Beg, borrow, and steal. That’s what teachers and pirates have in common. That…and a whole lot more.

We had the privilege of joining an elite pirate crew on Monday, March 7^th, 2016 at the Pipestone Area Schools in Pipestone, MN. Which crew? Well, Dave Burgess’ crew – that’s who!

While Dr. Wendy has been a full-fledged member of the pirate crew for quite some time with multiple Dave dialogues, Dave skype sessions with her social studies methods classes, live Dave Twitter chats, attendance at Dave’s speaking engagements, and even a guest author in the P is for Pirate book written by Dave and Shelley Burgess, I have just recently jumped aboard the ship.

So what are some of my takeaways from the Pirate’s presentation? Hmmm… here are my top 7 that you may have witnessed while I was tweeting about it from my Twitter account, @drvteacher, while attending Pirate Dave’s workshop:

7.  Content passion may need our personal passion for life to kick it up a notch. If I am not crazy about the content in today’s lesson, then I need to find a way to dig deeper for my learners. How can I connect the lesson to my life? Learners want to connect with their teachers and know they are authentic and real-life.

6.  Collaboration is about making us all better. It isn’t about making us all the same. Thank goodness. Only each of us is truly a natural at being ourselves.

5.  Stop being boring – teach like a pirate! We all need some excitement in our lives. Why not bring excitement into your own classroom?

4.  It’s not necessarily going to be easy. It needs to be worth it. Hopefully by now you have realized that teaching is not about having summers off… we’ve heard that rumor once or twice before.

3.  Turn failure into feedback. Make your classroom, your office, your workspace, your home places where you and others can give something a try and maybe not succeed. Just learn from it and move on.

2. Don’t just teach a lesson. Create an experience. Nike’s “just do it” tagline is not for your classroom. Learning could be and should be so much more than checking something off the list.

1. We are in the life-changing business. Raising human potential. Sometimes it’s not what you do, but how you do it.

Teach Like a Pirate is a good place to start to glean more powerful teaching ideas. Dave authored this book to increase student engagement, boost your creativity, and transform your life as an educator. Check out his book – or any of his published works. This is good stuff.

I am excited to join this crew and pretty sure that I will not be jumping ship or walking the plank. Beg, borrow, and steal all the great treasures that Pirate Dave has to offer and share them with your mates.

Warning though – pirating is contagious and once you are bitten by the Pirate bug, there is no turning back…Once a pirate, always a pirate. 🙂

Stay Calm & Pirate On!
Profs Dr. C. &Dr. V.

You’ve heard the saying, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” It is a true statement. After all, have you ever seen a tree fall across the yard from a tree –without a tornado moving it? Probably not – but we would love to hear your stories if have so feel free to comment. 🙂

Recently, our Provost shared a book with the School of Education faculty. What book are you wondering? Really? Apples don’t fall far from the tree. Understanding the behavior of parents and students by Bea Lewis. It is a great, quick read that we recommend; we also recommend not walking too fast if you are “reading and walking” at the noon hour. Right, Dr. Wendy? 😉

Right, Dr. V. It only took me an hour of walking around and around the IL ‘square,’ but I got the book read. The gal who was eating her lunch in IL 214 might have thought I was a bit crazy as I walked in circles and would laugh out loud as I read the author’s stories. (Actually a lot of us think that from time to time, and still think you are brilliant so no worries there! 🙂 People thought the same thing about Albert Einstein, you know?! Sorry – continue on…) Some of those stories made me feel like I was back teaching elementary school. And, many of Bea’s stories made me shake my head in agreeance. The book is great. Be ready for some laughs as this real-life story unfolds.

The author, who was a teacher, middle school administrator, turned Hearing Officer, mentions in Chapter 1 four different types of parents that she dealt with during her educational tenure: 1). Enablers, 2). Deniers, 3). Angry Battlers, and 4). The Perfect Storm.

Lewis also goes on and shares with us in Chapter 2 four different kinds of students she came across during her career: 1). Explainers, 2). Enabled, 3). Blamers, and 4). I Don’t Even Know I Need to be Saved.

Finally, in Chapter 3, Bea Lewis gives us educators a glimpse at the four different varieties of teachers, yes teachers, that she put up with in her 36 years of being an educator: 1). Book Sayers, 2). Gotchas, 3). Not Me, and 4). I Don’t Even Like Children (a.k.a. Serial Dream Killers).

A few earmarked pages from Chapter 3 that had mind-provoking statements on them were page 28 where it stated, “I took off the rose-colored glasses and faced the reality that not everyone in the school did was in the best interest of the kids. That was a very sad truth, but a truth nonetheless.”

Then on page 31 she shares what a friend had said to her years ago, “The police ought to be at the teacher’s credit union on payday to arrest some teachers for stealing money they have not earned.”

Lastly, on page 36 Lewis gives some classroom management advice, “Managing student behavior is like playing a baseball game. You’re not going to hit a homerun every time you’re at bat. Sometimes you strike out.”

Parents, students, teachers…thank goodness 90% of them are awesome. The other 10%, well…

We used to tell our students’ parents at conferences – “I’ll only believe half of what your child tells us about your home life, if you believe only half of what your child says about school life.” And believe us when we say, we’ve heard some unbelievable stories over the years about families and what goes on in their homes.

We hope we’ve sparked your interest to read the book. Thank you to our Provost for the gift!

Stay Calm & Lead On!
Profs Dr. C. & Dr. V.