Do You Want to Teach Like a Pirate?

       One of the biggest questions I have asked and hear a lot is how to improve student’s engagement. Even for longtime teachers, it can be something they want to improve. Thinking back on my own experiences when was I most engaged? I think several of these very engaging classes can be found with the teachers that still make me want to come back after all these years. Some of the best memories from school were from teachers that may have taught like a pirate. From my Latin teacher reenacting Pompeii with a miniature city and pop volcano to my English teacher that made us act out Romeo and Juliet. Both were able to bring the lesson to life and we took a stronger hold to it because of it. Here I am going to take a bit about the book Teach Like a Pirate and what you can do to be an engaging pirate teacher.

       In Teach Like a Pirate, Dave Burgess talks about teaching in three circles. The first is content, this is what you as the teacher know and what you bring to the students to learn--you must have it. The second is methods and techniques, these are the tools or ways you use to bring the content to your students--these are essential as well. The third circle is presentation, this is the way you present your content and methods so that students are drawn in. I agree with Dave that often the third circle is not brought up as much as the first two.

       There are two big questions Dave proposes when you want to see if you are teaching like a pirate “if students didn’t have to be there, would you be teaching an empty room?” and “Do you have any lessons that are so amazing you can sell tickets for them? Would students willingly pay to be in your classroom”? If you can say yes to either of these, you may already be a bit of a pirate. Sometimes putting on a bit of a show is what you need to get engagement out of students. This does not mean you should only entertain them. Use this pirate method as a pathway for engagement as you see fit.

       How do you start teaching like a pirate? The book talks a lot about this but here are some traits you should encourage in yourself. 

Passion, remember what brought you into your content and teaching. You are not teaching lessons, you are teaching students. Bring your passion and students into your lesson planning. 

Immersion, let yourself go when teaching. This is not to say to forget what you planned for a lesson but be free to explore the topic with students, and to submerge into a presentation, showing the passion you have. 

Rapport, build the relationship you have with your students and learn about them. Learn their names, what they think about themselves, and include what they like as much into your lessons as you can. For this, I would recommend starting strong on the first day by using the class time to learn about your students. 

Ask and Analyze, make sure to ask questions and encourage your students to question as well. One rule Dave includes in his classrooms is that it is a no meanness zone, he wants everyone to feel comfortable asking questions and speaking up. 

Transform, change up your classroom and keep things new in how you teach. Keep students wanting to come to class to see what’s going to happen tomorrow. Can you have class outside or in the hallway, do you what the work you do in class to always be worksheets, what can you do to make things interesting. 

Enthusiasm, bring your passion and light the fires of your students. This sounds close to passion, but I feel enthusiasm is more contagious. The more energy you show towards your lesson the more students will be open to be a part of it. 

These traits together will help you become a P.I.R.A.T.E teacher.

       There are many ways of teaching and not all teachers teach like a pirate. But adding on to the circle of presentation can help any teacher. When I watched and read about how teachers have started teaching like a pirate it reminded me of the Chasing Einstein presentation. Mainly because it changed how the material was presented to students. So, gamification  can one of your “hooks” you use as a pirate. Don’t feel like you can’t do this--every teacher has it in them to be creative and make a pirate lesson. If you are having a hard time thinking of pirate lessons: start with one of your own, look online at what other teachers have done, and take inspiration from everything. I would like to also talk about how often you need to do this. Which is as often as you like. Dave recommends at least making the first day unforgettable and then trying to make one lesson out of a chapter/unit “the big show”. So don’t feel overwhelmed and try to do a big pirate lesson every day. I’d say start with some ideas for introducing a new topic that’ll hook them in. See how it goes, then make notes on what worked and didn’t work. Don’t be afraid of looking silly, sometimes that’s what you may want. Keep it professional but don’t let that hold you back from making an engaging lesson. I know the content, I’ve got a growing number of tool/methods to bring to students, and I think teaching like a pirate could lead to many ways of connecting it all to students

       I think another big part of this post is: don’t be afraid of reading weird sounding books or articles. When I first heard about Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess, I thought it was a gimmick book but now I feel it has something for everyone. The worst that can happen is you won't like it and even then you still got some reading in. Teach like a Pirate is an easy read and If you want to learn more about this you can pick up Dave’s book or follow him on twitter @burgessDave. He also recommends a lot of other books I am interested in picking up there as well.

Skylar Halverson