Teach Like a Pirate-Part II Book Study Wrap Up

Part II: Crafting Engaging Lessons

This is Part II of a three part post. If you missed the first post you can find it here.

The Third Circle: Dave Burgess notes that when we attend most PD workshops they do a great job giving the what and why but the how is often times left up in the air.The third circle is all about presentation. Presentation is how we teach.  Dave is all about presenting. He uses music, images and  magic to engage and hook his students.

A Crash Course in Presentational Hooks: Here Burgess outlines how presentation hooks can include visual, auditory and kinesthetic hooks that are pleasing and keep students engaged. He uses the power of music to help connect learners and  get them ready to learn. He rearranges  the room to set the scene.  And he entertains the crowd because he know that to really learn brains need to be comfortable, at ease and engaged.

I Like to Move it, Move it: Yep, just like it says. Get your kids up and move! Have fun...play is the oldest form of learning. It is engagement at it fullest and brain power at its best. We must remember in this day of accountability and standardized assessing this is more important than ever. Play will give our students the tools they need to do the processes these tests require.  

Long Live the Arts: He  includes these four main topics for including the arts: The Picasso hook, The Mozart hook, the dance and drama hook, and the craft store hook. We are very fortunate to be living in a time where technology is so readily available and can be used to help engage our young learners and hopefully inspire them to become self-regulated learners. This section brings forth many opportunities to allow the students to brainstorm and work collaboratively with their peers in a variety of forums which include these four areas of the arts.

What’s in it For Me?: Have you heard that before? Maybe not spoken,  but you know the kids are thinking “why do I need to know this?” This chapter gives examples of how to get buy-in from your students.  You can get students interested by tying in a hobby they may be interested in. Showing kids how they will use the information later in life will also get some interest. Life lesson hooks are probably one of my favorite because I a firm believer of tying emotions to lessons. I think this helps make a deep connection that will  maintain engagement. Giving choice is also an excellent way to maintain engagement and of course,  using current events, trends, fads, movies and music.

(this video was embed from the original source on Youtube. )

All the World is a Stage: This is the part where Dave shares how he transforms his classroom, dresses up and uses the element of surprise or a prop to invoke curiosity and thoughtful questions.

Stand and Deliver: Are you  a public speaker? While most of us would say no, that is not true. If you are a teacher; you are a public speaker. Dave uses this chapter to show us how to accept this knowledge and deliver. With anything, practice makes perfect, right? Well Dave breaks practicing public speaking down to six main “hooks;” The storytelling hook, the swimming with the sharks hook, the taboo hook, the mime hook, the teaser hook, and the backwards design hook.  It’s a must read full of great ideas.

Advanced Tactics: These hooks go just that one step forward that will almost ensure full engagement. They are best to be used sparingly and with careful planning. Are you ready for this?... The Mission Impossible hook, the reality TV hook, and the techno whiz kid.  You have to read it to learn more. But I do love how Dave reminds us that while technology is a fabulous tool we must not forget the power of experiencing things live.

Around the Edges: To wrap it all up, he chose to include these last five hooks: The contest hook, the magic and the amazing hook, the chef hook, the mnemonic hook,  and the extra-credit challenge hook. And he leaves us with an important message to finalize Part II: Education is not fantasy football. This is not about individual statistics but how we play the game.

Don't forget to check back in tomorrow... You won't want to miss this...