What My Students Want to Know

I asked my 7th graders to tell me the truth and for 170 days they haven’t stopped.  Sometimes their truth was harsh, angry reactions to the perceived faults that school and teachers have.  Sometimes their truths weighed heavily on me as I drove home contemplating how to be a better teacher.  Sometimes their truth spoke of challenges I knew nothing of and had no idea how to solve.  Their truths became my truths as they shared, and shared, and shared.

My students have had opinions on everything, from the way teachers speak to them, to where they sit, to what we do.  Their words have shaped me more as a teacher than any other professional development opportunity, any other teacher, any other book I have read.   They have offered up their opinions even when I didn’t ask.  Showing me the trust they have in our community, the implicit trust they have in me to carry their words forward.  And so I have shared their words with anyone who crosses my path; placing them in my book, into my presentations, and into any conversation I have had.  I have made it my mission to share their words because for some reason students have little voice in today’s education debate.  And with their words behind me, I continue to change the way I teach, hoping to become than I am today.

So as I turned to my blog today to reflect on something completely different, their words encouraged me to write this instead.  They told me to ask a simple question to anyone who reads this; have you asked your students about your teaching?  And if you haven’t, why not?

That’s it.

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: advice, aha moment, assumptions, being a teacher, being me, Passion, student voice