How to Teach Like a Pirate: Increase Student Engagement, Boost Your Creativity, and Transform Your Life as an Educator

by Dave Burgess
Ramsay County Library paperback 176 pages
genre: non-fiction, education, pedagogy

Overall, I liked this book. I'm just now feeling ready to start thinking about another school year. Since the last one was so rough, I am relieved to have read this extremely positive book about being a great teacher.

page 30 - "Every student in your class in those first few days of the semester is evaluating whether or not your room is an emotionally and psychologically safe environment. They're wondering if it is worth their time and effort to give school a real shot. After all, it's easier to not give your best and then blame failure on a lack of effort, than to be forced to realize you really don't have what it takes. At least you can save face with your peers when you fail if you don't try in the first place." This immediately made me think of kids like this - don't try at all, because then you don't have to lose face if you fail.

page 36 - Brain awareness and filtering. I like his example of not being aware of minivans at all to being hyper-aware of Honda Odysseys after buying one. Priming the brain to be receptive to creative ideas will make those ideas appear everywhere!

page 41 - "We must collectively agree educating the next generation is worth the time and effort and that our students deserve to be uplifted and inspired." Love this!

I love his example of alchemy on pages 52-54 but I'm too lazy to write it all here. He had three different things that were niggling his brain and he was able to bring them together for a beautiful solution! Strips of paper left from origami, assembly-line lesson, and helicopter-making shared by student.

Two questions to ask: If your students didn't have to be there, would you be teaching in an empty room? Do you have any lessons you could sell tickets for?

page 60 - I sometimes struggle with this idea - that we need to make learning as entertaining / engaging as possible for kids. At some point, the world will not cater to their needs and expectations. What then? Do they tell their boss that their job isn't fun enough? I understand what the author is saying about getting kids excited about learning (instead of turned off by it), but I question our need to continually ramp things up to keep them entertained.

page 62 - reframing - I like this! "Sometimes we need to change our students' perceptions of the material we're teaching." This is a great strategy to get kids away from "History is boring." or "I'm bad at math." This makes me think of Dr. Idzerda at St. Ben's! I also like, "Don't position your material as if it is awful-tasting medicine! Position your content as if it's amazing!"

page 69 - "Act as if" Even when you don't feel enthusiastic about your lesson, act as if you are . . . and the way you feel will probably change.

page 70 - "As a teacher, your days comprise enough positive and negative experiences to either make you feel energized and amazing or beat-down and depressed. What you choose to attend to creates your reality."

page 78 - "In addition, no content standard in any class at any level is more important than nurturing and building a love of learning." Amen.

So he had a list of questions in the second half of the book that I do NOT want to re-type. I may just need to buy a copy of the book to use these to find ways to make lessons better. Here are the topics (with 4-8 questions under EACH one):
Kinesthetic Hook
People Prop Hook
Safari Hook
Picasso Hook
Mozart Hook
Dance and Drama Hook
Crafts Store Hook
Student Hobby
Real-World Application
Life-Changing Lesson
Student-Directed
Opportunistic
Interior Design
Board Message
Costume
Props
Involved Audience
Mystery Bag
Storytelling
Swimming with Sharks
Taboo
Mime
Teaser
Backwards
Mission Impossible
Reality TV
Techno Whiz
Contest
Magic and Amazing
Chef
Mnemonic
Extra-Credit Challenge

page 157 - "An all or nothing mentality exacerbates the fear of failure. If you believe everything you do has to work one hundred percent of the time, you are less likely to take risks and step out of your comfort zone."

PIRATE stands for Passion, Immersion, Rapport, Ask and Analyze, Transformation, and Enthusiasm. I want to teach like a pirate!