Ahoy matey! This was the first summer in a long time that I didn’t absolutely HAVE to do anything school-related, such as attending conferences, writing curriculum, etc., and I found myself feeling very lost. What was I supposed to do all summer? So, I decided to catch up on some reading. Instead of waiting any longer, I want to share this resource with you, my fellow educators, now in hopes of helping you find some inspiration as you are planning for a new school year. And, shiver me timbers! The most helpful book I read this summer was Teach Like A Pirate by Dave Burgess. To be honest, this book had been sitting on a bookshelf at home for quite some time. I had heard of the author, who actually dresses up like a pirate from time to time, but just assumed the book was geared more toward elementary or middle school teachers. I then found the Teach Like A Pirate chat (#tlap) as I was perusing Twitter one night, and realized the techniques being discussed each week were applicable across all grade levels and content areas. This book was a great read for a couple of reasons: (1) It was a steady reminder of my big WHY, and (2) The author provides creative lesson “hooks” that are totally doable...even in a math class! I’ll give a quick overview of Part I, and then talk about some useful lesson hooks from Part II. Part I: Teach Like A Pirate! The heart of the PIRATE system is Passion, Immersion, Rapport, Ask and Analyze, Transformation, and Enthusiasm. I will touch on each of these, but will spend the most time on passion. PASSION “We are not passionate about everything we teach. It’s OK!” Reading that statement was a very defining moment, because it’s true. As teachers, we should feel passionate about teaching, but sometimes it’s just not there. How do we incorporate passion into our lessons, even if we are not passionate about the particular day’s content? Burgess breaks passion into three distinct categories:
RAPPORT
ASK AND ANALYZE
TRANSFORMATION
ENTHUSIASM
Part II: Crafting Engaging Lessons Presentational hooks are a huge part of what makes Dave Burgess’ lessons engaging. He offers a multitude of presentational hooks to ramp up the anticipation and engagement. You will have to consult the book for all of them, but here are a few hooks from each category for some inspiration. The Kinesthetic Hook
The People Prop Hook
The Safari Hook
The Picasso Hook
The Mozart Hook
The Dance and Drama Hook
The Craft Store Hook
The Student Hobby Hook
The Real-World Applications Hook
The Life-Changing Lesson Hook
The Student-Directed Hook
The Opportunistic Hook
The Interior Design Hook
The Board Message Hook
The Costume Hook
The Props Hook
The Involved Audience Hook
The Mystery Bag Hook
The Storytelling Hook
The Swimming With Sharks Hook
The Taboo Hook
The Mime Hook
The Teaser Hook
The Backwards Hook
The Mission Impossible Hook
The Techno Whiz Hook
The Contest Hook
The Magic and the Amazing Hook
The Chef Hook
The Mnemonic Hook
The Extra Credit Challenge Hook *If your school, like ours, does not use extra credit, these techniques can be used to take students above and beyond the “required” learning.
Part III: Building a Better Pirate (pieces of awesome advice)
Teach Like A Pirate goes into so much more depth than what is written here. This blog post just touches the surface. This book has provided a wealth of inspiration that will benefit students and teachers. Thanks for taking the time to read. My hope is you will be able to find something that you can immediately begin using to make what you’re already doing in the classroom even more awesome. Until next time, Sheri
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