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.