Book Overview I read the book Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess (2012). This book is not a step-by-step manual that makes us better educators, it simply talks about how we as educators can use creativity and motivation to enhance student engagement, as well as, boost passion and energy within ourselves to create an environment that is warm, inviting, and empowering. The author divides the book into three parts: Part 1, the word “PIRATE” is broken down into six chapters. In Chapter 1, the “P” represents the word “Passion”, in Chapter 2, the “I” represents “Immersion”, in Chapter 3, the “R” represents “Rapport”, in Chapter 4, the “A” represents “Ask and Analyze”, in Chapter 5, the “T” represents “Transformation”, and in Chapter 6, the “E”
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So, how can we do this? To keep our students focused and more engaged in learning, educators must implement the spirit of “Piracy” into their classrooms. In order to do this, first, according to Burgess (2012), educators need to become more “daring, adventurous, and willing to set forth into uncharted territories with no guarantee of success” (p. xii). This doesn’t necessarily mean that educators have to come to school dressed as pirates, they must be able to incorporate the pirate spirit such as, leadership and the willingness to light a flame to spark thinking and creativity amongst all students. Second, by using the PIRATE acronym as their teaching philosophy, educators are making learning time fun while teaching standards and objectives provided by the district. The PIRATE acronym should be implemented into the classroom on a daily basis, and overtime, develop a learning environment that is successful and rewarding. The PIRATE acronym stands for, (Burgess, 2012, pp. …show more content…
• Enthusiasm – ATTITUDE goes a long ways and is very contagious. It influences the learning environment and the students within it.
As educators, we can become overwhelmed from the negatives that are associated with our profession like, tests, data, and especially, the paperwork. These traits listed above should challenge us to remain passionate about our jobs and our students, as well as, challenge us to incorporate new strategies to increase engagement, energy, and overall teaching and learning skills.
Creating Engaging Lessons To create lessons that are engaging, educators can use “hooks” to grab the student’s attention and keep them highly engaged throughout the class period. “Hooks” need to be introduced at the beginning of the lesson so students will become sold on the material right away. If not, students will become bored and that’s when educators start having discipline and behavior problems. “Hooks” need to be strong and should explain “what students are about to learn, why what they are about to learn is important, and how the learning will take place (the day’s agenda)” (The Online PD, 2008). Educators can use different “hooks” like demonstrations, KWL charts, videos, and debates to really get the “ooh” and “aah” factor across which greatly motivates all students to engage in
So, how can we do this? To keep our students focused and more engaged in learning, educators must implement the spirit of “Piracy” into their classrooms. In order to do this, first, according to Burgess (2012), educators need to become more “daring, adventurous, and willing to set forth into uncharted territories with no guarantee of success” (p. xii). This doesn’t necessarily mean that educators have to come to school dressed as pirates, they must be able to incorporate the pirate spirit such as, leadership and the willingness to light a flame to spark thinking and creativity amongst all students. Second, by using the PIRATE acronym as their teaching philosophy, educators are making learning time fun while teaching standards and objectives provided by the district. The PIRATE acronym should be implemented into the classroom on a daily basis, and overtime, develop a learning environment that is successful and rewarding. The PIRATE acronym stands for, (Burgess, 2012, pp. …show more content…
• Enthusiasm – ATTITUDE goes a long ways and is very contagious. It influences the learning environment and the students within it.
As educators, we can become overwhelmed from the negatives that are associated with our profession like, tests, data, and especially, the paperwork. These traits listed above should challenge us to remain passionate about our jobs and our students, as well as, challenge us to incorporate new strategies to increase engagement, energy, and overall teaching and learning skills.
Creating Engaging Lessons To create lessons that are engaging, educators can use “hooks” to grab the student’s attention and keep them highly engaged throughout the class period. “Hooks” need to be introduced at the beginning of the lesson so students will become sold on the material right away. If not, students will become bored and that’s when educators start having discipline and behavior problems. “Hooks” need to be strong and should explain “what students are about to learn, why what they are about to learn is important, and how the learning will take place (the day’s agenda)” (The Online PD, 2008). Educators can use different “hooks” like demonstrations, KWL charts, videos, and debates to really get the “ooh” and “aah” factor across which greatly motivates all students to engage in