current 7th graders do not have access to it.  And I wish they did.  I still told a few of them about this book and told them to come see me at the beginning of the year so they can read it.  I know it will speak to them as it spoke to me.

Age Range:  6th and up.  Slightly mature relationship but tactfully handled.

Summary:

Samantha McAllister looks just like the rest of the popular girls in her junior class. But hidden beneath the straightened hair and expertly applied makeup is a secret that her friends would never understand: Sam has Purely-Obsessional OCD and is consumed by a stream of dark thoughts and worries that she can’t turn off.

Second-guessing every move, thought, and word makes daily life a struggle, and it doesn’t help that her lifelong friends will turn toxic at the first sign of a wrong outfit, wrong lunch, or wrong crush. Yet Sam knows she’d be truly crazy to leave the protection of the most popular girls in school. So when Sam meets Caroline, she has to keep her new friend with a refreshing sense of humor and no style a secret, right up there with Sam’s weekly visits to her psychiatrist.

Caroline introduces Sam to Poet’s Corner, a hidden room and a tight-knit group of misfits who have been ignored by the school at large. Sam is drawn to them immediately, especially a guitar-playing guy with a talent for verse, and starts to discover a whole new side of herself. Slowly, she begins to feel more “normal” than she ever has as part of the popular crowd . . . until she finds a new reason to question her sanity and all she holds dear.

My Opinion:  George is finally available August 25th and is a must add to any classroom, 4th grade and up.  When we say we need diverse books, it is a book like this that we need to have in our classrooms.

Age Range:  4th and up.

Summary:

When people look at George, they think they see a boy. But she knows she’s not a boy. She knows she’s a girl.

George thinks she’ll have to keep this a secret forever. Then her teacher announces that their class play is going to be Charlotte’s Web. George really, really, REALLY wants to play Charlotte. But the teacher says she can’t even try out for the part . . . because she’s a boy.

With the help of her best friend, Kelly, George comes up with a plan. Not just so she can be Charlotte — but so everyone can know who she is, once and for all.

My Opinion:  I have loved Rebecca Stead’s books since When You Reach Me and this one Goodbye Stranger  is right up there.  While this won’t be out until August 4th I already have it pre-ordered so I can book talk it the first week of school.

Age Range:  5th and up.

Summary:

Bridge is an accident survivor who’s wondering why she’s still alive. Emily has new curves and an almost-boyfriend who wants a certain kind of picture. Tabitha sees through everybody’s games–or so she tells the world. The three girls are best friends with one rule: No fighting. Can it get them through seventh grade?

This year everything is different for Sherm Russo as he gets to know Bridge Barsamian. What does it mean to fall for a girl–as a friend?

On Valentine’s Day, an unnamed high school girl struggles with a betrayal. How long can she hide in plain sight?

My Opinion:  Along with Fish In A Tree, Circus Mirandus  is a must-read book of the year.  Amazing, fantastic, spellbinding, and any other gushy word I can think of.  This is a modern day classic.

Age Range:  3rd and up if high reader.

Summary:

Do you believe in magic?

Micah Tuttle does.

Even though his awful Great-Aunt Gertrudis doesn’t approve, Micah believes in the stories his dying Grandpa Ephraim tells him of the magical Circus Mirandus: the invisible tiger guarding the gates, the beautiful flying birdwoman, and the magician more powerful than any other—the Man Who Bends Light. Finally, Grandpa Ephraim offers proof. The Circus is real. And the Lightbender owes Ephraim a miracle. With his friend Jenny Mendoza in tow, Micah sets out to find the Circus and the man he believes will save his grandfather.

The only problem is, the Lightbender doesn’t want to keep his promise. And now it’s up to Micah to get the miracle he came for.

My Opinion:  Bone Gap both kept me guessing and frustrated me.  This tale it spun was confusing, yet magical ad I read it in one night.  Sadly I chose to leave it at home because I felt it was a touch mature for most of my 7th graders.

Age Range:  8th and up or high school due to relationship things.

Summary:

Everyone knows Bone Gap is full of gaps—gaps to trip you up, gaps to slide through so you can disappear forever. So when young, beautiful Roza went missing, the people of Bone Gap weren’t surprised. After all, it wasn’t the first time that someone had slipped away and left Finn and Sean O’Sullivan on their own. Just a few years before, their mother had high-tailed it to Oregon for a brand new guy, a brand new life. That’s just how things go, the people said. Who are you going to blame?

Finn knows that’s not what happened with Roza. He knows she was kidnapped, ripped from the cornfields by a dangerous man whose face he cannot remember. But the searches turned up nothing, and no one believes him anymore. Not even Sean, who has more reason to find Roza than anyone, and every reason to blame Finn for letting her go.

As we follow the stories of Finn, Roza, and the people of Bone Gap—their melancholy pasts, their terrifying presents, their uncertain futures—acclaimed author Laura Ruby weaves a heartbreaking tale of love and loss, magic and mystery, regret and forgiveness—a story about how the face the world sees is never the sum of who we are.

My Opinion:   Jo Knowles is one of the few writers where I have all of their books.  I loved the story-telling of Read Between the Lines , and I loved searching for clues as to how it would end up.

Age Range:  6th and up depending on the maturity of the reader.

Summary:

Thanks to a bully in gym class, unpopular Nate suffers a broken finger—the middle one, splinted to flip off the world. It won’t be the last time a middle finger is raised on this day. Dreamer Claire envisions herself sitting in an artsy café, filling a journal, but fate has other plans. One cheerleader dates a closeted basketball star; another questions just how, as a “big girl,” she fits in. A group of boys scam drivers for beer money without remorse—or so it seems. Over the course of a single day, these voices and others speak loud and clear about the complex dance that is life in a small town. They resonate in a gritty and unflinching portrayal of a day like any other, with ordinary traumas, heartbreak, and revenge. But on any given day, the line where presentation and perception meet is a tenuous one, so hard to discern. Unless, of course, one looks a little closer—and reads between the lines.

My Opinion:  This is the epitome of page turner to me, quick, fast, and easy to digest, April Henry knows how to crank them out, leaving us at the edge of our seats.  All of her books look very worn this year but The Body in the Woods was probably one of the most read.  Best part is that this is the first book of a series.

Age Range:  5th grade and up but it does have a killer in it.

Summary:

Alexis, Nick, and Ruby have very different backgrounds: Alexis has spent her life covering for her mom’s mental illness, Nick’s bravado hides his fear of not being good enough, and Ruby just wants to pursue her eccentric interests in a world that doesn’t understand her. When the three teens join Portland County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue, they are teamed up to search for a autistic man lost in the woods. What they find instead is a dead body. In a friendship that will be forged in danger, fear, and courage, the three team up to find the girl’s killer—before he can strike one of their own.

My Opinion:    I loved how much The Boy in the Black Suit with its moving story spoke to so many different students and myself.  Jason Reynolds is a master storyteller and draws the reader in with this simple, yet compelling story.

Age Range:  5th and up.

Summary:

Just when seventeen-year-old Matt thinks he can’t handle one more piece of terrible news, he meets a girl who’s dealt with a lot more—and who just might be able to clue him in on how to rise up when life keeps knocking him down—in this wry, gritty novel from the author of When I Was the Greatest.

Matt wears a black suit every day. No, not because his mom died—although she did, and it sucks. But he wears the suit for his gig at the local funeral home, which pays way better than the Cluck Bucket, and he needs the income since his dad can’t handle the bills (or anything, really) on his own. So while Dad’s snagging bottles of whiskey, Matt’s snagging fifteen bucks an hour. Not bad. But everything else? Not good. Then Matt meets Lovey. She’s got a crazy name, and she’s been through more crazy than he can imagine. Yet Lovey never cries. She’s tough. Really tough. Tough in the way Matt wishes he could be. Which is maybe why he’s drawn to her, and definitely why he can’t seem to shake her. Because there’s nothing more hopeful than finding a person who understands your loneliness—and who can maybe even help take it away.

My Opinion:  I was surprised t how much I liked Red Butterfly, I loved the twists and turns and found myself personally invested in it.  With its poetic narration of an unbelievable story, you have to just read one more page to see what happens.

Age Range:  4th and up.

Summary:

Kara never met her birth mother. Abandoned as an infant, she was taken in by an elderly American woman living in China. Now eleven, Kara spends most of her time in their apartment, wondering why she and Mama cannot leave the city of Tianjin and go live with Daddy in Montana. Mama tells Kara to be content with what she has … but what if Kara secretly wants more?

My Opinion:  The stark beauty of the words of Locomotion left me silent for a long time.  I used several excerpts with students as well, which lead to them reading the book.

Age Range:  5th and up.

Summary:

When Lonnie Collins Motion “Locomotion” was seven years old, his life changed forever. Now he’s eleven, and his life is about to change again. His teacher, Ms. Marcus, is showing him ways to put his jumbled feelings on paper. And suddenly, Lonnie has a whole new way to tell the world about his life, his friends, his little sister Lili, and even his foster mom, Miss Edna, who started out crabby but isn’t so bad after all. Jacqueline Woodson’s novel-in-poems is humorous, heartbreaking . . . a triumph.

My Opinion:  Incredible book that leaves you turning every page so you can see how it ends.  This was passed around my classroom quite a bit, never quite settling in on our shelves.  We Were Liars was a must read for many students and teachers this year.

Age Range: 7th and up due to mature language and subjects.

Summary:

A beautiful and distinguished family.

A private island.

A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.

A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.

A revolution. An accident. A secret.

Lies upon lies.

True love.

The truth.

My Opinion:  A fantastic sci-fi series which I cannot wait to continue reading.  I used Unwind for a book club group as well and they loved it.

Age Range:  6th and up.

Summary:

The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The chilling resolution: Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child “unwound,” whereby all of the child’s organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn’t technically end. Connor is too difficult for his parents to control. Risa, a ward of the state, is not enough to be kept alive. And Lev is a tithe, a child conceived and raised to be unwound. Together, they may have a chance to escape and to survive.

My Opinion:  I loved Reality Boy for its brutal betrayal of what being angry can mean for your life.  This book resonated with me and a few males students because they could relate to Gerald’s life.

Age Range:  7th and up – it has mature language and mature subject matter.

Summary:

Gerald Faust knows exactly when he started feeling angry: the day his mother invited a reality television crew into his five-year-old life. Twelve years later, he’s still haunted by his rage-filled youth—which the entire world got to watch from every imaginable angle—and his anger issues have resulted in violent outbursts, zero friends, and clueless adults dumping him in the special education room at school.

Nothing is ever going to change. No one cares that he’s tried to learn to control himself, and the girl he likes has no idea who he really is. Everyone’s just waiting for him to snap…and he’s starting to feel dangerously close to doing just that.

Filed under: being me, global read aloud, Reading

To All the Teachers Who Cared This Year

5 days into kindergarten, my oldest daughter declared that she hated school.  With all of the anger she could muster, which was remarkably quite a bit, she stomped her foot, scrunched up her face and told me that school was not for her after all because her teacher hated her and she was done.  I chalked it up to her being tired.  When on the 6th day, and the 7th, and the 8th, she told me that she still didn’t like school, and on the 9th she told me she had a stomach ache, I knew we had a problem.

It wasn’t that I thought that her school was bad.  It was not that her teacher did hate her but in her mind, her reality, this was the truth she lived.  And once that idea had set in, she was done.  So 3 weeks into the school year of her very first year we open enrolled her in my district and Thea started kindergarten once again.  I swear I have held my breath since then.  Yesterday, she proudly showed me her kindergarten memory book and my breath caught for a moment when I saw what she had written.  Under her most favorite thing she had written “Going to school.”  And then I knew that I had to give thanks.

So to the teacher that loved my little girl so much that she cried on the night before the last day; thank you.  I know how much you tried, I know much you cared.  I know how many hours you worked, and how much time you spent thinking about all of those kids you taught.  I know that there were days where I am sure you wanted to pull your hair out, we all have those days, but I also know that Thea told me that you were always happy.  That no matter what you were happy to see her and she loved you for it.

You may not know, but that smile you put on your face, those little conversations that you had, the stories you told of your own adventures; those are what she told us about every single day.  Those times you got silly, those times you held them to high expectations, she told us about that too.  Every day a new story, every day a new memory.  And so when she told me that she didn’t want any other teacher ever again, I knew that I would never have enough words to tell you how grateful we are.  She hated school.  You changed that.  She faked stomach aches, threw fits, and cried those big fat tears, but you changed that.  That is why great teachers matter.  That is why people like you are so important for all of our kids.

So to all you teachers who cared this year.  From this parent, who happens to be a fellow teacher, thank you.  Thank you for putting in the time.  Thank you for caring.  Thank you for dedicating all of your emotional energy because you cared so very deeply for all of our kids.  Thank you for inventing, for making, for creating.  For giving students voices.  For not giving up.  For hugging.   For listening and for seeing all of the kids for who they are.  For giving hope, and for giving consequences.  For making kids believe that they could achieve, even when the world was against them.

They say it takes a village to raise a kid, but honestly, sometimes it just takes one person.  A person who sees your crazy amazing kid exactly for who they are and doesn’t think that something is wrong with them but instead tells them to be proud of who they are.  So to Mrs. Huenink; the world needs more teachers like you so that more kids like mine can feel that they matter and that school is actually a place for them.  Thank you.

I am a passionate teacher in Oregon, Wisconsin, USA but originally from Denmark,  who has taught 4th, 5th, and 7th grade.  Proud techy geek, and mass consumer of incredible books. Creator of the Global Read Aloud Project, Co-founder of EdCamp MadWI, and believer in all children.  The second edition of my first book “Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students” // is available for pre-order now.   Second book “Empowered Schools, Empowered Students – Creating Connected and Invested Learners” is out now from Corwin Press.  Join our Passionate Learners community on Facebook and follow me on Twitter@PernilleRipp.

Filed under: aha moment, being a teacher, being me, end of year, teachers

A Must Read Book for Educators

Several years ago, I read the book Awakened by Angela Watson and her words changed who I was as a teacher (and person).  I did not know Angela much at that time, I admired her from afar, but was so profoundly moved by how her book helped me move away from negative thoughts, that I contacted  her to express my deep gratitude.  A few years later, I am lucky to call Angela a mentor and inspiration.  I still keep my Awakened mindset and recommend the book to any teachers I meet.  Well, Angela has done it again with her new book Unshakeable – 20 Ways to Enjoy Teaching Every Day…No Matter What.

Even as a somewhat veteran teacher, I found so many great ideas within the pages of this book.  Angela is a no nonsense writer who crams inspiration into every single page.  She isn’t just trying to inspire us to change, she is giving us ideas of how to do it, and the best part is that many of the ideas are so ingeniously simple, yet powerful, that I implemented some on the very first day of reading.  From redefining my vision to many minor changes I can do to re-energize myself and my classroom, I am so grateful I got to read this book.  So while I do not use this blog to recommend many books, I typically do that on another blog, I knew that I had to highlight this book to all of you who follow on here.

So if you know a new teacher who needs some inspiration.  If you know a fellow teacher who could use some great new ideas.  If you know that this is the summer you need to be inspired and re-energized; read this book.  And then recommend it to others.  You will be glad you did.

From Amazon:

Don’t wait for teaching to become fun again: plan for it! Unshakeable is a collection of inspiring mindset shifts and practical, teacher-tested ideas for getting more satisfaction from your job. It’s an approach that guides you to find your inner drive and intrinsic motivation which no one can take away.  Unshakeable will help you incorporate a love of life into your teaching, and a love of teaching into your life. Learn how to tap into what makes your work inherently rewarding and enjoy teaching every day…no matter what.

Filed under: being a teacher, being me, inspiration, review

My Students Still Hate Book Clubs, So Now What?

I knew I was up against some pretty deep-seated negative notions, but I guess I didn’t know how deep they really ran until yesterday when I started to read my end-of-year surveys.  One questions asked, “What is the one thing Mrs. Ripp should never have 7th graders do?” Usually answers are varied, spread across an entire year of trying to meet every child’s need and invariably always upsetting someone else.  But not this year; this year there was a clear winner; book clubs.  This awesome way to create a reading community was one of the most hated things by far we did all year.  And I am stumped

You see, we didn’t do book clubs the traditional way.  Students self-selected their books from more than 50 choices (we even involved the library for some groups that didn’t like the 50 presented to them).  Students set their own rules, reading pace, and expectations.  They were given 3 weeks to read the books and ample time to do so in class, so that it wouldn’t become another homework assignment.  I asked them to try to speak about the books for no more than 10 minutes, keeping their conversations focused and to the point.  I encouraged them to write down things they wanted to discuss and we also brainstormed guiding questions that they were then given on bookmarks to help start their conversations.  Their final product was a book talk with a small 5 slide presentation to use a backdrop for their conversation; and again, they were given time in class.  Yet, they hated it.

They hated having to read at the pace of someone else.  They hated the stilted conversations.  They hated that I was even asking them to have a shared reading conversation, often carrying resentment that I had shaped their groups.  We had discussed why I had made the groups, and some ended up loving theirs, and yet, others said it was the worst experience I could have forced them to do.  It wasn’t that they didn’t want to talk about books, they just didn’t want to go deeper with them, not in that way, not with those people.

So as I sit and dream of next year, because isn’t that what we do over the summer, I cannot help but think what else I can do to make book clubs an enjoyable part?  Should I abandon them altogether?  We do read aloud where we discuss text, so we still have a shared reading conversation where we interpret, experience, and try to figure out the book together.  Should I make it book partnerships where they interview three potential partners, one recommended by me, and they pick another person or two to read the same book with but perhaps with final approval from me?

Is there even a purpose for book clubs or are they a left over notion from when we were doing literature circles and felt we had to be in more control?  How do we rescue something that most of my students hated, but I still see value in?  Do I continue to just force it on them, trying to listen, or do we change our ways?  Are book clubs even necessary for developing readers?  I would love to hear your thoughts…

For more behind the scenes information on ideas for book clubs, both good and bad, please go here 

I am a passionate teacher in Oregon, Wisconsin, USA but originally from Denmark,  who has taught 4th, 5th, and 7th grade.  Proud techy geek, and mass consumer of incredible books. Creator of the  Global Read Aloud Project , Co-founder of  EdCamp MadWI , and believer in all children.  The second edition of my first book  “Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students” is available for pre-order now.    Second book “Empowered Schools, Empowered Students – Creating Connected and Invested Learners”  is out now from Corwin Press.  Join our Passionate Learners community on Facebook and follow me on Twitter@PernilleRipp.

Filed under: being me, hopes, Passion, Reading, student voice

Calling All Educators in the Midwest

I tend to not self-promote much on this blog, it feels awkward and weird when I do.  And yet, it is not every day that you get to learn along with the amazing Diana Laufenberg and so this time I am making an exception.  Calling all educators in the Midwest, if you want to explore how to create student-driven, passion-filled classrooms, this two-day workshop is for you on June 25th and 26th outside of Chicago, IL.  Join Diana and I at The Midwest Principal Canter as we explore how to construct 21st century learning experiences.  I promise this workshop with its hands-on approach will be worth your time, after all, this is Diana Laufenberg facilitating.

Here is the more formal description if you are interested, as well as the link to register.

The age of information surplus is upon us and the information is everywhere. Understanding and shifting to that reality in our schools is both daunting and exciting. Join us for two days of exploration into the strategies, tools and resources that yield teaching and learning agile enough to evolve with the shifting information and standards landscape we all navigate in the profession. It is time to move beyond asking what our students know and asking what they can create, innovate and imagine from that knowledge. Many resources are widely available to modernize our classrooms and schools. It’s time for our classrooms to meet the exciting realities of a modern educational approach. Specific teaching units, resources and strategies will be shared. Participants are encouraged to bring units, lessons or objectives that they are currently using in the classrooms and/or schools.

Attendees will:

Explore the core values of modern learning
Experience and participate in activities to expose teachers to a wide range of model projects and methods that can be used to design their own lessons and units.
Explore the systems and structures that must change so that the greatest number of students, teachers and principals can thrive, learn and feel valued.
Participate in break-out sessions designed specifically for both elementary and secondary levels.
Create and/or revise  a unit or series of lessons throughout the two-day workshop that meet the demands of the standards, while also valuing the role of the student as an active learner
Explore a wide range of digital tools and resources that can open up a world of possibilities for an inquiry-driven and/or project based learning environment
Investigate the role of global collaboration and how it can complement your existing curriculum

So if you are interested, make sure you get registered.  This promises to be an incredible experience for all of those attending, myself included.

Filed under: being me, learning, student choice, student voice

It’s the Very Least We Can Do

The comment keeps showing up on my end of year surveys, slipped in between suggestions, hard truths, and great advice.  It makes me smile every time.  It has been a comment I have heard throughout the year from students in blog posts, in small conversations, and even from parents.  “Mrs. Ripp smiles a lot…” “You always have a smile on your face…” “You smile every day.”  And while it is not true, I don’t think I smile every single day for every minute, this little comment means the world to me because every day I make a choice to smile.  Every day, when I pull up to the parking lot, when I open the days, when the crazy noise of the students coming up our stairs reaches my door, I make sure I have a smile ready to greet them because it is the very least I can do.

As educators, we spend so much time planning meticulous lessons.  We do professional development to continue to be lifelong learners.  We lay awake worrying about kids, about parents, about what we said, what we asked our students to do that day.  We spend so much energy on the big picture stuff that we forget about the easiest thing we can do; smile.  Show all the kids of your school that you really want to be there.  That it matters to you that they are there.  That you are happy to see them.  That their very existence makes your life better.  Even if you don’t totally feel it.  Even if you don’t feel like it.  If you can’t do it for yourself, then do it for the kids.

Our actions speak louder than our words and you wouldn’t believe how much the sight of a smile in a busy hallway can change the mood of a day.  But don’t take my word for it; try it.  Make it a habit.  Smile as if your life depended on it, who knows, whose life it will change?

I am a passionate teacher in Oregon, Wisconsin, USA but originally from Denmark,  who has taught 4th, 5th, and 7th grade.  Proud techy geek, and mass consumer of incredible books. Creator of the  Global Read Aloud Project , Co-founder of  EdCamp MadWI , and believer in all children.  The second edition of my first book  “Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students” is available for pre-order now.    Second book “Empowered Schools, Empowered Students – Creating Connected and Invested Learners”  is out now from Corwin Press.  Join our Passionate Learners community on Facebook and follow me on Twitter @PernilleRipp.

Filed under: being a teacher, being me, classroom management, end of year, life choices