"Teach[ing] Like a Pirate' and Student Haikus

When I made the decision to start blogging again, I figured I would look at a few things that just might give me the boost needed to counter the growing exhaustion that I really start to feel at this stage of the school year.  I made my way back to something I made a note to check out some years ago but never got around to.  I was still hesitant as I made my order... surely this book couldn't be that good, could it?

Well.  My new reads showed up yesterday and the experience has been refreshing and enlightening.  I've started to actually think that maybe I CAN actually teach like a pirate.

This book has been out for a few years and I'm sure that a number of my teacher friends have checked it out and implemented on some of the many recommendations shared by Dave Burgess.  I don't want to simply regurgitate what I've been reading but there are a few things that have caught my eye so far.

First is the meaning behind the word 'Pirate.'  Burgess has created a straightforward and powerful breakdown for each letter:

• P... Passion-there is an immense need to be passionate about what we teach, even if we don't like it (lookin' at you, poetry...)
• I... Immersion-teachers need to set aside the curriculum and really be with students in the moment
• R... Rapport-we need to be willing to get to know our students on a personal level
• A... Ask and Analyze-teachers need to ask the right questions, and seek and act on feedback, in order to design lessons that are more effective
• T... Transformation-we have to recognize when our approaches to teaching need to be changed and reframed
• E... Enthusiasm-teachers need to share our excitement freely throughout the day and with every class

I'm still working on the book but I want to circle back to the first section on passion.  At the risk of revealing far more than I should, Burgess divides passion into three separate areas, one of which involves our personal passion.  In a nutshell, he argues that we need to be far more willing to incorporate our own passions into our work.  I'll admit that there are lots of times during the year where I feel guilty for taking time for myself.  I could read that book, go airsofting, or play that game but I should really tackle that marking that's been building up or figure out how to teach my students about writing essays.  For that reason, I've maintained a degree of separation that has perhaps prevented me from allowing myself to get too excited about the stuff that I care about.  That isn't to say that I don't have fun during the school year but I have probably been denying myself the opportunities to grow and amplify that sense of fun and excitement in my own classroom.

While reading "Teach Like a Pirate," I started to think about the things that I am truly passionate about: quality time with family, games (board and video), technology, news and current events, planning big trips... some of which I might even go on, music, etc.  Burgess points out that listening to someone who is truly excited about something has a certain hypnotic quality to it: we just can't look away because they're so captivating.  I think there are some exceptions to that rule but they are admittedly few.  Surely there are some ways that I can bring my own passion a bit more regularly into my job.  Not many people, in teaching or otherwise, can probably claim that they get to do that as often as they would like.

More to come on this one, but in the meantime I'd challenge you to think about your own passions and start thinking about how you can bring that out a bit more.

Haikus

Somewhat related to the first section, I've been trying to give my Humanities classes some exposure to poetry.  Those who know me figure out pretty quickly that I'm pretty passionate about Social Studies and maybe less so about Language Arts.  I know it's incredibly important and I do my best to cover the required outcomes, but... I don't always feel that I have the enthusiasm that would convince most kids that what I say has that much relevance.

I hit a snag a few weeks back while looking at a few examples of poetry.  Suffice it to say that everyone... and I mean EVERYONE... was checked out.  I felt that in spite of my preparations and approach, I was failing and that I was wasting everyone's time.  So I returned to an old favourite that I had done when I first started teaching Humanities.  Truthfully, though, I stole the idea from my own Grade 8 LA teacher.  I liked doing it and figured my students could get behind it, too.

After introducing an activity that had them analyze and interpret a song of their choice, I introduced Haikus.  I introduced the structure as I had been taught and most would today approach it.  However, I also shared this video from perhaps one of the greatest cartoons ever made:

I gave my students their assignment: write three Haikus about any topic of their choosing as long as at least one of them had something to do with nature.  The results have been pretty impressive to say the least.

I emphasized that with the limited syllables, each and every word and sound mattered.  I saw students grabbing their thesauruses, and sharing their poems with one another.  There was even one student who was determined to create for me the ultimate sensory Haiku: he would write one about Dr Pepper and also provide one that I could drink while reading his poem.  

He wrote:

Cold Dr Pepper

Refreshing Mr. Thompson

Twenty Three Flavours

While I'm still waiting for that Dr Pepper, I saw what Dave Burgess was talking about: kids laughing and having fun being silly or reaching a little deeper and trying to capture the essence of the images that they chose.  Since putting up all the class poems that I've collected, 'The Wall' has been a popular hangout for students before and after class as they read what others have done.

I can do that more.

Video of the Week

I don't always watch Jimmy Fallon but I have loved most of the videos and snippets from his show.  This one was particularly enjoyable.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

~Mr.T