Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Teach Like A PIRATE Day

Dave Burgess is a Social Studies teacher in California and author of a book that every teacher should read, Teach Like A PIRATE. PIRATE stands for:

  • Passion
  • Immersion
  • Rapport
  • Ask and Analyze
  • Transformation
  • Enthusiasm


His book teaches you how to make your class more engaging.  He asks two key questions in his book.
1.  If your students didn't have to be there, would you be teaching to an empty room?
2.  Do you have any lessons you could sell tickets for?

So I posed those two questions to my staff today.  In three weeks (May 22) we will have Teach Like A PIRATE Day at Utica Junior High, a small rural Ohio school of about 270 students where approximately 45% are on free or reduced lunch.  We are working on the details, but the students will get to choose which classes to go to all day long.

I have a great staff.  I believe they are up for the challenge, and I believe it will be an eye opening experiene for all involved.

You can follow me on Twitter @mclane_ryan and our designated hashtag #tlapexperiment.

3 comments:

  1. I've made my #tlapexperiment column in Tweetdeck to watch and cheer all of you on. I'll also be checking in on this blog periodically.

    I'm reading TLAP also but slowly going through it to absorb all the ideas. It will be great to follow your project and learn through example, too.

    Good luck and break a wooden leg.

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    Replies
    1. Glad you are following the experiment. I really want this to be a win/win situation. I do not want to set my teachers up for failure. I have heard some of their ideas and it should be a great day for all involved. Right now the students are excited.

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  2. Wow... If we had this in my school, I humbly state that I would have needed the gym or auditorium! That's how much teens loved my Strategies for Success classes! What a day that would have been!

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