Teach Like a PIRATE Book Review, #tlap

The professional development book, Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess has been getting a lot of attention lately. 

Dave Burgess is a high school history teacher from San Diego. He has received awards for his creative and energetic teaching style, and conducts professional development workshops for teachers all across the country. You can learn more about him and his teaching philosophy HERE.

I finally had some time to read this book, and I'm glad I did. I'm also glad that I did not wait until this summer to do so. I already have ideas on how I can liven up my lessons during these last two months of the school year.

The premise of the book is that to be effective educators, we must teach like a PIRATE:

Passion

Immersion

Rapport

Ask & Analyze

Transformation

Enthusiasm

I thought the book was very inspirational, and a valuable read for new teachers, and veteran teachers that may be feeling a bit burned out. After reading I felt energized to examine my lessons and really think about my lesson delivery. Am I doing all I can to engage my students?

The first section of the book explains in details what each component of PIRATE means. The second section of the book offered a series of creative hooks and questions for teachers to ask themselves while planning a lesson to ensure the highest level of student engagement possible. Even though the book was written from the perspective of a high school teacher, the content of the book is applicable to elementary education as well.

I appreciated the fact that Dave highlighted the importance of being a master of your content. At the beginning of section two, before he begins providing examples of hooks to enhance your lessons, he states, "If you don't have the content element of your lessons in place, you are either just entertaining or babysitting. My assumption is that you are an expert in your subject's content. If not, but this book down and go learn your subject." He also acknowledges the importance and value of sound teaching practices and techniques such as think-pair-share, jigsaw, and scaffolding.
What he is offering in his book are tips for developing the presentation aspect of our job that is often overlooked and left unaddressed in teaching preparation programs and professional development. 

I enjoyed section three of the book the most. Section three was titled, How to Build a Better Pirate. In this section, Dave offers suggestions on how to actually start implementing his strategies. He was clear in that a teacher must find a way to enhance the performance aspect of our teaching in a way that is comfortable for them. What he does may not feel right to another teacher, and the students will pick up on that. I was inspired by the essay "Life isn't 100% or Fail" toward the end of the book. This essay addresses the fact that many teachers are fearful of trying something new because they are afraid it will be a failure. But if we don't try we will never know. The benefits of a more engaged classroom and increased learning opportunities for our students far outweigh the risk that a lesson may not go well, or go as planned. We need to let go of our fear and try new, innovative ideas. We must be okay with the fact that there will be bumps in the road and setbacks. Our students deserve it. 

I read several reviews for this book on Goodreads and many were very positive. I was disappointed in the negative reviews that I read. After reading several one and two-star reviews, I noticed some trends. Many of these negative reviews were from teachers that were being forced to read the book by their principal as part of a mandatory, PLC book study. The other common thread is that people criticized the fact that subject matter and content were not addressed the book. I feel these teachers, unfortunately, missed the PIRATE ship and did not understand the message of the book. For the sake of their students, I hope they find some other way to spark their passion for teaching.

This book is a quick read (only 175 pages) and written with a very easy and conversational tone. It took me only one weekend to read it. While it may not be the greatest thing I ever read, it definitely inspired me to think about my teaching practice and look for ways to make my lessons more creative and engaging. I highly recommend reading the book.

You can join the Teach Like a PIRATE conversation on twitter by following @burgessdave and using #tlap

You can find some fun Teach Like a PIRATE freebies on this great blog!

Please share your thoughts on the Teach Like a PIRATE movement below.

Next up on my reading list is Ditch that Textbook by Matt Miller. What are you reading?