Thursday, January 9, 2014

Teach Like a Pirate!



Okay, I will admit I am not fond of pirates, so I shied away from this book when I first saw it. Then, I kept reading about it. Then I bought and read it. (Love my Kindle!) Needless to say, I now love it.  In his book, Teach Like a Pirate, Dave Burgess encourages passion, enthusiasm and so much more. He is a 'Think outside the box" sort of guy-in fact, I am not even sure he knows there is a box!

Anyway, I read the book over the weekend and decided that I would put his ideas to a test. For the first day of school, I created a "yay, we are back in school," sort of day. We reviewed rules in fun ways, including starting with pictures of the kids holding up a beard and posing for our rule posters. (Check out the photos here.) We played math games and did other fun, yet educational activities. The kids were fully engaged all day.

On day three, I decided to read a story to my younger students by using theatrics. I didn't actually "read" the story. I sort of lived it. I noticed that other students were also paying attention while working on their work. Again, engaged students. It is now Thursday evening. After 'teaching like a pirate" for four days, I have yet to have a discipline problem. If you haven't read the book, I strongly suggest you check out your local teacher supply store or Amazon.com (follow link on the book title) and learn what all the fuss is about. You might find yourself wanting to teach like a pirate, too! If you do, I would love to hear about your actions and results!

If you haven't read the book, it is available through Amazon!

  This is an affiliate link but it can be found on other sites, too!


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