Passionate Learners Would you want to be a student in your own classroom? In Passionate Learn- ers: How to Engage and Empower Your Students, author Pernille Ripp challenges both novice and seasoned teachers to create a positive, interactive learning environment where students drive their own academic achievement. You’ll discover how to make fundamental changes to your classroom so learning becomes an exciting challenge rather than a frustrating ordeal. Based on the author’s personal experience of transforming her approach to teaching, this book outlines how to: ◆ Build a working relationship with your students based on mutual trust, respect, and appreciation. ◆ Be attentive to your students’ needs and share ownership of the classroom with them. ◆ Break out of the vicious cycle of punishment and reward to control student behavior. ◆ Use innovative and creative lesson plans to get your students to become more engaged and intellectually invested learners, while still meeting your state standards. ◆ Limit homework and limit traditional grading so that your students can make the most of their learning experiences without unnecessary stress. ◆ And much more! New to the second edition, you’ll find practical tools, such as teacher and student reflection sheets, parent questionnaires, and parent confer- ence tools—available in the book and as eResources on our website (www. routledge.com/9781138916920)—to help you build your own classroom of passionate learners. Pernille Ripp is a seventh grade teacher in Oregon, Wisconsin and the crea- tor of the Global Read Aloud (www.theglobalreadaloud.com), a literacy ini- tiative that has connected more than 600,000 students since 2010 through the use of technology. Other Eye On Education Books Available from Routledge (http://www.routledge.com/eyeoneducation) 101 Answers for New Teachers and Their Mentors Effective Teaching Tips for Classroom Use, Third Edition Annette Breaux What Connected Educators Do Differently Todd Whitaker, Jeffrey Zoul, and Jimmy Casas Close Reading in Elementary School Bringing Readers and Texts Together Diana Sisson and Betsy Sisson Inquiry and Innovation in the Classroom Using 20% Time, Genius Hour, and PBL to Drive Student Success A. J. Juliani The Passion-Driven Classroom A Framework for Teaching and Learning Angela Maiers and Amy Sandvold The Common Core Grammar Toolkit Using Mentor Texts to Teach the Language Standards in Grades 3–5 Sean Ruday The Common Core Grammar Toolkit Using Mentor Texts to Teach the Language Standards in Grades 6–8 Sean Ruday Nonfiction Strategies That Work Do This—Not That! Lori G. Wilfong Writing Strategies That Work Do This—Not That! Lori G. Wilfong Vocabulary Strategies That Work Do This—Not That! Lori G. Wilfong Focus on Text Tackling the Common Core Reading Standards, Grades 4–8 Amy Benjamin Infusing Grammar Into the Writer’s Workshop A Guide for K-6 Teachers Amy Benjamin and Barbara Golub Passionate Learners How to Engage and Empower Your Students Second Edition Pernille Ripp Second edition published 2016 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2016 Taylor & Francis The right of Pernille Ripp to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. The purchase of this copyright material confers the right on the purchasing institution to photocopy or download pages which bear the copyright line at the bottom of the page. No other parts of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. First edition published by Powerful Learning Press, 2014 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ripp, Pernille. Passionate learners : how to engage and empower your students / by Pernille Ripp. — Second edition. pages cm 1. Effective teaching. 2. Motivation in education. 3. Teacher- student relationships. I. Title. LB1025.3.R55 2016 371.102—dc23 2015011561 ISBN: 978-1-138-91690-6 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-91692-0 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-68932-6 (ebk) Typeset in Palatino by Apex CoVantage, LLC To Brandon, whose words pushed me when I had no direction and whose love will always be home to me. This page intentionally left blank Contents eResources .....................................................ix Foreword .......................................................xi About the Author ...............................................xiii Acknowledgments .............................................. xv Introduction: Learning to Break the Rules ........................... xvii 1 Now Wait Just a Minute, Mr. Wong ...............................1 2 Would You Like Being a Student in Your Own Classroom? ..........9 3 So You Got the Job. Now What? .................................19 4 It’s Not How Your Classroom Looks, It’s How It Feels .............29 5 The First Day of School: Who’s In Charge? .......................37 6 Where I Give the Classroom Back to My Students .................49 7 Letting Go of the Punish, Behave, Reward Cycle ..................69 8 Common or Not—The Standards Are Always There ...............81 9 Homework, Routines, and a Whole Lot of Paper ...................91 10 How Grading Destroys Curiosity ...............................103 11 When Change Happens to Good Teachers .......................115 Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125 Student Questionnaire—Beginning of Year ....................125 Parent Questionnaire—Beginning of Year ......................128 50-Day Class Reflection .....................................132 Quarter 1 Self-Reflection and Grades. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .134 Student Questionnaire—End of Year ..........................136 viii ◆  Contents Parent Questionnaire—End of Year ...........................139 Fall Conference Sheet for Elementary School Teachers ...........142 Fall Conference Sheet for Middle School Teachers ..............143 Spring Conference Sheet for Teachers .........................144 My Conference Sheet for Student Prep ........................144 Student Preparation Sheet for Conferences ....................148 Spring Student Conference Reflection .........................152 Parent Post-Conference Questionnaire ........................154 Common Misbehaviors and How We Work With Them .........155 Would I Like Being a Student in My Own Classroom? A Teacher Tool for Reflection .............................158 eResources Several of the tools and templates from the book are also available on our website. The material includes the following: ◆  Student Questionnaire—Beginning of Year ◆  Parent Questionnaire—Beginning of Year ◆  50-Day Class Reflection ◆  Quarter 1 Self-Reflection and Grades ◆  Student Questionnaire—End of Year ◆  Parent Questionnaire—End of Year ◆  Fall Conference Sheet for Elementary School Teachers ◆  Fall Conference Sheet for Seventh Grade Teachers ◆  Spring Conference Sheet for Teachers ◆  My Conference Sheet for Student Prep ◆  Student Preparation Sheet for Conferences ◆  Spring Student Conference Reflection ◆  Parent Post-Conference Questionnaire ◆  Common Misbehaviors and How We Work With Them ◆  Would I Like Being a Student in My Own Classroom? A Teacher Tool for Reflection To download those items, go to the book product page, http://www. routledge.com/books/details/9781138916920. Then click on the tab that says “eResources,” and select the files. They will begin downloading to your computer.